Negros Island is Philippines’ Newest Region

The establishment of Negros Island Region (NIR) per Executive Order No. 183 signed by His Excellency Benigno S. Aquino III on May 29, 2015, brings the total number of regions in the country to 18. The NIR, which is composed of the provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, shall be assigned the code 180000000 in the Philippine Standard Geographic Code (PSGC) following the last entry in the current series that is 170000000 for Region IV – B (MIMAROPA).

Per PSGC updating procedure, any new region that may be created will assume a Region Code that is next to the last entry in the current series. While, in the case where a province is transferred to another region, there shall be no change in the Province Code. The transfer to another region will only cause a change in the corresponding Region Code for that province.

Other updates for the 2nd quarter of 2015 include the: a) correction in the spelling of Barangay CANAROM (PSGC 050503016), in the municipality of Daraga, in the province of Albay, as cited in the letter from the Office of the Liga ng mga Barangay and b) the correction in the spelling of Barangay TANDARURA (PSGC 050508047), in Ligao City, province of Albay, as cited in the certification issued by the City Planning and Development Office. Both corrections were deliberated by the Technical Working Group on Geographic Classification (TWGGC)

With the aforementioned updates, the latest number of regions, provinces, cities, municipalities, and barangays in the country at this period is shown below:

The compilation of the PSGC is a collaborative effort of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), National Barangay Operations Office of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (NBOO-DILG), National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) which all serve as members of the TWGGC.

Pursuant to Republic Act No. 10625, the PSA is mandated to prescribe uniform standards and classification systems in government statistics and in the generation of official statistics to ensure harmonization and comparability of statistics in the country and at the international level. The PSA shall continually formulate statistical standards such as definitions of statistical terms and concepts used in official statistics, and likewise develop classification systems for adoption by government agencies.

The PSGC database, which facilitates the search for codes and relevant information on regions, provinces, municipalities, cities and barangays in the Philippines is currently lodged at PSA-NSCB website with URL http://nap.psa.gov.ph/ activestats/psgc/default.asp.

The PSGC is also used in the Unified Account Code Structure, particularly the location code, being implemented by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

Source: www.nscb.gov.ph