The legislative districts of South Cotabato are the representations of the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

South Cotabato South Cotabato, officially the Province of South Cotabato, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Soccsksargen Regions of the Philippines, region in Mindanao. Its capital is Koronadal (also the regional cen ...

and the urbanized city of

General Santos General Santos, officially the City of General Santos and abbreviated as GenSan, is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Regions of the Philippines, region of Soccsksargen, Philippines. According to ...

in the various national legislatures of the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. The province is currently represented in the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the

Congress of the Philippines The Congress of the Philippines () is the legislature of the national government of the Philippines. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of an upper body, the Senate of the Philippines, Senate, and a lower body, the House of Representatives ...

through its first and

second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

congressional districts.

Sarangani Sarangani, officially the Province of Sarangani (; ; Maguindanao language, Maguindanaon: ''Dairat nu Sarangani'', Jawi Alphabet, Jawi: دايرت نو سرڠان; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the ...

was last represented as part of South Cotabato in 1995, while

is represented separately since 2022.

History

Prior to gaining separate representation, areas now under the jurisdiction of South Cotabato were represented under the

Department of Mindanao and Sulu The Department of Mindanao and Sulu was an agency of the United States colonial administration in the Philippine Islands task to administer all Muslim-dominated areas in the territory. It was established on July 23, 1914, pursuant to Act No. 2 ...

(1917–1935) and the undivided province of Cotabato (1935–1967). Republic Act No. 4849, enacted on June 18, 1966, created the province of

from the southern municipalities of the old Cotabato province. Normally in this time period chartered cities — by virtue of being independently governed — are not enumerated as part of new provinces. However, given that the legality of the plebiscite results which ratified the Charter of the City of Rajah Buayan (Republic Act No. 4413, enacted on June 19, 1965) was still being decided in the courts at the time of R.A. 4849's approval, Section 1 of the said law explicitly listed the City of Rajah Buayan as part of South Cotabato in case it reverted to its former status as the municipality of

, which eventually happened on 29 October 1966 when the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

nullified the 6 December 1965 COMELEC proclamation declaring the creation of the new chartered city. Per Section 5 of Republic Act No. 4849, South Cotabato's first separate representative was elected in a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

held on the same day as the 1967 senatorial elections and began to serve starting in the second half of the 6th Congress. When

finally became a city under the same name on June 15, 1968, by virtue of Republic Act No. 5412, it remained part of the representation of South Cotabato in accordance with Section 104 of its city charter. South Cotabato was represented in the

Interim Batasang Pambansa The Interim Batasang Pambansa ( English: Interim National Assembly) was the legislature of the Republic of the Philippines from its inauguration on June 12, 1978, to June 5, 1984. It served as a transitional legislative body mandated by the 1 ...

as part of Region XI from 1978 to 1984. The province returned three representatives, elected at-large, to the

Regular Batasang Pambansa The Regular Batasang Pambansa (English language, English: Regular National Assembly), or the First Batasang Pambansa, was the meeting of the Batasang Pambansa (legislature), Batasang Pambansa from the beginning of its session on July 23, 1984 ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

. Under the new Constitution which was proclaimed on February 11, 1987, the province was reapportioned into three congressional districts; each elected its member to the restored

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

starting that same year. The passage of Republic Act No. 7228 and its subsequent ratification by plebiscite on 11 May 1992 separated South Cotabato's entire third district to create the new province of

. This automatically reduced the province's representation to two districts. The former third district first elected a representative under the designation '' Lone congressional district of Sarangani'' beginning in the 1995 election. The signing of Republic Act No. 11243 on March 11, 2019 created a new congressional district for the highly urbanized city of

by separating it from South Cotabato's first district. The city is designated as the " Lone Legislative District of General Santos" in the title of Republic Act No. 11243, but also as the "Third Legislative District of South Cotabato" in the text. However, the city effectively constitutes a lone district, as it does not vote for provincial officials of South Cotabato. Given that it was already too late for the

Commission on Elections An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

(COMELEC) to change the old congressional district configuration data in the automated election system in time for the May 2019 polls, COMELEC Resolution No. 10524 was promulgated on April 11, 2019, to delay the elections for both the new lone congressional district of General Santos and the newly reconfigured first congressional district of South Cotabato to a date no less than six months from May 13, 2019. By virtue of COMELEC Resolution No. 10552, the date of elections for the first district of South Cotabato and the lone district of General Santos was set for October 26, 2019. However, on September 10, 2019, the

Supreme Court of the Philippines The Supreme Court (; colloquially referred to as the ' (also used in formal writing), is the highest court in the Philippines. It was established by the Taft Commission on June 11, 1901, through the enactment of Act No. 136, which abolished th ...

declared COMELEC Resolution No. 10524 null and void for violating the law, when COMELEC set separate special elections for the reconfigured first district of South Cotabato and the newly created lone district of General Santos instead of using the new district boundaries in the next regular (i.e., 2022) election, as RA 11243 intended. In the same ruling, the Supreme Court ordered COMELEC to convene a Special Provincial Board of Canvassers to proclaim the winning candidate, Shirlyn L. Bañas-Nograles who garnered 68.55% of the votes cast in the May 2019 election, as the duly elected representative of the 1st Congressional District of South Cotabato, including General Santos. The Supreme Court ruling effectively maintains the old district configuration for the 18th Congress, and sets the election of the first separate representative for General Santos in the 2022 elections. By virtue of Republic Act No. 11243, General Santos was designated as Third District of South Cotabato. On August 20, 2021, House Bill No. 10021 was filed by Representative Ferdinand Hernandez reapportioning the second district, creating a new third district and making General Santos officially a single legislative district separate from the province of South Cotabato. It passed on third and final reading in the House of Representatives on September 15, 2021, and in the Senate on January 31, 2022, with an amendment where the first election for the reapportioned seats will be in

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

. Polomolok, Tampakan and Tupi will constitute the first district; Koronadal, Banga and Tantangan will constitute the second district; and Norala, Santo Niño, Surallah, Lake Sebu and T'boli will constitute the third district. The bill lapsed into a law without then President

Rodrigo Duterte Rodrigo Roa Duterte (, ; born March 28, 1945) is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the first Philippine president from Mindanao, and is the oldest person to assum ...

's signature on June 2, 2022, and was indexed under Republic Act No. 11804.

Current

1st District

Municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

: Polomolok, Tampakan, Tupi *Area: 957.97 *Population (2020): 287,082

2nd District

City A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

Koronadal Koronadal, officially the City of Koronadal (; ; ; Maguindanao language, Maguindanaon: ''Kuta nu Kurunadal'', ) and also known as Marbel, is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city and capital of the Provinces of the P ...

: Banga, Tantangan *Area: 243.42 *Population (2020): 330,306

3rd District

: Norala, Santo Niño, Surallah,

Lake Sebu Lake Sebu ( Tboli: ''Lanaw Sbù'', ; Hiligaynon: ''Linaw sg Sëbu'', ; Filipino: ''Lawa ng Sëbu'') is a natural lake located in the municipality of Lake Sebu, South Cotabato within the Alah Valley region. The Philippine government has reco ...

, T'boli *Area: 906.39 *Population (2020): 358,088