When coming from a foreign understanding, figuring out how to correctly format Philippine addresses can be confusing. Although much of the Philippine government was modeled after the U.S., you will soon find that comparing the two is almost like comparing apples to oranges. In order to get a better grasp on the Philippines mailing address format, we thought we would compare it in layman’s terms against the United States standard address format. Before we do that, however, let's examine the Philippine equivalents of common U.S. administrative divisions:
| U.S.A | Philippines |
| States | Provinces |
| Counties & Districts | Administrative Regions |
| Cities & Townships | Cities & Villages |
| Neighborhoods | Barangays |
| Blocks | Sitio/Purok |
| Complex & Cul-de-sac | Compounds |
| Streets | Streets |
| Street # | Street #, Compound, or Building Name |
| Apartment/Unit # | Apartment/Unit # |
Don’t understand what your looking at? Ever heard of administrative regions, barangays, or sitios before? You're not alone! Think of the Philippines Administrative regions as districts or counties that are large enough to be states, but do not serve the purpose that state governments do, instead they are mainly for the distribution of government funds and programs. Provinces, on the other hand, are more like States in that provincial Governors hold much of the same power as States in the United States do. Cities essentially act the same as they do in the U.S. with Mayors and all that jazz ???? The main difference being, that due to both a higher general population and a population that is harder to locate and manage, cities are further divided into an ancient system of government called “Barangays.” Barangays, being the smallest administrative division in the Philippines, also have their own elected officials that serve these divisions exclusively. A “sitio” or “purok” is simply a further subdivision of a barangay that is often outside the barangay center, they do not serve any function other than organization and distribution.
What you’ll often find in the Philippines is a multitude of various mysterious buildings, compounds, and lots that comprise much of the first line of the typical Philippines mailing address format. This is because the vast majority of citizens in this country do not live on an actual street as defined by western terminology, or they do not belong to actual official development. Another thing you’ll notice is that the Philippines doesn’t normally utilize an address line 2 for apartment numbers, instead, this is usually added at the beginning of address line 1. In fact, much of how the addresses are formatted there may be backward from what you are used to. For this reason, it’s common that the first time one mails a package to the Philippines, they might worry if the package will ACTUALLY arrive at the correct destination! To avoid any confusion I’ve gone ahead and listed a detailed example of both the universal U.S. mailing address format and the universal Philippines mailing address format, side-by-side for your convenience.
The standard U.S. mailing address format is normally as follows:
Name or Company
Street # & street name or “PO Box” & PO Box #
Unit # (if applicable)
City/Municipality then State abbreviation, zip code
Country (if mailing internationally)
Example
Herman Munster
123 Mockingbird Lane
Unit #1
Mockingbird Heights City, CA 90001
Comparatively, the standard Philippines mailing address format is normally as follows:
Name or Company
Unit # (if applicable) then Building/apartment name or compound name (if applicable), Lot/Block # (if applicable)
Street# & street name (if applicable) then if not directly on the street write “Interior” or “PO Box” & PO Box # then Post Office Name
Sitio (if applicable), Barangay
City/Municipality, Province, Zip Code
Country (if mailing internationally)
Example
Samuel Miguel
Unit #A Sunshine Condos, MC-99
123 Muddy Street Interior
Nawanao, Subangdaku
Mandaue City, Cebu 6014
Philippines
