Sultan Kudarat, officially the Province of Sultan Kudarat ( hil, Kapuoran sang Sultan Kudarat;
Maguindanaon
Maguindanao (, Jawi: ), Maguindanaon or Magindanao is an Austronesian language spoken by a majority of the population of Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur in the Philippines. It is also spoken by sizable minorities in different par ...
: ''Dairat nu Sultan Kudarat'',
Jawi: دايرت نو سلطان كودرت; ceb, Lalawigan sa Sultan Kudarat; tl, Lalawigan ng Sultan Kudarat), is a
province in the
Philippines located in the
Soccsksargen region in
Mindanao. Its capital is
Isulan and the commercial center is
Tacurong.
Etymology
The name ''Sultan Kudarat'' given to the province was derived from the
Maguindanaon
Maguindanao (, Jawi: ), Maguindanaon or Magindanao is an Austronesian language spoken by a majority of the population of Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur in the Philippines. It is also spoken by sizable minorities in different par ...
Muslim ruler,
Sultan Muhammad Dipatuan Kudarat who begun to assert his leadership in the year 1619 and reigned in the
Sultanate of Maguindanao from 1625 to 1671. Through his leadership, Spanish forces were successfully repelled from encroaching the Cotabato region of south-central Mindanao.
He is considered a national hero, and in his honor the province was named after him.
History
Sultan Kudarat was once part of the
Sultanate of Maguindanao. It became one of the stronghold of the
Maguindanao
Maguindanao (, Maguindanao language, Maguindanaon: ''Prubinsya nu Magindanaw''; Iranun language, Iranun'': Perobinsia a Magindanao''; tl, Lalawigan ng Maguindanao) was a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the ...
society as some royal families have established their own Sultanate in the region.
Sultan Kudarat was part of the former province of
Cotabato
Cotabato or North Cotabato ( hil, Aminhan Cotabato; ceb, Amihanang Cotabato; Maguindanaon: ''Pangutaran Kutawatu'', Jawi: ڤڠوترن كوتاواتو; fil, Hilagang Cotabato), officially the Province of Cotabato, is a landlocked province in ...
, until its creation as an independent province (along with
Maguindanao
Maguindanao (, Maguindanao language, Maguindanaon: ''Prubinsya nu Magindanaw''; Iranun language, Iranun'': Perobinsia a Magindanao''; tl, Lalawigan ng Maguindanao) was a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the ...
and
North Cotabato) on November 22, 1973, through ''Presidential Decree No. 341''.
Palimbang massacre
One notable event that took place in Sultan Kudarat was the Palimbang Massacre (also called the Malisbong Masjid Massacre), which saw the
mass murder
Mass murder is the act of murdering a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. The United States Congress defines mass killings as the killings of three or more pe ...
of
Moro residents of Barrio Malisbong in
Palimbang
Palimbang, officially the Municipality of Palimbang ( hil, Banwa sang Palimbang; tl, Bayan ng Palimbang; mdh, Inged nu Palimbang, Jawi: ايڠايد نو ڤاليمبڠ), is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Sultan Kudarat, Philippin ...
by units of the
Philippine Military on September 24, 1974,
–1,500
two years after
Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. ( , , ; September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled under martial ...
declared
martial law. Accounts compiled by the Moro Women's Center in
General Santos City state that 1,500 male Moros aged 11–70 were killed inside a
mosque, 3,000 women and children aged 9–60 were detained – with the women being raped – and that 300 houses were razed by the government forces.
Geography
Sultan Kudarat is situated on the southwestern section of central
Mindanao. It is bounded on the north by the provinces of
Maguindanao
Maguindanao (, Maguindanao language, Maguindanaon: ''Prubinsya nu Magindanaw''; Iranun language, Iranun'': Perobinsia a Magindanao''; tl, Lalawigan ng Maguindanao) was a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the ...
and
Cotabato
Cotabato or North Cotabato ( hil, Aminhan Cotabato; ceb, Amihanang Cotabato; Maguindanaon: ''Pangutaran Kutawatu'', Jawi: ڤڠوترن كوتاواتو; fil, Hilagang Cotabato), officially the Province of Cotabato, is a landlocked province in ...
