In the Philippines, a municipality (Tagalog: bayan/munisipalidad; Cebuano: lungsod/munisipalidad; Ilocano: ili) is a kind of place with local government ("local government unit") that are different from cities. Municipalities are also called towns if using the old-fashioned but more common word. This is because municipalities have the governmental purpose of a town since they were first introduced.
All provinces in the country are divided into cities and municipalities, which in turn, are divided into village-type divisions known as barangays. As of September 7, 2019[update], there were 1,488 municipalities across the country.[1]