Cities of the Philippines

A city (Filipino: lungsod) is one of the units of local government in the Philippines. All Philippine cities are chartered cities (), whose existence as corporate and administrative entities is governed by their own specific municipal charters in addition to the Local Government Code of 1991, which specifies their administrative structure and powers. As of September 7, 2019, there are 146 cities.

A city is entitled to at least one representative in the House of Representatives if its population reaches 250,000. Cities are allowed to use a common seal. As corporate entities, cities have the power to take, purchase, receive, hold, lease, convey, and dispose of real and personal property for its general interests, condemn private property for public use (eminent domain), contract and be contracted with, sue and exercise all the powers conferred to it by Congress. Only an Act of Congress can create or amend a city charter, and with this city charter Congress confers on a city certain powers that regular municipalities or even other cities may not have.

Despite the differences in the powers accorded to each city, all cities regardless of status are given a bigger share of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) compared to regular municipalities, as well as being generally more autonomous than regular municipalities.

Government

A city's local government is headed by a mayor elected by popular vote. The vice mayor serves as the presiding officer of the Sangguniang Panlungsod (city council), which serves as the city's legislative body. Upon receiving their charters, cities also receive a full complement of executive departments to better serve their constituents. Some departments are established on a case-by-case basis, depending on the needs of the city.

Offices and officials common to all cities

Source: Local Government Code of 1991.

Subdivisions
Cities, like municipalities, are composed of barangays (Brgy), which can range from urban neighborhoods (such as Barangay 9, Santa Angela in Laoag), to rural communities (such as Barangay Iwahig in Puerto Princesa). Barangays are sometimes grouped into officially defined administrative (geographical) districts. Examples of such are the cities of Manila (16 districts), Davao (11 districts), Iloilo (seven districts), and Samal (three districts: Babak, Kaputian and Peñaplata). Some cities such as Caloocan, Manila and Pasay even have an intermediate level between the district and barangay levels, called a zone. However, geographic districts and zones are not political units; there are no elected city government officials in these city-specific administrative levels. Rather they only serve to make city planning, statistics-gathering other administrative tasks easier and more convenient.

Classification

Income classification
Cities are classified according to average annual income of the city based on the previous four calendar years. Effective July 28, 2008 the thresholds for the income classes for cities are:

Legal classification
The Local Government Code of 1991 (Republic Act No. 7160) classifies all cities into one of three legal categories:

Highly Urbanized Cities (HUC): Cities with a minimum population of two hundred thousand (200,000) inhabitants, as certified by the Philippine Statistics Authority, and with the latest annual income of at least fifty million pesos (50,000,000 or USD 1,000,000) based on 1991 constant prices, as certified by the city treasurer.

There are currently 33 highly urbanized cities in the Philippines, 16 of which are located in Metro Manila.

Independent Component Cities (ICC): Cities of this type have charters that explicitly prohibit their residents from voting for provincial officials. All five of them are considered independent from the province in which they are geographically located: Cotabato, Dagupan, Naga, Ormoc and Santiago.
Component Cities (CC): Cities which do not meet the preceding requirements are deemed part of the province in which they are geographically located. If a component city is located along the boundaries of two or more provinces, it shall be considered part of the province of which it used to be a municipality.

All but five of the remaining cities are considered component cities.

Independent cities

There are 38 independent cities in the Philippines, all of which are classified as either "Highly urbanized" or "Independent component" cities. From a legal, administrative and fiscal standpoint, once a city is classified as such:
 its Sangguniang Panlungsod legislation is no longer subject to review by any province's Sangguniang Panlalawigan;
 it stops sharing its tax revenue with any province; and
 the President of the Philippines exercises direct supervising authority over the city government (given that the provincial government no longer exercises supervision over city officials), as stated in Section 29 of the Local Government Code.

Currently, there are only four independent cities that can still participate in the election of provincial officials (governor, vice governor, Sangguniang Panlalawigan members):
 Cities declared as highly urbanized between 1987 and 1992, whose charters (as amended) explicitly permit residents to both vote and run for elective positions in the provincial government, and therefore allowed by Section 452-c of the Local Government Code to maintain these rights: Lucena (Quezon), Mandaue (Cebu);
 Independent component cities whose charters (as amended) only explicitly allow residents to run for provincial offices: Dagupan (Pangasinan) and Naga (Camarines Sur)

Registered voters of the cities of Cotabato, Ormoc, Santiago, as well as all other highly urbanized cities, including those to be converted or created in the future, are not eligible to participate in provincial elections.

In addition to the eligibility of some independent cities to vote in provincial elections, a few other situations become sources of confusion regarding the complete autonomy of independent cities from provinces:
 Some independent cities still serve as the seat of government for the province in which they are geographically located: Bacolod (Negros Occidental), Cagayan de Oro (Misamis Oriental), Cebu City (Cebu), Iloilo City (Iloilo), Lucena (Quezon), Puerto Princesa (Palawan) and Tacloban (Leyte). In such cases, the provincial government, apart from already financing the maintenance of its properties such as provincial government buildings and offices, may also provide the government of the independent city with an annual budget (determined by the province at its discretion) to aid in relieving incidental costs incurred by the city such as road maintenance due to increased vehicular traffic in the vicinity of the provincial government complex.
 Some independent cities are still grouped with their former provinces for the purposes of representation in Congress. While 24 independent cities have their own representative(s) in Congress, some remain part of the congressional representation of the province to which they formerly belonged: Butuan, for example, is still part of the 1st Congressional District of Agusan del Norte. In cases like this, independent cities that do not vote for provincial officials are excluded from Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial council) districts, and the allotment of SP members is adjusted accordingly by COMELEC with proper consideration of population. For example, Agusan del Norte (being a third income-class province) is entitled to elect eight members to its Sangguniang Panlalawigan, and belongs to two congressional districts. The seats of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan are not evenly distributed (4-4) between the province's first and second congressional districts because its 1st Congressional district contains Butuan, an independent city which does not vote for provincial officials. Rather, the seats are distributed 1-7 to account for the small population of the province's 1st Sangguniang Panlalawigan district (consisting only of Las Nieves) and the bulk of the province's population being in the second district. On the other hand, the city of Lucena, which is eligible to vote for provincial officials, still forms part of the province of Quezon's 2nd Sangguniang Panlalawigan district, which is coterminous with the 2nd congressional district of Quezon.
 General lack of distinction for independent cities, for practical purposes: 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 once or currently socio-economic and cultural capitals of the provinces to which they once 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 (i.e., on the same level as provinces, as stated in Section 25 of the LGC), 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 simplicity.

A component city, while enjoying relative autonomy on some matters compared to a regular municipality, is still considered part of a province. However, there are several sources of confusion:
 Some component cities form their own congressional representation, separate from their province. The representation of a city in the House of Representatives (or lack thereof) is not a criterion for independence from a province, as Congress is the national legislative body and is part of the national (central) government. Despite Antipolo, Biñan and San Jose del Monte having their own representatives in Congress, they are still component cities of Rizal, Laguna, and Bulacan, respectively, as their respective charters specifically converted them into component cities and have no provision stating a severance in relations with their respective provincial governments.
 Being part of an administrative region different from the province: Isabela City functions as a component city of Basilan: its tax revenues are shared with the provincial government, its residents are eligible to both vote and run for provincial offices, and it is served by the provincial government and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Basilan with regard to provincially devolved services. However, by opting out of joining the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Isabela City's residents are ineligible to vote and run for regional offices of the Bangsamoro Parliament, unlike the rest of Basilan. Regional services provided to Isabela City come from offices in Region IX based in Pagadian; the rest of Basilan is serviced by the BARMM based in Cotabato City. Isabela City, while not independent from its province, is this outside the jurisdiction of the BARMM, the region to which the rest of Basilan belongs. Regions are not the primary subnational administrative divisions of the Philippines, but rather the provinces.