; on the south by
South Cotabato
South Cotabato ( hil, Bagatnan Cotabato; ceb, Habagatang Cotabato; Maguindanaon: ''Pagabagatan Kutawatu'', Jawi: ڤاڬابڬتن كوتاواتو; tl, Timog Cotabato), officially the Province of South Cotabato, is a province in the Philippine ...
and
Sarangani
Sarangani, officially the Province of Sarangani ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Sarangani; hil, Kapuoran sang Sarangani; Maguindanaon: ''Dairat nu Sarangani'', Jawi: دايرت نو سارڠني; fil, Lalawigan ng Sarangani), is a province in the Philipp ...
; on the east by
Davao del Sur; and on the west by the
Moro Gulf and the
Celebes Sea. The province's total land area is .
Two major mountain ranges encompass the province; the
Alip Mountain Range in Columbio and the
Daguma Mountain Range within the towns of Bagumbayan, Isulan and Esperanza. The three coastal towns on the province's western side (Lebak, Kalamansig and Palimbang) are lined with mountain ranges that separate the central part of the province from the sea. There are also mountains on the eastern side, leaving flat land in between.
The province has an irregular coastline of in its three coastal towns, which face the Celebes Sea. These coastal areas are prone to
tsunamis coming from the Celebes Sea. Approximately 2/3 of
Lake Buluan's area is covered by the province in the towns of Lutayan and President Quirino. There are 7 major rivers within the province:
Alip,
Allah
Allah (; ar, الله, translit=Allāh, ) is the common Arabic word for God. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from '' al- ilāh'', which means "the god", an ...
,
Kapingkong,
Tran
Tran may refer to:
Arts, media, and entertainment
* "Tran", a novel in the Janissaries series named for a fictional planet
* Dr. Tran, an animated miniseries
People
* Trần (陳), a Vietnamese surname
* Tran, member of the Nazi-era comedy d ...
,
Salaman,
Palimbang
Palimbang, officially the Municipality of Palimbang ( hil, Banwa sang Palimbang; tl, Bayan ng Palimbang; mdh, Inged nu Palimbang, Jawi: ايڠايد نو ڤاليمبڠ), is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Sultan Kudarat, Philippin ...
and
Kabulnan. Additionally, there are 23 large creeks and 11 major springs within the province.
Land use and soil types
Forestland constitutes majority of the province land use (50.32% ), followed by agricultural land (44.77%), fishing grounds (2.42%), non-agricultural land (1.16%), "other bodies of water" (1.02%), and fishponds (0.31%).
Five major soil types are found within the province, majority of which is classified as ''Mountain Soil'' (71%), followed by ''Sandy Loam'' (12.036%), ''Silty Clay Loam'' (4.880%), ''Clay Loam'' (4.612%) and ''Loamy Sand'' (0.185).
Climate
The climate of Sultan Kudarat falls under Type IV of Climate (characterized by rain showers or evenly distributed rainfall throughout the year). Heavy rainfall occurs from April to November. Unlike most other provinces in the country, Sultan Kudarat is generally free from
typhoons as it is situated outside the "typhoon belt".
The average temperature is , with as the average maximum normally occurring in March. The lowest recorded was in the Kulaman area in December to early January.
Administrative divisions
Sultan Kudarat comprises 11
municipalities and 1
city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
. Three of the municipalities (
Kalamansig
Kalamansig, officially the Municipality of Kalamansig ( mdh, Inged nu Kalamansig, Jawi: ايڠايد نو كلامانسيڬ), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Sultan Kudarat, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a pop ...
,
Lebak, and
Palimbang
Palimbang, officially the Municipality of Palimbang ( hil, Banwa sang Palimbang; tl, Bayan ng Palimbang; mdh, Inged nu Palimbang, Jawi: ايڠايد نو ڤاليمبڠ), is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Sultan Kudarat, Philippin ...
) are coastal towns, while the rest of the province is located inland. The 11 municipalities and Tacurong City are further subdivided into 249
barangays.
