republic of the Philippines is divided into 17 regions. Most government offices are established by region instead of individual provincial offices, usually (but not always) in the city designated as the regional center.The regions themselves do not possess a separate local government, with the exception of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which has an elected regional assembly and governor. The Cordillera Administrative Region was originally intended to be autonomous (Cordillera Autonomous Region), but the failure of two plebiscites for its establishment reduced it to a regular administrative region.