Creation of cities
Congress is the lone legislative entity that can incorporate cities. Provincial and municipal councils can pass resolutions indicating a desire to have a certain area (usually an already-existing municipality or a cluster of barangays) declared a city after the requirements for becoming a city are met. As per Republic Act No. 9009, these requirements include:
 locally generated income of at least 100 million (based on constant prices in the year 2000) for the last two consecutive years, as certified by the Department of Finance, AND
 a population of at least 150,000, as certified by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA); OR a contiguous territory of 100 square kilometers, as certified by the Land Management Bureau, with contiguity not being a requisite for areas that are on two or more islands.
Members of Congress (usually the involving representative of the congressional district to which the proposed city belongs) then draft the legislation that will convert or create the city. After the bill passes through both the House of Representatives and the Senate and becomes an Act of Congress, the President signs the Act into law. If the Act goes unsigned after 30 days it still becomes law despite the absence of the President's signature.

The creation of cities before 1983 was solely at the discretion of the national legislature; there were no requirements for achieving 'city' status other than an approved city charter. No income, population or land area requirements had to be met in order to incorporate cities before Batas Pambansa Bilang 337 (Local Government Code of 1983) became law. This is what made it possible for several current cities such as Tangub or Canlaon to be conferred such a status despite their small population and locally generated income, which do not meet current standards. The relatively low income standard between 1992 and 2001 (which was 20 million) also allowed several municipalities, such as Sipalay and Muñoz, to become cities despite not being able to meet the current 100 million local income standard.

Before 1987, many cities were created without any plebiscites conducted for the residents to ratify the city charter, most notable of which were cities that were incorporated during the early American colonial period (Manila and Baguio), and during the Commonwealth Era (1935–1946) such as Cavite City, Dansalan (now Marawi), Iloilo City, Bacolod, San Pablo and Zamboanga City. Only since 1987 has it been mandated under the Constitution that any change to the legal status of any local government unit requires the ratification by the residents that would be affected by such changes. Therefore, all cities created after 1987 – after meeting the requirements for cityhood as laid out in the Local Government Code of 1991 and Republic Act No. 9009 of 2001 – only acquired their corporate status after the majority of their voting residents approved their respective charters.

Motivations for cityhood
Although some early cities were given charters because of their advantageous (Baguio, Tagaytay) or strategic (Angeles and Olongapo, Cotabato, Zamboanga) locations or in order to especially establish new government centers in otherwise sparsely populated areas (Palayan, Trece Martires, Quezon City), most Philippine cities were originally incorporated to provide a form of localized civil government to an area that is primarily urban, which, due to its compact nature and different demography and local economy, cannot be necessarily handled more efficiently by more rural-oriented provincial and municipal governments. However, not all cities are purely areas of dense urban settlement. To date there are still cities with huge expanses of rural or wilderness areas and considerable non-urban populations, such as Calbayog, Davao, Puerto Princesa and Zamboanga as they were deliberately incorporated with increased future resource needs and urban expansion, as well as strategic considerations, in mind.

With the enactment of the 1991 Local Government Code, municipalities and cities have both become more empowered to deal with local issues. Regular municipalities now share many of the same powers and responsibilities as chartered cities, but its citizens and/or leaders may feel that it might be to their best interest to get a larger share of internal revenue allotment (IRA) and acquire additional powers by becoming a city, especially if the population has greatly increased and local economy has become more robust. On the other hand, due to the higher property taxes that would be imposed after cityhood, many citizens have become wary of their town's conversion into a city, even if the municipality had already achieved a high degree of urbanization and has an annual income that already exceeds that of many existing lower-income cities. This has been among the cases made against the cityhood bids of many high-income and populous municipalities surrounding Metro Manila, most notably Bacoor and Dasmariñas (which finally became cities in June 2012 and November 2009 respectively), which for many years have been more qualified to become cities than others.

In response to the rapid increase in the number of municipalities being converted into cities since the enactment of the Local Government Code in 1991, Senator Aquilino Pimentel authored what became Republic Act No. 9009 in June 2001 which sought to establish a more appropriate benchmark by which municipalities that wished to become cities were to be measured. The income requirement was increased sharply from 20 million to 100 million in a bid to curb the spate of conversions into cities of municipalities that were perceived to have not become urbanized or economically developed enough to be able to properly function as a city.

Despite the passage of RA 9009, 16 municipalities not meeting the required locally generated income were converted into cities in 2007 by seeking exemption from the income requirement. This led to vocal opposition from the League of Cities of the Philippines against the cityhood of these municipalities, with the League arguing that by letting these municipalities become cities, Congress will set "a dangerous precedent" that would not prevent others from seeking the same "special treatment". More importantly, the LCP argued that with the recent surge in the conversion of towns that did not meet the requirements set by RA 9009 for becoming cities, the allocation received by existing cities would only drastically decrease because more cities will have to share the amount allotted by the national government, which is equal to 23% of the IRA, which in turn is 40% of all the revenues collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue. The resulting legal battles resulted in the nullification of the city charters of the 16 municipalities by the Supreme Court in August 2010. (See #"League of 16" and legal battles)

Changing city status
Throughout the years there have been instances of changes to the city's status with regard to eligibility for provincial elections, as a result of the passage of laws, both of general effectivity and specific to a city.

Before 1979
Prior to 1979, all cities were just considered chartered cities, without any official category differentiating them aside from income levels. Though chartered cities were considered autonomous from the provinces from which they were created, the eligibility of their residents to vote for provincial officials was determined by their respective charters.

Regarding participation in provincial affairs, there were three types of city charters:
 1) those which explicitly allowed their respective residents to elect provincial officials,
 2) those which explicitly prohibited participation in provincial elections,
 3) and those which are silent regarding voter participation in provincial elections.
The 1951 Supreme Court decision on Teves, et al. v. Commission on Elections finally resolved the ambiguity surrounding the third category of cities, by confirming that the residents of cities with such charters (such as Dumaguete and Davao City) are ineligible to participate in provincial elections.

Altering the right of city residents to participate in provincial elections was a power solely determined by the national legislature. Before 1979, this power was exercised in seven cases, affecting a total of six cities:
 Five Acts of the National Assembly or Congress in which the residents of an existing city were restored the right to vote for officials of the mother province:
 1940 August 22: Section 7 of the revised charter of the city of Iloilo (Commonwealth Act No. 158) was amended in 1940 by Commonwealth Act No. 604 to explicitly state: "The voters of said City of Iloilo shall take part in the election of the provincial officers of Iloilo, but the latter shall have no jurisdiction over the City of Iloilo and the officers thereof."
 1950 June 10: The original city charter of Dagupan (Republic Act No. 170) was originally silent on the matter of the eligibility of city residents to participate in provincial election, therefore implying that residents were ineligible to participate in provincial elections. Three years later Republic Act No. 448 amended the charter to explicitly empower the city's voters to participate in the election of the governor and provincial board members of Pangasinan.
 1956 June 14: The city of Cabanatuan was originally explicitly excluded from electing and being elected into positions in the provincial government of Nueva Ecija until its original city charter (Republic Act No. 526) was amended by Republic Act No. 1445 in 1956, which enabled the city's residents to once more vote for provincial officials.
 1956 June 16: The original city charter of Dansalan (Commonwealth Act No. 592) was originally silent on the matter of the eligibility of city residents to participate in provincial election, therefore implying that residents were ineligible to participate in provincial elections. Sixteen years later Republic Act No. 1552, in addition to renaming the city to Marawi, also amended the city charter to explicitly empower the city's voters to participate in the election of Lanao Province officials.
 1964 June 10: Cebu City's old charter (Commonwealth Act No. 58) was repealed, and replaced with Republic Act No. 3857 in 1964. The law allowed the city's residents to once more become eligible to vote for officials in the provincial government of Cebu.
 1969 June 21: Following the Supreme Court decision on Teves, et al. v. Commission on Elections which upheld Dumaguete's independence from Negros Oriental, Republic Act No. 5797 was enacted on June 21, 1969 by Congress to revise the city's original charter (Republic Act No. 327) to explicitly allow the city's residents to once again vote for provincial officials.
 One Act of Congress in which the residents of existing cities whose residents were previously explicitly granted the right to participate in provincial elections were deprived such a right:
 1959 June 19: By virtue of Section 2 of Republic Act No. 2259, the voters of the cities of Dagupan and Iloilo were deprived of the right to participate in provincial elections.

