A city is a tier of local government in the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

. All Philippine cities are chartered cities, whose existence as corporate and administrative entities is governed by their own specific charters

Municipal charter

A city charter or town charter is a legal document establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the middle ages....

 in addition to the Local Government Code of 1991, which specifies the administrative structure and political powers of subnational government entities.

Cities are entitled to one congressional district

Legislative districts of the Philippines

The Legislative districts of the Philippines are the division are the representations of the Philippines' provinces and cities in the House of Representatives. The first composition of legislative districts were enshrined in the Ordinance appended to the Constitution...

 and representative per 250,000 population count, and are legally provided their own police force and allowed to use a common seal.