Surallah, officially the Municipality of Surallah (
Hiligaynon: ''Banwa sang Surallah''; mdh, Inged nu Surallah,
Jawi: ايڠايد نو سور الله), is a 1st class
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
in the
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...
of
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 ...
,
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 89,340 people.
History
![Surallah Municipal Hall At Night](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Surallah_Municipal_Hall_At_Night.jpg)
The Municipality of Surallah was created by virtue of Republic Act 3420 on June 18, 1961, as later amended by RA 3664 on June 22, 1963. Its history is generally reckoned with the influx of settlers coming from their abilities under the settlements Programs of NLSA; RPC-NDC; NARRA and LASEDECO.
Surallah started as 6th Class Municipality with 26 barrios and a population of 26,162 settling in a vast land area of 97,000 hectares. The rapid growth of its cluster barrios made the support of the new town. The creation of the Municipality of T’boli in 1964 making six (6) barrios integrated in thus, reducing the total land area to 31,200 hectares. Subsequently, three (3) Barangays were created from their mother barangay; hence, the municipality has 23 officials barangay.
Lately, the booming tourism industry in the south made to be the primary factor of the birth of the new Municipality of Lake Sebu in 1982, causing the reduction of the total land area and population of Surallah from 31,200 to 31,110 hectares and from 52,703 to 42,467 respectively. The separation of Lake Sebu into Municipality made another reduction in the number of barangay from 23 to 17.
The influential leadership of the municipality triggered the tremendous growth development from a small span of years from its creation up to 1990. First, the administration of the Jose T. Sison who served the Municipality from 1963 to 1978 until the election for regional representatives caused Mayor Jose T. Sison to become the Assemblyman of Region XI. Former barrio treasurer of Libertad, Federico Magalona, Jr. was appointed to assume the office until the Local Election of January 31, 1980. The concluded poll gave the mayoralty seat to Conrado P. Haguisan to serve from seat Lorenzo Delmo until November 21, 1987, who vacated the post to run in the January 18, 1988 election. From December 1, 1987, to January 31, 1988, former OIC Councilor Sodusta served as OIC Mayor. The election in January 1988 gave back the local leadership to former Assemblyman Jose T. Sison as Municipal Mayor of Surallah who served for three terms until May 1998. The race for Local leadership in May election proved to be competitive among aspirants who had eventually won by Romulo O. Solivio. The new leadership brought necessary changes in the administration more specific on a gradual shift from traditional type to a more conventional way of governance by re-inventing new techniques thru dynamic participative approaches.
There is no official source of information regarding the origin of the name of the place, but precolonial settlers had reportedly named the place ''Šukran Allâh'', ''šukran'' being the
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
equivalent of “Thanks be to God.” Colonial-era settelrs from
Luzón and the
Visayas
The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Bisayan languages, Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; tl, Kabisayaan ), are one of the three Island groups of the Philippines, principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Luzon and Mindanao ...
then later modified the name into ''Surallah'' which loosely means “South of
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 ...
”. The town's name parallels that of
Norala
Norala, officially the Municipality of Norala ( hil, Banwa sang Norala; krj, Banwa kang Norala; ceb, Lungsod sa Norala; tl, Bayan ng Norala; mdh, Inged nu Nurala), is a 3rd class municipality in the province of South Cotabato, Philippines. Ac ...
, which itself is a
corruption
Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
of the
Spanish es, label=none, norte del
alle del ríoAla. The origin inhabitants of the area are the ''tagabilis'', a
mountain tribe people who moved inward after the arrival of the Christian settlers from Luzon and Visayas. The latest census of May 2000 gave Surallah the Officials population count of 66,208.
In July 1991, Surallah was reclassified from fifth class to third class Municipality being considered as one of the most progressive municipality in the province of South Cotabato. Subsequently, in 1993, it became a second class municipality and later in July 1997 it was reclassified as first class municipality by the Department of Finance. It received recognition as the country's "cleanest and greenest" municipality in 1995 by the Presidential Awards for the Cleanest and Greenest Local Government Units of the Philippines.
Banking on the Potentials for Agro-industrial and commercials developments, the administration geared its program toward making Surallah as the Agro-industrial and commercial center for Allah Valley Area where vision is specifically addressed to. As economic activities flourished in the area, more people especially businessmen settled into the place which contributed much to faster pace of development.
The municipality's vision as an Agro-industrial and Commercial center of the Allah valley Area for the coming years continues as it directs its mission towards providing infrastructure developments, economic supports services and facilities to attract and encourage growth of investments in the municipality. Aside from these, the improvement of the social services, the conservation of the natural resources and protection of the environment are also priority development objectives of this fast growing municipality presently serving as the economic center of the Allah Valley Area.
