This guideline is a part of the English Wikipedia's Manual of Style. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to follow, though it is best treated with common sense, and occasional exceptions may apply. Any substantive edit to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

Shortcuts MOS:PH MOS:PHIL MOS:PHILIPPINES WP:MOSPHIL

To write and edit Philippines-related articles, please follow these conventions.

• Philippine is generally used with inanimate nouns. Examples: the Philippine National Anthem, the Philippine Senate.
  Philippine is also used as an adjective for people when it describes people representing the Philippine nation. Examples: the Philippine president, the Philippine ambassador, a Philippine politician, the Philippine goalkeeper.
  Note that Philippine cannot be used as an adjectival noun: The Philippine was talking to the Frenchman is not idiomatic English.
• Filipino is used as an adjective and adjectival noun to refer to male Philippine citizens or people with Filipino ancestry: a Filipino actor, He is [a] Filipino. It is mainly used for males or mixed-gender groups, or where the gender is unknown. Example: Many Filipinos believe ...
  Filipino may also be used with inanimate nouns, though it is more commonly applied to people. Examples: Filipino jeep, Filipino pottery.
  Filipino is also the name of the national language. Examples: She speaks Filipino, Filipino-speakers.
• Filipina is used when referring to women, both as an adjective and as an adjectival noun. Examples: a Filipina poet, The company is run by a Filipina.
  Filipino women is an expression that is mainly used outside the Philippines and should be avoided in Philippine-related articles; in Philippine English, standard usage is Filipinas, Filipina women or, more rarely, Philippine women.
• Pinoy and the feminine form Pinay are the slang equivalents to Filipino and Filipina respectively, and apply to people only.
• Pilipino or Pilipina are rarely used in English. They may be found in the former name of the Filipino language as well as in the acronym OPM, or Original Pilipino Music.
• Phillippino, Phillipino, Philippino, or Philipino are simply wrong.

Historical figures

Names of historical figures (roughly those who were alive during Spanish rule) should generally follow Spanish conventions outlined at Iberian naming customs. The article title should include the given name and the surname. The first mention of the subject should be in bold and include the whole name, including mother's maiden name and any other names. Exceptions are allowed, especially if the subject is widely known by their whole name, as in the case of Miguel López de Legazpi.

Diacritics or accent marks are to be preserved even if they are unused today.

• Example:
  
  • Article name: José Rizal
    
  • First mention: José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda

Modern figures

Names of modern figures (roughly those who were born during the 20th century) should follow current Philippine naming conventions where the middle name is generally the mother's maiden name. The article title should include the given name and the surname. The first mention of the subject should be in bold and include the whole name, with the mother's maiden name (if used) between the first name and surname.

Names are expected to be written according to contemporary Philippine usage and should not be modified to conform to Spanish usage. This means, in general, that no diacritics are to be used unless they are widely used, as in the case of the name José and the surname Osmeña. Furthermore, this also means that surnames such as Dela Cruz should not be written de la Cruz. Exceptions are allowed only if the person in question generally conforms their name to Spanish usage, such as in the cases of Luis Moreno Salcedo and Guillermo Gómez Rivera.

• Example 1: Corazon Aquino, not Corazón Aquino
• Example 2: Carlos Polestico Garcia, not Carlos Poléstico García, or Carlos García y Poléstico

Article structure for places should follow the guideline as per Wikipedia:WikiProject Cities/Settlements: Article structure.

Infoboxes for provinces should have one map: the country map with the province highlighted. Infoboxes for local governments have the province map with the locality highlighted, and only use Philippines national map for pushpin map, no multiple pushpin maps.

Diacritics except eñe (ñ) are not to be used in place names, hence Cagayan instead of Cagayán and La Union rather than La Unión, but Parañaque instead of Paranaque and Los Baños rather than Los Banos.

Provinces

The name of the province should be written by itself, wherever possible. Furthermore, in the case of a province sharing the same name with a municipality, then the name of the province generally takes precedence. If the province shares its name with an island, then normal disambiguation rules apply including the consideration on whether the island or the province is the WP:PRIMARYTOPIC for the name. Thus, the island is located at Leyte and the province is at Leyte (province).

The word province should not be placed after the province's name, unless it is part of the province's name. The only province this applies to is Mountain Province.

If using the name by itself is not possible for whatever reason, then (province) should be placed after the province's name. Examples: Abra (province), Antique (province), Aurora (province), and Laguna (province).

Municipalities

As a general rule, article titles of municipalities follow the [[municipality-name]] format, without the name of the province, unless a disambiguation is needed or is necessary. In that case, article titles follow the [[municipality-name, Province]] format. Thus: Guiuan and Shariff Aguak but Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay and Santa Praxedes, Cagayan.

Cities

All article titles of cities fall under three types of conventions: general convention, provincial name convention, and "City" convention.