Tacurong City is the smallest unit in the province by land area, but is the most urbanized and is considered the province's commercial center. Other growth centers are
Lebak and
Isulan, the latter being the provincial capital.
Demographics
The population of Sultan Kudarat in the 2020 census was 854,052 people, with a density of .
At the 2000 census, the province had a total population of 586,505 inhabitants, which grew to 747,087 in the 2010 census. About 113 ethnic groups were identified in the province in the 2000 Census. The
Hiligaynons constitute the majority of the population, with Hiligaynon being the province's most widely spoken language. Other languages spoken in the province are
Maguindanaon
Maguindanao (, Jawi: ), Maguindanaon or Magindanao is an Austronesian language spoken by a majority of the population of Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur in the Philippines. It is also spoken by sizable minorities in different par ...
,
Karay-a,
Dulangan Manobo,
Blaan,
Teduray The Teduray are a Filipino ethnic group. They speak the Tiruray language. There were 103,139 of them in 2010. Their name may have come from words ''tew,'' meaning people, and d''uray,'' referring to a small bamboo hook and a line used for fishing.
...
,
Ilocano, and
Cebuano.
Tagalog
Tagalog may refer to:
Language
* Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines
** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language
** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language
* Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Tagal ...
and
English are also widely understood and used in education, business, and administration as the national official languages.
Aside from the Hiligaynons, who settled in Sultan Kudarat around the 17th to 18th centuries along with the Karay-as, whereas their fellow new settlers from Visayas continued until the Philippine independence, other ethnic groups in the province include the
Maguindanaons (who constitute the majority of the provincial Muslim population), as well as the
Manobos,
Teduray The Teduray are a Filipino ethnic group. They speak the Tiruray language. There were 103,139 of them in 2010. Their name may have come from words ''tew,'' meaning people, and d''uray,'' referring to a small bamboo hook and a line used for fishing.
...
s and
Blaans, the three autochthonous ethnic groups of the province. Ilocanos and Cebuanos meanwhile are relative newcomers to the province, with the former comprising the majority of the population in the towns of Lambayong and President Quirino, and the latter in the town of Kalamansig.
Religion
The four major religious groups in Sultan Kudarat are
Roman Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
(55.99%),
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
(22.88%),
Evangelical (7.20%), and
Iglesia ni Cristo (2.26%). Other Christian groups constitute most of the remainders such as the
Seventh-day Adventists,
United Church of Christ in the Philippines,
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...
,
United Methodist Church, Southern Baptists, as well as "tribal religions".
In 2015 the Philippine Statistics Authority recorded Islam followed by 29.48% of the population.
Economy
The economy of Sultan Kudarat is predominantly agricultural. The leading crops produced in the province are rice, corn, coconuts, coffee, bananas, mangoes, durians and African palm. The province is self-sufficient in poultry, swine and root crops, and is one of the few producers of
Irish potatoes in the Philippines. The southern Philippines Grain Complex in Tacurong is the largest grains-processing complex in the country. There are more than 200 rice mills in the province.
Fishing is an industry in the three coastal towns of the province (Kalamansig, Lebak and Palimbang).
Tuna caught along the coasts along the
Celebes Sea are exported to Japan and Europe.
Other economic activities include
cottage industries, which include crafts made of
rattan and other types of wood.
Metallic minerals, which include copper, gold and silver, are found within the mountainous areas of Isulan, Bagumbayan, Sen. Ninoy Aquino, Palimbang and Columbio. Non-metallic minerals which include sand, gravel and marbleized limestone are also found in the province.
Education
For the school year 2009–2010, the province has 475 schools (401 public and 74 private), 368 of which were elementary schools, 90 were secondary, and 17 were tertiary.
Sultan Kudarat State University
Sultan Kudarat State University (SKSU; fil, Pamantasang Pampamahalaan ng Sultan Kudarat ) is a state university in the province of Sultan Kudarat, Mindanao, Philippines. Formerly Sultan Kudarat Polytechnic State College, it became a university ...
is the only public tertiary school within the province,
with its main campus at Tacurong City. Its other campuses are situated in Bagumbayan, Isulan, Kalamansig, Lutayan, Palimbang, and Senator Ninoy Aquino.
