Being part of an administrative region different from the province's own does not make a city independent. The city of Isabela functions as a component city of Basilan : its tax revenues are shared with the provincial government, its residents are eligible to vote and run for provincial offices, and it is served by the provincial government and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan with regard to provincially devolved services. However, by opting to remain within Region IX, Isabela City's residents are not eligible to elect and be elected to regional offices of the expanded Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) which now includes the rest of Basilan. Services that are administered regionally are provided to Isabela City through the offices of Region IX based in Pagadian; the rest of Basilan is served by the ARMM and the regional government based in Cotabato City. Isabela City is not independent from its province, rather it is simply outside the jurisdiction of the ARMM, the region to which the other component units of Basilan belongs. Regions are not the primary subnational administrative divisions of the Philippines, but rather the provinces.Many government agencies, as well as Philippine society in general, still continue to classify many independent cities outside Metro Manila as part of provinces due to historical and cultural ties, especially if these cities were, and are still, important economic, cultural and social activity centers within the geographic bounds of the provinces to which they previously belonged. Furthermore, most maps of the Philippines showing provincial boundaries almost always never separate independent cities from the provinces in which they are geographically located for cartographic convenience. Despite being first-level administrative divisions (on the same level as provinces, as stated in Section 25 of the LGC),[3 - independent cities are still treated by many to be on the same level as municipalities and component cities (second-level administrative divisions) for educational convenience and reduced complexity.