Definition of a City

Submitted by: Christine Joy N. Bernardo

Submitted to: Arch. Roberto S. Duran
June 26, 2015

City

 is a large and permanent human settlement..

Although there is no agreement on how a city is
distinguished from a town in general English
language meanings, many cities have a particular
administrative, legal, or historical status based on
local law.
Cities generally have complex systems for sanitation,
utilities, land usage, housing, and transportation. The
concentration of development greatly facilitates
interaction between people and businesses,
benefiting both parties in the process, but it also
presents challenges to managing urban growth.
a place where people live that is larger or more
important than a town : an area where many people
live and work
an inhabited place of greater size, population, or
importance than a town or village

Legal Definition of City in Philippines

is a local government unit (LGU) in the Philippines. All
Philippine cities are chartered cities, whose existence as
corporate and administrative entities is governed by their
own specific municipal charters in addition to the Local
Government Code of 1991, which specifies their
administrative structure and powers. As of December 31,
2013, there are 144 cities.

Cities are entitled to at least one representative in the

House of Representatives if its population reaches
250,000. They are legally provided their own police force
and allowed to use a common seal. As corporate entities,
cities have the power to take, purchase, receive, hold,
lease, convey, and dispose of real and personal property
for its general interests, condemn private property for
public use (eminent domain), contract and be contracted
with, sue and exercise all the powers conferred to it by
Congress. Only an Act of Congress can create or amend a
city charter, and with this city charter Congress confers
on a city certain powers that regular municipalities or
even other cities may not have.
Despite the differences in the powers accorded to each
city, all cities regardless of status are given a bigger
share of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) compared
to regular municipalities, as well as being generally more
autonomous than regular municipalities.
There are twelve metropolitan areas in the Philippines as
defined by the National Economic and Development
Authority (NEDA). Metro Manila is the largest conurbation
or urban agglomeration in the country, and its official
metropolitan area is composed of the city of Manila plus
15 neighboring cities and a municipality. Other
metropolitan areas are centered on the cities of Baguio,
Dagupan, Angeles, Olongapo, Batangas, Naga, Cebu,
Iloilo, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga and Davao.

Requirements to become a City

Congress is the lone legislative entity that can

incorporate cities. Provincial and municipal councils can
pass resolutions indicating a desire to have a certain area
(usually an already-existing municipality or a cluster of
barangays) declared a city after the requirements for
becoming a city are met. As per Republic Act No. 9009,
these requirements include:
locally generated income of at least PHP 100 million
(based on constant prices in the year 2000) for the
last two consecutive years, as certified by the
Department of Finance, AND
a population of 150,000 or more, as certified by the
National Statistics Office (NSO); OR a contiguous
territory of 100 square kilometers, as certified by the
Land Management Bureau, with contiguity not being
a requisite for areas that are on two or more islands.
Members of Congress (usually the representatives of the
district to which the proposed city belongs) then draft the
legislation that will convert or create the city. After the bill
passes through both the House of Representatives and
the Senate and becomes an Act of Congress, the
President signs the Act into law. If the Act goes unsigned
after 30 days it still becomes law despite the absence of
the President's signature.