1979–1983
Batas Pambansa Bilang 51, approved on December 22, 1979, introduced two legal categories of cities: highly urbanized cities (HUCs) and component cities. COMELEC Resolution No. 1421, which was issued to implement the provisions of BP 51 prior to the January 30, 1980 local elections, stated that a total of 20 cities were not allowed to participate in the election of provincial officials: seven of these were "highly urbanized," while the remaining 13 were "component" cities.
 When Batas Pambansa Bilang 51 came into effect for the January 30, 1980 elections, all cities whose incomes at the time were 40 million or higher were considered highly urbanized cities. Cities that met this income requirement at the time were: Caloocan, Cebu, Davao, Manila, Pasay and Quezon City. Regardless of whether their respective charters allowed them to vote for provincial officials or not, highly urbanized cities were no longer allowed to vote for provincial officials. Among the aforementioned, only the voters of Cebu City lost the right to participate in provincial elections in this manner; the voters of the other five cities have not participated in any provincial election since their respective incorporation as cities. In addition, Section 3 of BP 51 also made Baguio a highly urbanized city irrespective of its income, due to its importance as the host to the official summer residences of the President and the Supreme Court. A Supreme Court case decided two days before election day upheld the legality of BP 51 in depriving the voters of Cebu City the power to elect officials for the province of Cebu.
 Per Section 3 of BP 51, all other cities were considered "component cities" of the provinces in which they are geographically located, or the provinces of which they were originally a part. Despite considering all other cities as part of their respective provinces, under BP 51 the eligibility of voters to participate in provincial elections were still determined by their cities' respective charters (as amended). The voters of a total of thirteen "component cities" continued to be ineligible to vote for provincial officials for the local elections of 1980. Nine of these were cities with charters (as amended) that expressly prohibited participation in provincial elections: Dagupan, General Santos, Iloilo, Mandaue, Naga, Ormoc, Oroquieta, San Carlos (Pangasinan) and Zamboanga. The remaining four — Bais, Canlaon, Cotabato and Ozamiz — were cities whose charters were silent on participation in provincial elections; BP 51 upheld the 1951 Supreme Court decision on Teves, et al. v. Commission on Elections by barring their residents from participating in the election of provincial officials.

1983–1987
Batas Pambansa Bilang 337 (Local Government Code of 1983), approved on February 10, 1983, further refined the criteria by which cities can be classified as highly urbanized cities. Under BP 337 a city that had at least 150,000 inhabitants and an income of at least 30 million was to be declared highly urbanized by the Minister of Local Government within thirty days of the city having met the requirement. The cities of Angeles (1986), Bacolod (September 27, 1984), Butuan (February 7, 1985), Cagayan de Oro (November 22, 1983), Iloilo (1983) Iligan (November 22, 1983), Olongapo (December 7, 1983), and Zamboanga (November 22, 1983) became HUCs in this manner. The residents in most of these cities lost their right to participate in provincial elections for the first time. The two exceptions are: Iloilo City, which had already been deprived of the right to vote for provincial officials in 1959 by virtue of Section 2 of RA 2259, and Zamboanga City, which had been autonomously governed since its creation by virtue of Section 47 of its city charter (Commonwealth Act No. 39).

By virtue of Section 30 of Batas Pambansa Bilang 881 (Omnibus Election Code of the Philippines), approved on December 3, 1985, provided that: "unless their respective charters provide otherwise, the electorate of component cities shall be entitled to vote in the election for provincial officials of the province of which it is a part." This provision therefore overrides the 1951 Supreme Court decision on Teves, et al. v. Commission on Elections by providing voters in component cities whose charters are silent on the matter of electing provincial officials the right to again participate in provincial elections. BP 881 therefore again enfranchised voters in the cities of Bais and Canlaon (Negros Oriental), and Ozamiz (Misamis Occidental). Despite the charter of the city of Cotabato being silent on the matter of electing provincial officials, the city was not legislated to be part of any of the successor provinces of the old undivided Cotabato province. Voters of the city therefore were still not eligible to vote in the provincial elections of either Maguindanao or North Cotabato and therefore remained independent from any province.

1987–1991
The period between ratification of the new Constitution (February 1987) and the effectivity of the Local Government Code of 1991 (January 1992) was one of transition. During this time, BP 51, BP 337 and BP 881 were still in force:  the only legal classes of cities during this period were still "highly urbanized" and "component" cities.

Altering the right of city residents to participate in provincial elections was once again exercised by the newly restored Congress in this period. A total of three cities were affected: Republic Acts No. 6641 (in 1987), 6726 (in 1989) and 6843 (in 1990), once again allowed the residents of Mandaue, Oroquieta and San Carlos to vote for provincial officials of Cebu, Misamis Occidental and Pangasinan respectively. Since BP 51—which only considered cities as being either "highly urbanized" or "component"—was still in force at the time, the changes were not considered as switching between legal categories, but rather a simple change within the "component city" classification that did not require a plebiscite. Note that the "independent component city" legal classification was only introduced through the Local Government Code in 1992.

Under the same criteria set in BP 337 (Local Government Code of 1983), a total of three cities became highly urbanized: General Santos (September 5, 1988), Lucena (July 1, 1991) and Mandaue (February 15, 1991). Lucena and Mandaue were special cases, in that because their re-classification into HUC status took place after the ratification of the Constitution (February 11, 1987) but before the effectivity of the Local Government Code of 1991 (January 1, 1992), their residents were allowed to continue to participate in the election of provincial officials as per their respective charters (as amended), by virtue of Sec. 452-c of the LGC. Residents of General Santos were already excluded from voting for provincial officials of South Cotabato since achieving cityhood in 1968; they were therefore unaffected by this exemption.

1992–present
The Local Government Code of 1991 came into effect on January 1, 1992, and has remained in force ever since, though some amendments have been made.  New requirements for creating cities, and upgrading cities to highly urbanized status, were instituted under this Act. The LGC of 1991 was also the first time the independent component city (ICC) category was introduced. These cities are those non-highly urbanized cities whose charters explicitly prohibited city residents to vote in provincial elections. They were finally made completely independent of the province from fiscal, administrative and legal standpoints.

