The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was proposed in 1976 during the Ferdinand Marcos administration and created on August 1, 1989 through Republic Act No. 6734 in pursuance with a constitutional mandate. In 2012 President Benigno Aquino III described ARMM as a "failed experiment". He proposed an autonomous region named Bangsamoro to replace ARMM with the agreement between the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front. A plebiscite was held in the provinces of Basilan, Cotabato, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, Davao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Palawan, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur; and in the cities of Cotabato, Davao, Dapitan, Dipolog, General Santos, Koronadal, Iligan, Marawi, Pagadian, Puerto Princesa and Zamboanga to determine if their residents wished to be part of the ARMM. Of these areas, only four provinces voted in favor of inclusion in the new autonomous region. The ARMM was officially inaugurated on November 6, 1990 in Cotabato City, which was designated as its provisional capital. The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao ceased to exist after a two-part 2019 plebiscite that ratified the Bangsamoro Organic Law. It was replaced with the new Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and now under the interim government, Bangsamoro Transition Authority.
Proposed autonomous regions
Cordilleras
The Cordillera Administrative Region administers the area that was designated for an autonomous region. Two plebiscites were held in the Cordilleras, the latest in 1998, to create an autonomous region and both failed. There have been bills filed in the Congress of the Philippines to re-propose and establish an autonomous region in the Cordilleras but none of these efforts succeeded. In 1990 plebiscite, which was held to create an autonomous region under Republic Act No. 6766, only Ifugao voted in favor of the law's ratification. The component provinces of the Cordillera Administrative Region at the time and the city of Baguio participated in the vote with only localities voting in favor of the law's ratification to be part of a new autonomous region in the Cordilleras. However only Ifugao voted in favor of the organic law and there was a failed attempt to establish an autonomous region with a single province.
It was proposed that the National Capital Region or Metro Manila be converted to an autonomous region. Metro Manila is governed by mayors of its 16 highly urbanized cities and 1 independent municipality with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority serving as an advisory body to the local government units of the metropolis. Former Quezon City MayorHerbert Bautista had advocated for a Metro Manila autonomous region as an alternative to President Duterte's campaign to shift the system of national government to federalism which would render Metro Manila as an independent federal state within the Philippines.