Health facilities
In 2010, Sultan Kudarat had 27 hospitals (5 government-owned, 22 private and 1 mobile hospital), which are classified into 17 primary
(6-25 beds capacity), 8 secondary (25-100 beds capacity) and 2 tertiary (over 100 beds capacity). Tacurong had the most number of hospitals in the province with 11, followed by Isulan with 5.
Transportation
As of 2010, the provincial road network spanned a total length of of which 49.26% were
barangay roads, 27.97% provincial roads, 13.51% municipal/city roads and 9.25% national roads. Bagumbayan had the longest road network at , while Lutayan had the shortest at .
Sultan Kudarat has two seaports: the ''Port of Lebak'' in Kalamansig and the ''San Roque Port'' in Palimbang, and four airports (2 government-owned: Lebak Municipal Airport and President Quirino Airport, and 2 privately owned: Kalamansig Airport and Kenram Airport).
Government
Elected Officials
The following are the elected government officials and their years of tenure:
Elected Officials :
* Governor: Pax S. Mangudadatu
* Vice Governor: Raden C. Sakaluran
** 1st District w/ Tacurong City: Suharto T. Mangudadatu
** 2nd District: Horacio Suansing
Elected Officials :
* Governor: Suharto T. Mangudadatu
* Vice Governor: Ernesto F. Matias
** 1st District w/ Tacurong City: Rep. Raden C. Sakaluran
** 2nd District: Rep. Arnulfo F. Go
Elected Officials :
* Governor: Suharto T. Mangudadatu
* Vice Governor: Donato A. Ligo
** 1st District w/ Tacurong City: Rep. Pax S. Mangudadatu
** 2nd District: Rep. Arnulfo F. Go
Elected Officials :
* Representative: Suharto T. Mangudadatu
* Governor: Pax S. Mangudadatu
* Vice Governor: Donato A. Ligo
Elected Officials :
* Representative: Angelo O. Montilla
* Governor: Pax S. Mangudadatu
* Vice Governor: Miguel Domingo T. Jacalan III
Elected Officials :
* Representative: Angelo O. Montilla
* Governor: Nesthur R. Gumana
* Vice Governor: Rose P. Jamison
Elected Officials :
* Representative: Estanislao Váldez
* Governor: Nesthur R. Gumana
* Vice Governor: Sinsuat A. Andang, Sr.
List of former governors
The former governors who have administered the province are:
* Carlos B. Cajelo
* Gonzalo H. Siongco
* Conrado E. Buencamino
* Benjamin C. Duque ; was elected Governor
* Aurelio C. Freires, Jr.
* Perfecto C. Bautista
* Fidel A. Fortez
* Exequiel S. Mayordomo
* Nesthur R. Gumana
* Rosila P. Jamison
* Pax S. Mangudadatu
* Suharto T. Mangudadatu
* Pax S. Mangudadatu
* Suharto T. Mangudadatu
Festivals
Festivals celebrated within the province include:
* Kalimudan — celebrated in the province of Sultan Kudarat, a gathering of ethnic groups within the province
* Bansadayaw — celebrated in Bagumbayan
* Kastifun — celebrated in Columbio
* Hinabyog — celebrated in Esperanza
* Hamungaya — celebrated in Isulan
* Salagaan — celebrated in Kalamansig
* Timpuyog — celebrated in Lambayong
* Kapeonan — celebrated in Lebak
* Kanduli — celebrated in Lutayan
* Kalilang — celebrated in Palimbang
* Sambuyawan — celebrated in President Quirino
* Sulok — celebrated in Senator Ninoy Aquino
* Talakudong — celebrated in Tacurong City
Citations
References
*
External links
*
*
Official website of the provincial government of Sultan KudaratLocal Governance Performance Management SystemManila Statues: Sultan Kudarat Monument Information
{{Authority control
Provinces of the Philippines
States and territories established in 1973
1973 establishments in the Philippines