Upgrading

Independent municipality to highly urbanized city
The municipalities of Metro Manila, having been severed from the provinces of Bulacan and Rizal and made independent units in 1975, were converted to highly urbanized cities, beginning in 1994 with Mandaluyong. The most recent, Navotas, became an HUC in 2007. Only Pateros, which does not currently meet the population requirement of 200,000 inhabitants, remains the only independent municipality in Metro Manila.

Component city to independent component city
All that is needed is a congressional amendment to a component city's charter, prohibiting city residents to vote for provincial officials. So far no city has been upgraded this way.

Component/independent component city to highly urbanized city
Since 1992, once a city reaches a population of 200,000 persons as certified by the Philippine Statistics Authority and an income of 50 million (based on 1991 constant prices) as certified by the city treasurer, the city government can submit a request to the President to have their city declared as highly urbanized within 30 days. Upon the President's declaration, a plebiscite will be held within a specific timeframe to ratify this conversion. There are no limits as to the number of times a component city can attempt to become a highly urbanized city, should previous tries be unsuccessful.
 Since 1992 three component cities have been successfully converted into HUCs:
 Puerto Princesa (2007): Proclamation No. 1264 signed on March 26, 2007 declared the capital city of Palawan an HUC. Majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite held on July 21, 2007 approved the conversion.
 Lapu-Lapu (2007): Proclamation No. 1222 signed on January 23, 2007 declared the component city of Lapu-Lapu an HUC. Majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite held on July 21, 2007 approved the conversion.
 Tacloban (2008): Proclamation No. 1637 signed on October 4, 2008 declared the capital city of Leyte an HUC. Majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite held on December 18, 2008 approved the conversion.
 The following component cities failed to become HUCs, for various reasons:
 Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija (1997): Proclamation No. 969 signed on February 13, 1997 declared the former capital of the province of Nueva Ecija an HUC. Majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite held simultaneously with the barangay elections on May 12, 1997 did not approve the conversion.
 Tarlac, Tarlac (2005): Proclamation No. 940 signed on October 27, 2005 declared the capital city of the province of Tarlac an HUC. Majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite held on February 11, 2006 did not approve the conversion.
 Antipolo, Rizal (2011): Proclamation No. 124 signed on March 14, 2011 declared the capital city of the province of Rizal an HUC. On April 4, 2011, Antipolo's city mayor announced that the planned June 18, 2011 plebiscite is indefinitely postponed, effectively suspending the bid to convert the city into an HUC.
 Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija (2012): Proclamation No. 418 signed on July 4, 2012 once again declared the former capital of the province of Nueva Ecija an HUC. The plebiscite was originally set for December 1, 2012, but, due to preparations for the upcoming 2013 national, ARMM and local elections, was rescheduled by COMELEC for January 25, 2014. A week before the rescheduled plebiscite, the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order, which postponed the vote until the case brought by Nueva Ecija governor Aurelio Umali was decided. On April 22, 2014 the Supreme Court ordered COMELEC to include the rest of Nueva Ecija in the plebiscite, given that the province's income will be significantly affected once Cabanatuan attains autonomy as an HUC. COMELEC subsequently rescheduled the expanded plebiscite for November 8, 2014. However, on October 21 COMELEC issued Minute Resolution No. 14-0732, which suspended the voting until the city government of Cabanatuan provides the 101 million needed to administer the expanded plebiscite.

Downgrading

Highly urbanized city to component city
Reclassifying an HUC as a component city likely involves not only amending the concerned city's charter, but also the Local Government Code, as currently there is no provision in the LGC that allows this, nor are there any precedents. Some Cebu City politicians have previously indicated that they wish to bring back the city under the province's control, in order to bring in more votes against the Sugbuak, the proposed partition of Cebu Province.

Independent component city to component city
A congressional amendment to the city charter enabling city residents to vote for provincial officials is required, followed by a plebiscite. Santiago's status as an independent component city was briefly in question after the enactment of Republic Act No. 8528 on February 14, 1998 which sought to make it a regular component city. The Supreme Court on September 16, 1999 however ruled in favor of the city's mayor who contended that such a change in the status of the city required a plebiscite just like any other merger, division, abolition or alteration in boundaries of any political unit. And due to the lack of a plebiscite to affirm such a change, RA 8528 was therefore unconstitutional.

League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP)

The League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) is a non-profit organization and is not a government agency. It has a membership of 143 cities and was founded in 1988. The organization was formed to help coordinate efforts to improve governance and local autonomy and to tackle issues such as preserving the environment and improving public works.

List of cities

, there are 146 cities in the Philippines. Santo Tomas in Batangas is the newest city, after the plebiscite held resulted in approval of ratification on September 7, 2019.

Largest cities

Metropolitan areas

City facts
 By population (2015 census figures):
 Smallest: Palayan (41,041)
 Largest: Quezon City (2,936,116)
 By population density (calculated using 2015 census figures):
 Most densely populated: Manila, with 41,515 people per square kilometer
 Most sparsely populated: Puerto Princesa, with 107 people per square kilometer
 By land area:
 Smallest: San Juan City, with an area of
 Largest: Davao City, with an area of . However, some sources claim that Puerto Princesa covers an area of more than , its officially recognized land area figure (according to IRA share calculation data) is . Contrary to popular belief within the Philippines, Davao City does not hold the record of being the world's largest city in terms of land area.
 By elevation:
 Lowest: Most Philippine cities are located on sea level. However, some parts of Navotas, South Caloocan and Malabon are below sea level, and continue to experience subsidence.
 Highest: much of Baguio is situated more than  above sea level. However, the peak of Mount Apo, the tallest mountain in the Philippines, forms part of Davao City's boundary with the municipality of Bansalan, Davao del Sur; the city of Digos encompasses a section of the Mount Apo Natural Park as well.
 Most extreme points:
 Northernmost: Laoag
 Southernmost: General Santos
 Westernmost: Puerto Princesa
 Easternmost: Bislig

Defunct/dissolved cities
 Legazpi City (1948–1954): Legazpi's cityhood was approved on June 18, 1948. Under Republic Act No. 306, Legazpi became a city after the President of the Philippines proclaimed its cityhood. Comprising the present-day territories of Legazpi City and Daraga, the city was dissolved on June 8, 1954 when Legazpi and Daraga were made into separate municipalities. Legazpi eventually became a city on its own on June 12, 1959.
 Basilan City (1948–1973): Formerly part of the city of Zamboanga until it was made a city on its own in 1948 through Republic Act No. 288. Delimited to only the downtown area of what is now Isabela City upon the creation of the province of Basilan in 1973 through Presidential Decree No. 356 by President Ferdinand Marcos. Finally abolished and its territory annexed to the municipality of Isabela on November 7, 1975 through Presidential Decree No. 840.
 Rajah Buayan City (1966): Under Republic Act No. 4413, the then-municipality of General Santos in what was then the unified province of Cotabato was to be formally converted into a city named after a historical ruler in Mindanao on January 1, 1966, provided that majority of qualified voters in the municipality vote in favor of cityhood in a plebiscite. In December 1965 the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) proclaimed the cityhood of Rajah Buayan, with 4,422 people voting for and 3,066 voting against. However, two residents of the new city challenged this by arguing in the courts that the number of people who voted in favor of cityhood did not form a majority in light of the fact that there were 15,727 voters in the city. The court issued an injunction on January 4, 1966 restraining city officers from performing any acts authorized by or pursuant to provisions in RA 4413. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld this decision on October 29, 1966 and declared that the city charter was not accepted by majority of voters, thus rendering RA 4413 null and void. The municipality of General Santos would later be converted into a city under the same name in 1968.

