Each local government consists of an executive body and a local council, each of
which is headed by locally elected persons who serve 4-yr terms. The elected executive
is referred to as the ‘‘mayor’’ of a municipality. The mayor also serves as chair of any PAO
or TAO falling within its boundaries. The mayor is the chief political head of a local executive
body and is held accountable to the local council and to the residents. The executive
is also responsible for preparing local development policies and annual budgets which are
ultimately evaluated and officially adopted by the council. These three types of general forms of local governments are uniformly applied in all 75 provinces, and their relationships
are arranged into a two-tier governing system.