Geography
Located in
Soccsksargen
Soccsksargen (officially stylized in all caps; ), formerly known as Central Mindanao, is an administrative region of the Philippines, designated as Region XII. Located in south-central Mindanao, its name is an acronym that stands for the region ...
or Region XII of
Mindanao
Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...
Island, the municipality is seated about south-west of province capital city of Koronadal and about south-south-east of Philippine capital
Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
. Based on its urban area, it is 18th biggest municipality of the region and has placed 6th of the biggest municipalities in South Cotabato.
Barangays
![Surallah South Cotabato 9](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Surallah_South_Cotabato_9.jpg)
Administratively the Municipality of Surallah is subdivided into 17 barangays. One forms the center of the municipality whereas the other 16 are in the outlying areas. Some of them are even several kilometers away from the town proper.
Climate
Demographics
![Surallah South Cotabato 12](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Surallah_South_Cotabato_12.jpg)
According to the 2010 census, Surallah has a population of 76,035 residents and belongs to the 294 cities and municipalities in the Philippines which have more than 50,000 inhabitants but did not reach 100,000 yet. Based on the number of its inhabitants Surallah is number 255 of the most populous municipalities of the Philippines and at 59 in Mindanao Island and at 5 of the most populous municipalities of the province of South Cotabato.
Economy
![Surallah South Cotabato 19](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Surallah_South_Cotabato_19.jpg)
As economic activities flourished in the area, more people especially businessmen settled into the place, which contributed to a faster pace of development.
ts functional role is an Alternate Provincial Agro-industrial Center. While being a major producer of corn and rice, Surallah has explored its vast potential for progress.
Recognized as the champion-advocate of the Clean and Green Program, Surallah envisions the integral development of the municipality and the people. Through the USWAG Surallah Program, a multi-sectoral approach to addressing the main thrust of its people, Surallah is certain to be the next leading agri-industrial zone in the province of South Cotabato.
Agriculture is the major economy of Surallah, but multinational companies like
Dole Philippines has constructed a plant in the municipality. Also, major economic boom in the municipality was due to its location. Surallah is in the center of many National Road thus, many businessmen settled here because it is in the center of some municipalities. It is the Economical Center of the Upper Valley Area, which is composed of all the municipalities of Tboli, Lake Sebu, Banga, Norala, Santo Nino and Surallah. Together they function like a metropolitan area with Surallah as its Central Business District.
Income classification
Surallah has an average income of PhP 147,499,170.72 as of 2010, certified by the Commission on Audit. According to the Philippine income classification for provinces (cities and municipalities), Surallah is a 1st class municipality.
Transportation
![Surallah RoundBall-Landmark](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Surallah_RoundBall-Landmark.jpg)
;By land
The Surallah Integrated Public Terminal (SIPT) has trips every 30 minutes every day to Tboli, Lake Sebu and Koronadal (6:00am–7:00pm) 4x daily trip to General Santos City and for bus, there is a trip to Koronadal City every 30 minutes (6:00am–7:00pm) daily and 6x a day trip to Tacurong City with a stop to Isulan.
;By air
Allah Valley Airport
Allah Valley Airport ( hil, Hulugpaan sang Datag sang Allah, ceb, Tugpahanan sa Bingawog sa Allah) is an airport serving the general area of Allah Valley, located in the province of South Cotabato in the Philippines. There are currently no sched ...
serves the general area of Surallah. It is located in the
Allah Valley
The Allah Valley (at times also spelled Alah) is a large valley of the Allah River in the provinces of South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat on the island of Mindanao, Philippines. It is formed by the Roxas-Matulas Range in the north and the Daguma ...
.
The airport is classified by the Air Transportation Office as a secondary airport, or a minor commercial domestic airport.
Today, there are no commercial flights in this airport because of its obsolete facilities and Cotabato and General Santos are handling commercial flights
Healthcare
![Surallah South Cotabato 16](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Surallah_South_Cotabato_16.jpg)
*Landero Clinic and Hospital
*Lariosa Clinic and Hospital
*Surallah Community Hospital
*Upper Valley Community Hospital
*Maghari Medical Clinic
References
External links
Surallah Municipal Government WebsiteSurallah Profile at the DTI Cities and Municipalities Competitive Index*
Philippine Standard Geographic Code
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
br>
Local Governance Performance Management System
{{Authority control
Municipalities of South Cotabato