"League of 16" and legal battles
The Supreme Court of the Philippines, by a highly divided vote of 6–5, on November 18, 2008, subsequently upheld with finality on May 6, 2009, declared unconstitutional cityhood laws converting 16 municipalities into cities. The 24-page judgment of Justice Antonio T. Carpio, adjudged that the following Cityhood Laws violate secs. 6 and 10, Article X of the Constitution of the Philippines:
RA # 9389 (Baybay in Leyte)
RA # 9390 (Bogo in Cebu)
RA # 9391 (Catbalogan in Samar)
RA # 9392 (Tandag in Surigao del Sur)
RA # 9393 (Lamitan in Basilan)
RA # 9394 (Borongan in Eastern Samar)
RA # 9398 (Tayabas in Quezon)
RA # 9404 (Tabuk in Kalinga)
RA # 9405 (Bayugan in Agusan del Sur)
RA # 9407 (Batac in Ilocos Norte)
RA # 9408 (Mati in Davao Oriental)
RA # 9409 (Guihulngan in Negros Oriental)
RA # 9434 (Cabadbaran in Agusan del Norte)
RA # 9435 (El Salvador in Misamis Oriental)
RA # 9436 (Carcar in Cebu)
RA # 9491 (Naga in Cebu)

The Court held that the foregoing Cityhood Laws, all enacted after RA 9009'''s effectivity, "explicitly exempt respondent municipalities from the increased income requirement from 20 million to 100 million in Sec. 450 of the Local Government Code (LGC), as amended by RA 9009. Such exemption clearly violates Section 10, Article X of the Constitution and is thus patently unconstitutional. To be valid, such exemption must be written in the Local Government Code and not in any other law, including the Cityhood Laws."

However, more than a year later, on December 22, 2009, acting on the appeal of the so-called League of 16 Cities (an informal group consisting of the sixteen local government units whose cityhood status had been reversed), the Supreme Court reversed its earlier ruling as it ruled that "at the end of the day, the passage of the amendatory law (regarding the criteria for cityhood as set by Congress) is no different from the enactment of a law, i.e., the cityhood laws specifically exempting a particular political subdivision from the criteria earlier mentioned. Congress, in enacting the exempting law/s, effectively decreased the already codified indicators." As such, the cityhood status of the said 16 LGUs was effectively restored.

In August 24, 2010. In a 16-page resolution, the Supreme Court reinstated its November 18, 2008 decision striking down the cityhood laws, reducing once more the sixteen LGUs to the status of regular municipalities.

The most recent development in the legal battles surrounding the League of 16 came on February 15, 2011. Voting 7-6, the Supreme Court (SC) ruled that 16 towns that became cities in 2007 can stay as cities. This was the fourth time the SC has ruled on the case, and the third reversal. It said the conversion of the 16 towns into cities met all legal requirements.

Rejected cityhood

 Batangas (1965): A majority of the votes cast in the then-municipality of Batangas rejected cityhood in a plebiscite conducted on the same day as the 1965 Philippine general elections, as mandated by Republic Act No. 4586. The city would have been named Laurel City in honor of Jose P. Laurel, the president of the Japanese-sponsored Second Republic. The municipality of Batangas would later be converted into a city under the same name in 1969.
 Tarlac (1969): The city charter of Tarlac (Republic Act No. 5907) was approved on June 21, 1969. Cityhood was rejected in a plebiscite held on November 11, 1969 by a majority of the ballots cast. Tarlac became a city 29 years after, in 1998.
 Ilagan (1999): Republic Act No. 8474, which converted Ilagan to a component city of Isabela, was approved on February 2, 1998. However, majority of votes cast in the plebiscite held on March 14, 1999 rejected cityhood. Ilagan finally became a city after majority of votes cast in the August 11, 2012 plebiscite approved.
 Novaliches (1999): On February 23, 1998 the controversial City Charter of Novaliches (Republic Act No. 8535) was approved, which sought to create a new city out of the 15 northern barangays of Quezon City. Historically a separate town, Novaliches was distributed between Quezon City and northern Caloocan in 1948. In a plebiscite held on October 23, 1999, the majority of ballots cast (which included all voters of Quezon City and not just the 15 barangays) rejected the cityhood of Novaliches.
 Meycauayan (2001): Cityhood was rejected by majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite held on March 30, 2001 to ratify Republic Act No. 9021. Meycauayan became a city five years later with the enactment of Republic Act No. 9356 and its ratification through a plebiscite on December 10, 2006.

Former names

 Cagayan de Oro: The municipality of Cagayan de Misamis was converted to the city of Cagayan de Oro in 1950 through Republic Act No. 521.
 Lapu-Lapu: The municipality of Opon was converted to a city named after Lapu-Lapu, hero of the Battle of Mactan in 1961 through Republic Act No. 3134.
 Marawi: Inaugurated as the City of Dansalan in 1950, renamed to Marawi on June 16, 1956 through Republic Act No. 1552.
 Ozamiz: The municipality of Misamis was converted to a city named after José Ozámiz, the first governor of Misamis Occidental, in 1948 through Republic Act No. 321.
Pasay: Inaugurated as Rizal City in 1947, reverted to Pasay on June 7, 1950 through Republic Act No. 437.
 Roxas: In 1951, the municipality of Capiz was converted to a city named after Manuel Roxas, the first president of the Third Philippine Republic and town native through Republic Act No. 603''.


Beigao Town

Beigao Town is a town in Putian's Licheng District on the central coast of Fujian Province, China. It had 93,684 people in about 16,000 households during the 2010 census.

Geography
Beigao comprises part of the southern shore of Xinghua Bay on the Taiwan Strait and its hinterland. Its  form the southeastern corner of Putian's prefecture, bordering Houhai Lake and Quanzhou.

Administrative divisions
Beigao is composed of 24 villages: Kengyuan  Kēngyuán Cūn), Yuanhou  Yuànhòu Cūn),  Chengshan  Chéngshān Cūn),  Beigao  Běigāo Cūn),  Dongxiang  Dōngxiāng Cūn),  Houji  Hòujī Cūn),  Tingjiang  Tīngjiāng Cūn),  Tingfeng  Tīngfēng Cūn),  Jiangbian  Jiāngbiān Cūn),  Gaoyang  Gāoyáng Cūn),  Gaofeng  Gāofēng Cūn),  Lanshan  Lánshān Cūn),  Fuling  Fúlǐng Cūn),  Duling  Dùlǐng Cūn),  Wucheng  Wúchéng Cūn),  Shanqian  Shānqián Cūn),  Chengtou  Chéngtóu Cūn),  Chengqian  Chéngqián Cūn),  Qianting  Qiántíng Cūn),  Chongqin  Chōngqìn Cūn),  Donggao  Dōnggāo Cūn),  Zhuzhuang  Zhúzhuāng Cūn),  Meilan  Měilán Cūn), and Daifeng  Dàifēng Cūn). These oversee 128 zìráncūn () and 248 cūnmín xiǎozǔ ().


Qiaotou, Dongguan

Qiaotou () is a town under the jurisdiction of the prefecture-level city of Dongguan in the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong province, China. It is located at the eastern periphery of Dongguan.

External links


Takatsuki-class destroyer

The Takatsuki class destroyer was a vessel of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. It was the predecessor of the , and was mainly used for anti-submarine warfare duties.

In 1985-1988, Takatsuki and Kikuzuki were upgraded with Sea Sparrow SAM launchers, Harpoon missile anti-ship missile launchers, Phalanx CIWS systems (Kikuzuki only), new FCS (FCS-2-12) fire control radar and TASS. Mochizuki and Nagatsuki were in the upgrade program, but were eventually not upgraded.