General convention

As a general rule, cities should neither be affixed with the word "City" nor the name of the province in which it is located.  Examples:

• Baguio instead of Baguio City
• Malaybalay instead of Malaybalay, Bukidnon or City of Malaybalay
• Sipalay instead of Sipalay City, Negros Occidental or Sipalay City

This is also applicable to capital cities which are the preferred primary topic, over other places, such as:

• Bacolod for the capital of Negros Occidental, while the lesser-known municipality of the same name goes under Bacolod, Lanao del Norte.

This is also applicable to uniquely-named cities that bear special titles. So far no city in the Philippines falls under this case.

Provincial name convention

If the city has the same name as another city or municipality in the Philippines, disambiguate with a comma and the provincial name after the name of the city (e.g., "Tanauan, Batangas"). If it is in Metro Manila, use Cityname, Metro Manila. This is also applicable to independent and highly urbanized cities, except those names which are unique in the Philippines but not in other countries. The provincial name purports to describe the general area and not necessarily as the mother political unit of the city.

Cases and examples

City with the same name as that of other Philippine city or municipality.

• Naga, Camarines Sur
• Roxas, Capiz^{[under discussion]}
• San Fernando, La Union
• San Fernando, Pampanga
• San Juan, Metro Manila
• Santiago, Isabela

Component city with the same name as that of other non-Philippine city or municipality.

• Isabela, Basilan
• Legazpi, Albay

Cities having non-unique names that bear special titles.

• Muñoz, Nueva Ecija for "Science City of Muñoz"
• Samal, Davao del Norte for "Island Garden City of Samal"

"City" convention

Whenever a city has the same name as that of a Philippine province or region, the word "City" may be provided as part of the city name. Examples:

• Cebu City
• Quezon City
• Zamboanga City

If a highly urbanized city does not have an eponymous toponym or place name even in other countries, but is not the primary topic for other reasons, the word "City" may be used as part of the city name.

• Angeles City – numerous unrelated topics at "Angeles" (disambiguation page)
• Lapu-Lapu City – the primary topic of the name "Lapu-Lapu" is the chieftain, hence it redirects to Lapulapu.

Barangays and districts

Generally, article titles of barangays follow the [[barangay-name]] only format. Where disambiguation is required or is necessary, the name of the city or municipality where it is located is used. It should never be appended by the term "Barangay" as a prefix. Examples: Taliptip (not "Barangay Taliptip") and Santo Domingo, Cainta (not "Barangay Santo Domingo, Cainta"). When further disambiguation warrants, use the name of the province, e.g.: San Juan, San Jose, Dinagat Islands and San Ramon, Gandara, Samar. Poblacion articles are under Cityname, Poblacion format, e.g.: Dapa Poblacion and Kalibo Poblacion.

District names are also treated the same way: Jaro, Iloilo City and Sampaloc, Manila.

Train stations

Articles titles of train stations should generally follow the format of [Name] station (e.g. Dela Rosa station, Ayala station), with parenthetical disambiguation where required. This convention is the result of move discussions at Talk:Tutuban station and Talk:Roosevelt station (LRT); it sets a standard convention that would better align train station names with common usage in the Philippines and local communities, and eliminates previous unwritten conventions such as the use of "railway/LRT/MRT station" in titles (for PNR, LRT and MRT stations respectively), preemptive disambiguation, and the controversial use of bare line numbers to disambiguate stations on Metro Manila's rapid transit network divided between the LRT and MRT systems.

Where disambiguation is needed, it should be either the system (e.g. EDSA station (PNR), Araneta Center–Cubao station (LRT)) province (e.g. San Fernando station (Pampanga)), or line.

In limited cases, there are exceptions where the proper name includes "Station" (e.g. Unified Grand Central Station) or has a common name that do not use "station" (Central Terminal (LRT)).

In general, the use of the term dialects to refer to Philippine languages should be avoided.

When using a language's name in an article, try to ensure consistency by verifying the name in the language's Wikipedia article or in reference works concerning languages of the Philippines (such as Ethnologue).

This means using Hiligaynon over Ilonggo or Visayan, Cebuano over Binisaya or Visayan, Pangasinan over Pangasinense or Pangalatok, Kapampangan over Pampango or Pampangan, Bikol over Bicol or Bicolano, Ilocano over Ilokano or Iloko, etc.

When writing any Wikipedia articles about schools, colleges and universities based in any province, city, or municipality in the Philippines, please add the correct translations in the local Philippine language rather than the Tagalog language.

Avoid explicit or tacit declarations of who is and who is not Filipino, as this is against WP:NPOV, such as Foreign minorities like Xxx and Yyy comprise z% of the Philippine population. A POV-less way of writing the same sentence would be Xxx and Yyy minorities comprise z% of the Philippine population.