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The legislative districts of South Cotabato are the representations of the province of South Cotabato and the urbanized city of General Santos in the various national legislatures of the Philippines. The province is currently represented in the lower house of the Congress of the Philippines through its first and second congressional districts.
Sarangani was last represented as part of South Cotabato in 1995, while General Santos City will be represented separately beginning in 2022.
Prior to gaining separate representation, areas now under the jurisdiction of South Cotabato were represented under the Department of Mindanao and Sulu (1917–1935) and the undivided province of Cotabato (1935–1967).
Republic Act No. 4849, enacted on June 18, 1966, created the province of South Cotabato from the southern municipalities of the old Cotabato province. [1] 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 [2] ) 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 General Santos, which eventually happened on 29 October 1966 when the Supreme Court nullified the 6 December 1965 COMELEC proclamation declaring the creation of the new chartered city. [3]
Per Section 5 of Republic Act No. 4849, South Cotabato's first separate representative was elected in a special election held on the same day as the 1967 senatorial elections [1] and began to serve starting in the second half of the 6th Congress. When General Santos 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. [4]
South Cotabato was represented in the Interim Batasang Pambansa as part of Region XI from 1978 to 1984. The province returned three representatives, elected at-large, to the Regular Batasang Pambansa in 1984.
Under the new Constitution which was proclaimed on February 11, 1987, the province was reapportioned into three congressional districts; [5] each elected its member to the restored House of Representatives 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 Sarangani. [6] 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 [7] created a new congressional district for the highly urbanized city of General Santos 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. [7] However, the city will effectively constitute a lone district, [8] as it does not vote for provincial officials of South Cotabato.
Given that it was already too late for the Commission on Elections 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. [9] 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. [8]
However, on September 10, 2019, the Supreme Court of the Philippines 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 [7] intended. [10] 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 City. [10]
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 to the 2022 elections. By virtue of Republic Act No. 11243, General Santos is 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. [11] It passed on third and final reading in the House of Representatives on 15 September 2021 and on the Senate on 31 January 2022 with an amendment where the first election for the reapportioned seats will be on 2025. Polomonok, Tampakan and Tupi will constitute the first district, Koronadal, Banga and Tantangan on the second district while Norala, Santo Niño, Surallah, Lake Sebu and T'boli on the third district. The bill lapsed into a law without then President Rodrigo Duterte's signature on June 2, 2022, and was indexed under Republic Act No. 11804 [12]
Period | Representative |
---|---|
19th Congress 2022–2025 | Isidro D. Lumayag |
Period | Representative [14] |
---|---|
8th Congress 1987–1992 | Adelbert W. Antonino |
9th Congress 1992–1995 | Luwalhati R. Antonino |
10th Congress 1995–1998 | |
11th Congress 1998–2001 | |
12th Congress 2001–2004 | Darlene R. Antonino-Custodio |
13th Congress 2004–2007 | |
14th Congress 2007–2010 | |
15th Congress 2010–2013 | Pedro B. Acharon Jr. |
16th Congress 2013–2016 | |
17th Congress 2016–2019 | |
18th Congress 2019–2022 | Shirlyn L. Bañas-Nograles |
Notes
Period | Representative |
---|---|
20th Congress 2025–2028 | TBA |
Period | Representative [14] |
---|---|
8th Congress 1987–1992 | Hilario L. De Pedro III |
9th Congress 1992–1995 | Daisy P. Avance-Fuentes |
10th Congress 1995–1998 | |
11th Congress 1998–2001 | |
12th Congress 2001–2004 | Arthur Y. Pingoy, Jr. |
13th Congress 2004–2007 | |
14th Congress 2007–2010 | |
15th Congress 2010–2013 | Daisy P. Avance-Fuentes |
16th Congress 2013–2016 | Ferdinand L. Hernandez |
17th Congress 2016–2019 | |
18th Congress 2019–2022 | |
19th Congress 2022–2025 | Peter B. Miguel |
Period | Representative |
---|---|
20th Congress 2025–2028 | TBA |
Period | Representative [14] |
---|---|
8th Congress 1987–1992 | James L. Chiongbian |
9th Congress 1992–1995 |
Period | Representative [14] |
---|---|
6th Congress 1965–1969 | see Lone district of Cotabato |
James L. Chiongbian [lower-alpha 1] | |
7th Congress 1969–1972 | |
Notes
Period | Representatives [14] |
---|---|
Regular Batasang Pambansa 1984–1986 | Rufino B. Bañas |
Hilario B. De Pedro | |
Rogelio Garcia |
South Cotabato, officially the Province of South Cotabato, is a province in the Philippines located in the Soccsksargen region in Mindanao. Its capital is Koronadal, and it borders Sultan Kudarat to the north and west, Sarangani to the south and northeast, and Davao del Sur to the far northeast. To the southeast lies Sarangani Bay.
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South Cotabato's at-large congressional district is a defunct congressional district that encompassed the entire province of South Cotabato in the Philippines. It was represented in the House of Representatives from 1967 to 1972 and in the Batasang Pambansa from 1984 to 1986. The province of South Cotabato was created as a result of the partition of Cotabato in 1966 and elected its first representative provincewide at-large during the Philippine House of Representatives special election of November 14, 1967. It covered the combined territories of the present-day South Cotabato and Sarangani provinces including the now-independent city of General Santos. The district remained a single-member district until the dissolution of the lower house in 1972. It was later absorbed by the multi-member Region XI's at-large district for the national parliament in 1978. In 1984, provincial and city representations were restored and South Cotabato elected three members for the regular parliament. The district was abolished following the 1987 reapportionment to establish three districts in the province under a new constitution.
South Cotabato's 1st congressional district is one of the two congressional districts of the Philippines in the province of South Cotabato. It has been represented in the House of Representatives since 1987. The district covers its southern municipalities of Polomolok, Tampakan and Tupi, and, until 2022, the independent city of General Santos. It is currently represented in the 18th Congress by Shirlyn Bañas Nograles of the PDP–Laban.
Sarangani's at-large congressional district is the sole congressional district of the Philippines in the province of Sarangani. It was created ahead of the 1995 Philippine House of Representatives elections following the separation of the third district from South Cotabato in 1992. The province has been electing a single representative provincewide at-large to the House of Representatives from the 10th Congress onwards. It is currently represented in the 18th Congress by Rogelio D. Pacquiao of the PDP–Laban.