Ships

Books
The Maru Special, Ships of the JMSDF No.57 Takatsuki class escort vessels, Ushio Shobō (Japan), November 1981
The Maru Special, Ships of the JMSDF No.78 Electronics weapons, Power Plants and Helicopters, Ushio Shobō (Japan), August 1983


2017 World Weightlifting Championships – Men's 56 kg

The Men's 56 kg competition at the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships was held on 29 November 2017.

Schedule

Medalists

Records

Results


Benefield

Benefield is a civil parish in East Northamptonshire, England, along the A427 road and about  east of Corby and  west of Oundle.

History
The name has evolved from Benefield (11th century); Banefield, Benifeld (12th); Beningfelde, Benefilde, Berifelde, Benetfeld, Benifeud, Beningfeud (13th); Benyngfielde alias Benefielde alias Beddingfielde (16th). The Domesday Book refers to it as Benefield.

Demographics
According to the 2001 Census it had a population of 308, 146 males and 162 females in 138 households. increasing to 339 at the 2011 census.

Governance
The parish consists of Upper Benefield and Lower Benefield. The village has its own Parish Council. The local district council is East Northamptonshire Council where the village is part of Oundle Ward and the county council is Northamptonshire County Council where it is in Oundle division.

Facilities
Lower Benefield has a village hall which was refurbished in 2009.

Upper Benefield used to have a pub 'The Wheatsheaf' pub and hotel, originally a coaching inn dating from the 17th century. The pub is now closed and being renovated to residential properties. There is also a cricket club.

Benefield Parish Church in Lower Benefield is dedicated to St Mary and is part of the Benefice of Benefield, Glapthorn and Oundle St Peter's. It is in the Rural Deanery of Oundle and is part of the Archdeaconry of Oakham within the Diocese of Peterborough. The church was re-built in 1847 and paid for by James Watts Russell of Biggin Hall, about  west of Benefield (see below). Only the chancel of the old church was retained, dating from the 14th-century.

Notable residents
 Miles Joseph Berkeley (1803-1889)  cryptogamist, clergyman, and founder of the study of plant pathology

Other buildings

Biggin Hall
The Hall dates from ca.1700 and is partly hidden behind a portico of ca.1750. There are two pavilions at each end. Miles Joseph Berkeley (1 April 1803 – 30 July 1889), an English cryptogamist and clergyman, and one of the founders of the science of plant pathology, was born in the Hall.

Benefield Castle
Established in 1208, all that remains is a moated platform west of the church. It has been derelict since 1315 or earlier. It may have been one of the numerous forts thrown up during the anarchy of King Stephen's reign (1138–44). It was in existence in 1208, when John seized it for the debts of Hugh de Lisurs. On 15 May 1264, the day following the Battle of Lewes, Henry III, while a prisoner with Simon de Montfort, issued a mandate to the knights and others in Benefield Castle, stating that peace having been made between the king and his barons, they were not to go out of the castle nor do any ill in those parts. It was probably in the following year that, the castle being held for Edward the king's son, the men of the castle plundered the manor of Biggin and crossed the river to Oundle, where and at Ashton they took a number of cattle. The men of Oundle, however, made a counter-attack and recovered many of their beasts. Not long after this date the castle was probably dismantled. In 1298 it is described as an old castle, (fn. 4) and in 1315 the site of the castle only is referred to. (fn. 5) It continued a ruin and is so described in 1378.

Rectory Farm
The building dates from 1877-8 and is tall and gabled.

Fermyn Woods Hall
Located about  south-west has an Elizabethan centre in the plan of a letter 'E' with neo-Elizabethan extensions of ca.1850. The south side of the stables has the gateway from nearby Lyveden New Bield as its centrepiece. The Hall was occupied by the Belville family in the 1930s. When they left its size was reduced and parts auctioned off including the elaborate large porch.


Yagan Railway

The  is a Japanese railway company whose major shareholders include the Tochigi and Fukushima prefectural governments. It operates a single railway line, the .

The name of the line comes from the kanji characters of the ancient provinces of  (now Tochigi Prefecture) and  (now Fukushima Prefecture).

Aizu Kinugawa Line

The  is a 30.7 kilometre railway line from Shin-Fujiwara Station in Nikkō, Tochigi to Aizu-Kōgen Oze-guchi Station Minamiaizu, Fukushima, Fukushima Prefecture. Its nickname is the .

The name of the line comes from the Aizu area at the northern end and the Kinugawa Onsen hot spring resort area at the southern end.

History
The construction began as a part of the Japan Railway Construction Corporation. It was taken over by Yagan Railway.
9 October 1986: Starts operations.
12 October 1990: Direct service onto Aizu-Tajima Station on Aizu Railway Aizu Line begins.
18 March 2006: The nickname Hot Spa. Line debuts.

Stations


JC's Girls

JC's Girls (short for Jesus Christ's Girls, also called the JC's Girls Girls Girls Ministry) is an evangelical Christian women's organization in the United States whose members evangelize to female workers in the sex industry. The organization supports women wishing to leave the industry, but does not try to persuade them to do so. The group does not focus upon conversion but rather on communicating its message that Christians exist who are not judging female sex workers and are willing to accept them. The organization also helps both women and men seeking to overcome pornography addiction.

The organization was founded by Heather Veitch, who worked as a stripper for four years before becoming a Christian and leaving the sex industry in 1999. She founded JC's Girls on Good Friday in March 2005; it was based at Sandals Church in Riverside, California, with the support of the California Southern Baptist Convention. In January 2006, JC's Girls went to Las Vegas to operate a booth at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo that received much traffic and news coverage.

By 2008, Veitch had moved to Las Vegas and based the organization at Central Christian Church in nearby Henderson, Nevada. The former stripper and call girl Theresa Scher and the social worker Sheri Brown founded the San Diego chapter of JC's Girls at the Rock Church in 2007. Veitch, Scher, and Brown resigned from JC's Girls in 2011, 2012, and 2014 respectively, leaving the leadership of the organization to Laura Bonde. , the sole chapter of JC's Girls is in San Diego.

Terry Barone, spokesperson for the California Southern Baptist Convention, said that JC's Girls members "are doing what Jesus did ... He ministered to prostitutes and tax collectors." JC's Girls members have been criticized for dressing like sex workers, a look that Veitch said is intended to help women in the sex industry identify with the group.

A Baptist minister from San Bernardino, California criticized JC's Girls for not explicitly encouraging women in the sex industry to quit, and quoted Matthew 6:24, a Bible verse that states that a person cannot serve two masters. In response to the idea that strippers should quit their jobs before attending a church, Veitch said, "Do we ask gluttons to stop eating too much before they come to church?" Philip Sherwell of the Calgary Herald called the evangelism of JC's Girls "America's most unusual Christian outreach operation".

Ideology

JC's Girls, also called the JC's Girls Girls Girls Ministry, is an evangelical organization that calls itself "a biblically-based Christian ministry". JC's Girls is less focused on seeking conversions than on communicating the message to women in the sex industry that Christians exist who are willing to non-judgmentally accept them.

Initially, the organization focused on evangelizing to strippers and erotic dancers, but later began to engage with women in other areas of the sex industry, such as softcore pornographic models and call girls. The organization also diversified to support people with pornography addiction. Members of the organization evangelize at adult entertainment conventions and strip clubs.

Out of a belief that many women in the sex industry have been spiritually abused by Christians trying to frighten them out of the sex industry with warnings of damnation, JC's Girls focuses on telling these women that God loves them. JC's Girls volunteers tell the women about the gospel but do not try to persuade them to leave the sex industry; the organization recognizes that is often not financially viable for women in the sex industry to immediately sacrifice their employment.

JC's Girls connects female sex workers with churches the organization believes to be non-judgmental, hoping that the women will experience the love of Christ through these churches and that they will thereby eventually have the support and strength they need to leave the industry. Prior to referring a woman to a church, JC's Girls puts the church through a formal approval process to ensure that the church will not be judgmental. If women express a desire to leave the sex industry, JC's Girls attempts to support them in doing so.

JC's Girls aims to convey to women in the sex industry that Jesus loves them, that they are beautiful, and that they have dignity. Its volunteers often style themselves with eyelash extensions, stiletto heels, skinny jeans, skin-tight T-shirts, and backcombed hair to convey the message that such things are, in their view, not sinful.

History

Background

Veitch worked as a stripper for four years in the Las Vegas area and California. After she had appeared in four pornographic films in the softcore and fetish genrestrample fetish specificallypublic discussion about the Year 2000 problem and the end of the world caused her to think that she might experience divine judgment for her lifestyle.

She then became a Christian, married her boyfriend Jon, started and completed a course in cosmetology, left the sex industry, and became a hairdresser all by September 1999. In 2003, Veitch discovered that a friend of hers who was working as a stripper had died as a result of alcoholism. Veitch began to evangelize to strippers because she wished she had told her friend about the gospel before she died.

By 2005, Veitch was working as a hairdresser in Riverside, California. One of her clients was Lori Albee, a housewife with two children and no experience with the sex industry. Veitch told Albee about her friend who had died and to whom she wished she had evangelized. Albee suggested that they start telling other strippers about Jesus.

Matt Brown, Veitch's pastor at Sandals Church, arrived for a haircut and Veitch asked him for help to start an organization to minister to sex workers. He was interested. Veitch and Brown started Matthew's House, an organization they founded as "a ministry to help people working in or addicted to the sex industry". They chose the name "Matthew's House" in reference to the Calling of Matthew, a gospel episode in which Jesus eats with sinners at the home of Matthew the Apostle.

By 2011, JC's Girls chapters were based in Las Vegas, Nevada; Riverside, California; San Diego, California; Austin, Texas; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. , the San Diego chapter is the sole chapter that remains.

Riverside chapter
On Good Friday in March 2005, Veitch, Albee, and six other women went to a strip club in Riverside and paid for lap dances. Instead of accepting the dances, they talked with the strippers, telling them that they were loved and accepted by God, that churches were composed entirely of sinners, and that they would be welcome there. One of the lap dancers cried and told Albee she had often wanted to go to a church but had never done so because she had thought that she would be rejected. The woman accepted a prayer from Albee and hugged her.

Albee would later say that talking with women at the strip club that first day changed her life. Because the volunteers received more positive responses than they had expected, they decided to continue to evangelize at strip clubs. To organize these activities, Veitch and Albee founded JC's Girls, with "JC" standing for Jesus Christ. They made Matthew's House the parent organization, but decided to operate primarily under the name "JC's Girls" because Veitch believed that strippers would not understand the meaning of the name "Matthew's House".

Veitch became the head of JC's Girls, and the 17,000-member Sandals Church became the organization's base of operations. The church is part of the California Southern Baptist Convention, which supports JC's Girls. The church gave JC's Girls a $10,000 budget in its first year.

The organization's members continued visiting strip clubs across California, paying for private dances and then evangelizing the strippers. Within six months of its founding, the organization's members had persuaded several strippers to start attending a church and were only once asked to stop. One of these women was fired from a strip club because she started attending Sandals Church, but she continued attending the church, saying that Brown's preaching helped her get through the week.

By December 2005, Veitch, Albee, and teacher Tanya Huerter had become the organization's leaders. Two months later, Huerter, who also had no experience with the sex industry, said, "I have a heart for these girls. I believe God created sex for marriage. But God will meet these girls where they are." Veitch, Albee, and Huerter invited Christian women from other churches in the area to volunteer with JC's Girls, and approximately 90 churches responded with interest.

JC's Girls received public attention in December 2005, when UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph published an article about the organization's activities. The article prompted additional media coverage from other newspapers, television programs, and radio stations both across the United States and internationally, including news outlets as far away as France and India. Veitch began dividing her time between managing JC's Girls, appearing in the media, and serving as a caregiver for her terminally-ill husband, who had brain cancer.

In January 2006, JC's Girls went to Las Vegas to operate a booth at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo—the largest trade fair for pornography in the United States. The booth was decorated in the style of the booths advertising strip clubs; the women wore sleeveless shirts with the organization's name in sequins. When men attending the convention visited the booth thinking that JC's Girls was a strip club, the women asked them to guess what "JC" meant and gave attendees a sticker reading: "I've been booby-trapped by JC's Girls."

JC's Girls told thousands of male attendees about the gospel, distributed more than 200 Bibles wrapped in T-shirts reading "Holy Hottie", and gave out DVDs of a sermon by Brown about pornography addiction. Jesse Jane was one of the women who accepted a Bible. Many convention attendees wished to take pictures with the JC's Girls volunteers. Veitch was interviewed for a variety of media, including a CNN news broadcast and a documentary film by Bill Day, who had previously made the film Missionary Positions about XXXchurch.com, another Christian organization that was operating a booth at the trade fair.

Also in January 2006, Brown approved a $50,000 budget for JC's Girls for the year. By April, seven strippers had attended Sandals Church because of JC's Girls and strippers from across the United States had contacted the organization looking for local churches. In an attempt to dispel accusations that the JC's Girls message might be motivated by jealousy, Veitch lost weight and became more physically fit. She said that she wanted strippers "to know that if I wanted to, I could be a stripper again, but I choose to live my life for the Lord."

Original website

Within the first few months of founding JC's Girls, Veitch, and Albee launched the organization's first official website, which initially received little traffic. Three months later, it had received 40,000 hits. By December 2005, the organization had received messages through its website from pornographic film actors and men with pornography addiction who said that JC's Girls had changed their lives.

A slogan on the main page of the website read, "If you are a CHRISTIAN ... See us in ACTION ...". Without asking for payment, Veitch's friend, pornographic film director James DiGiorgio, took glamour photographs of Veitch, Albee, and Huerter for the JC's Girls website. DiGiorgio was not a Christian, but said that he was helping these organizations in order to support their freedom of speech; he said that the sex industry is "always trying to preach freedom of speech [so] anyone in this industry who has a problem with [JC's Girls'] message is a fucking hypocrite. You can't have it both ways." Within a year of the organization's founding, Veitch, Albee, and Huerter were maintaining Myspace pages that they used to offer support, counsel, and advice. By 2008, the JC's Girls website was receiving around 15,000 hits per day.

Las Vegas chapter

In 2008, Veitch told Brown that she believed that the JC's Girls ministry needed to move to Las Vegas, and he responded supportively. By 2008, Veitch had moved to Las Vegas and based the new chapter of JC's Girls at Central Christian Church in nearby Henderson, Nevada, leaving the leadership of the Riverside chapter to Albee. That year, Veitch collaborated with Annie Lobert, a former call girl working with Hookers for Jesus, an organization similar to JC's Girls. The organizations were both represented at that year's AVN Adult Entertainment Expo.

M,,,,,,,,,,,,,,The PussyCat Preacher, a documentary film about Veitch's experiences starting JC's Girls, was released that February. The following month, pornographic film actor Sophia Lynn left the sex industry after becoming a Christian; she underwent more than a year of counselling with Veitch through JC's Girls. Veitch had flown to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to spend a weekend educating Celebrate Community Church about the sex industry. The church soon gave Lynn a job in its office, a scholarship to go to college, and a place to live. Lynn said, "I hope I don't have to wake up from this. I feel like my life has been saved."

San Diego chapter
In San Diego, Theresa Scher, a stripper and call girl, was looking for a way out of the sex industry when she watched a CNN interview with Albee about her work with JC's Girls in Riverside. Scher contacted 1 because they understand from personal experience the situations of the women they are trying to help. By 2011, members of the San Diego chapter of JC's Girls were visiting strip clubs twice each month. They pray before, during, and after each visit and a team of other members pray for them from another location.

Carrie Prejean started volunteering with the San Diego chapter of JC's Girls in 2008 and became Miss California USA the following year. At the Miss USA 2009 competition, Prejean became the subject of a controversy because of her response to a question about same-sex marriage. Scher said that the controversy would not affect Prejean's involvement with the organization and that the issue of same-sex marriage was not relevant to the group's activities. Prejean said that in volunteering with JC's Girls, she encountered pornographic models who, through exploitation and abuse, had developed very low self-esteem but who had regaied a sense of their own dignity because of their interaction with JC's Girls volunteers.

By 2009, approximately 40 women were on the chapter's active evangelism team, and they had given pink Bibles to most of the strippers in San Diego County. They paired these Bibles with other gifts, including lip gloss, necklaces, and lotions, in order to pique the strippers' interest. In August 2010, Brown went to Warsaw, Ohio, to briefly join forces with Anny Donewald, a former stripper and founder of Eve's Angels, an organization similar to JC's Girls. Together, Brown and Donewald negotiated a peace accord between women working at a strip club and members of a local church who had been picketing the club for four years.

The strippers had been counter-protesting by dancing in bikinis in front of the church during Sunday services while Tommy George, the club's owner, played music from his car. Brown and Donewald spoke at the church, urging them to stop protesting at the strip club and saying, "It's not our job to tell these women that it's time to get out of there ... Just love them. Let the Holy Spirit draw them out." Brown and Donewald also visited the strip club and spoke with the strippers, two of whom became Christians while continuing to work at the club. The peace accord received much publicity, but the church's members, led by their pastor Bill Dunfee, resumed picketing once Brown had returned to San Diego. George and his club's strippers returned to their counter-protesting.

By 2011, several of the strippers JC's Girls members had spoken with in San Diego had begun attending a Bible study hosted by the organization and the chapter had helped one stripper leave the sex industry and gain unrelated employment. In March 2011, the chapter sent a delegation to Adultcon at the Los Angeles Convention Center, where Scher and Brown spoke with conference attendees and offered them prayer. That July, Veitch resigned from JC's Girls so she could spend more time with her family, handing the leadership of the organization to Scher and Brown. In June 2012, Scher gave up her co-leadership of the organization to focus on her family, leaving the leadership to Brown.

By 2013, the organization had established guidelines regulating the transition of women from the sex industry into participation in the evangelistic activities of JC's Girls. The woman must consistently attend a Bible study for four months, read Francine Rivers' book Redeeming Love, and be interviewed by the chapter's leaders, who then decide whether the woman should join the organization's outreach team. These guidelines were established because some women who had quickly gone from working in the sex industry to evangelizing with JC's Girls soon left the organization and returned to the sex industry. Brown left JC's Girls in April 2014 and Laura Bonde took over leadership of the organization.

Reception

When JC's Girls first started receiving funds from Sandals Church in 2005, some of the church's members were displeased that their tithes and offerings were being given to strip clubs. In 2006, Brown said that funding the activities of JC's Girls was worthwhile because the sex industry "has been largely ignored by the evangelical church," and the budget allotted to JC's Girls is small compared to the money made by the sex industry.

Sandals Church members were also concerned that ministering to strippers would be ineffective. Brown responded by referring to Veitch's conversion, suggesting that other strippers could have similar experiences. Terry Barone of the California Southern Baptist Convention asserted that JC's Girls members "are doing what Jesus did ... He ministered to prostitutes and tax collectors."

Brown said that the most common complaint that he received about JC's Girls was "the way Heather Veitch looks... her breasts are too big, and she looks too much like a stripper", a complaint to which he responded that "God can use any individual to change the world".

Veitch said in 2008 that Christians commonly say that JC's Girls dress like sex workers, but she said that the look is intended to help women in the sex industry identify with the group. Annie Lobert of Hookers for Jesus, a similar group that collaborates with JC's Girls, said around the same time that Christians make the same kind of comments about her and her ministry—"They say my T-shirt is too tight", said Lobert, "but, hey, when in Vegas, do as Vegas does".

Controversy regarding his involvement with JC's Girls threatened to lose Brown his church facility on the California Baptist University campus, but the church united in support of JC's Girls and remained in the same location. Barone said that Baptists might find viewing the JC's Girls website awkward, but that it was not intended for them.

Stephen Clark of the Los Angeles Times called it "an edgy website [with] provocative appeals." Sarah Sumner, author of Men and Women in the Church, said in Bill Day's 2008 documentary film The Pussycat Preacher that some Christians might oppose the female-led JC's Girls because of 1 Timothy 2:12, a Bible verse that can be interpreted as restricting positions of authority in church to men. Brown said elsewhere in the film that it made more sense for women to lead JC's Girls "because a woman would be the most welcome in the industry".

In its first year, JC's Girls was criticized for allowing DiGiorgio to take glamorous photographs of Veitch, Albee and Huerter for their website. Veitch responded to this criticism with the assertion that "it is not a sin to be attractive or dress cute," and that the photographs were intended to persuade women in the sex industry to dismiss the idea that Christianity is about "being locked up in a house with a Bible." DiGiorgio said that JC's Girls is correct in believing that many women in the sex industry need to be rescued from self-destructive behavior, but he did not think that encouraging the women to become Christians would necessarily help them.

The Family Research Council, an American Christian lobbying organization, has endorsed JC's Girls. In his 2013 book Evangelicals and the Arts in Fiction, writer John Weaver writes that science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein wrote about evangelicals as being sexually repressed and eventually undergoing a sexual revolution. Weaver offers JC's Girls and XXXchurch.com as evidence that Heinlein's fiction is becoming a reality. By 2007, adherents of UFO religion Raëlism had responded to JC's Girls by forming "Raël's Girls", an organization with a similar outreach program but a very different message, encouraging sex workers to try to maximise their own sexual pleasure while serving clients.

In 2006, a Baptist minister from San Bernardino, California criticized JC's Girls for not explicitly encouraging women in the sex industry to quit. He commended Veitch "for her zeal and desire to reach the lost for Christ", but asked, "How can you stay in the industry and have a relationship with God?", and quoted Matthew 6:24, a Bible verse that states that a person cannot serve two masters.

In response to the idea that strippers should quit their jobs before attending a church, Veitch said, "Do we ask gluttons to stop eating too much before they come to church?" At the 2006 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo, photographer Michael Grecco photographed Veitch, Albee, and Huerter and included the image in his 2007 book Naked Ambition: An R Rated Look at an X Rated Industry. In the image caption, he called the trio a "devout Christian trinity".

Philip Sherwell of the Calgary Herald called the organization's evangelism "America's most unusual Christian outreach operation". A journalist for UK newspaper The Observer compared JC's Girls to XXXchurch.com, writing in 2006 that both of "these ministries are in some way reforming the church as well as their would-be followers."

Notes