Legislative districts of South Cotabato
The legislative districts of South Cotabato are the representations of the province of South Cotabato and the highly 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.
History
Prior to gaining separate representation, areas now under the jurisdiction of South Cotabato were represented under the Department of Mindanao and Sulu and the undivided province of Cotabato.Republic Act No. 4849, enacted on June 18, 1966, created the province of South Cotabato 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 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.
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 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.
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; 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. 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 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. However, the city will effectively constitute 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 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 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 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 City.
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.
| Period | Representative |
| 19th Congress 2022-2025 |
1st District
- City: General Santos
- Municipalities: Polomolok, Tampakan, Tupi
- Population : 856,536
| Period | Representative |
| 8th Congress 1987-1992 | Adelbert W. Antonino |
| 9th Congress 1992-1995 | Luwalhati R. Antonino |
| 10th Congress 1995-1998 | Luwalhati R. Antonino |
| 11th Congress 1998-2001 | Luwalhati R. Antonino |
| 12th Congress 2001-2004 | Darlene R. Antonino-Custodio |
| 13th Congress 2004-2007 | Darlene R. Antonino-Custodio |
| 14th Congress 2007-2010 | Darlene R. Antonino-Custodio |
| 15th Congress 2010-2013 | Pedro B. Acharon Jr. |
| 16th Congress 2013-2016 | Pedro B. Acharon Jr. |
| 17th Congress 2016-2019 | Pedro B. Acharon Jr. |
| 18th Congress 2019-2022 | Shirlyn Bañas-Nograles |
Notes
2nd District
- City: Koronadal
- Municipalities: Banga, Lake Sebu, Norala, Santo Niño, Surallah, Tantangan, T'Boli
- Population : 653,199
| Period | Representative |
| 8th Congress 1987-1992 | Hilario L. De Pedro III |
| 9th Congress 1992-1995 | Daisy P. Avance-Fuentes |
| 10th Congress 1995-1998 | Daisy P. Avance-Fuentes |
| 11th Congress 1998-2001 | Daisy P. Avance-Fuentes |
| 12th Congress 2001-2004 | Arthur Y. Pingoy, Jr. |
| 13th Congress 2004-2007 | Arthur Y. Pingoy, Jr. |
| 14th Congress 2007-2010 | Arthur Y. Pingoy, Jr. |
| 15th Congress 2010-2013 | Daisy P. Avance-Fuentes |
| 16th Congress 2013-2016 | Ferdinand L. Hernandez |
| 17th Congress 2016-2019 | Ferdinand L. Hernandez |
| 18th Congress 2019-2022 | Ferdinand L. Hernandez |
3rd District (defunct)
| Period | Representative |
| 8th Congress 1987-1992 | James L. Chiongbian |
| 9th Congress 1992-1995 | James L. Chiongbian |
Lone District (defunct)
- encompasses present-day provinces of Sarangani and South Cotabato, and the highly urbanized city of General Santos
| Period | Representative |
| 6th Congress 1965-1969 | see Lone district of Cotabato |
| 6th Congress 1965-1969 | James L. Chiongbian |
| 7th Congress 1969-1972 | James L. Chiongbian |
Notes
At-Large (defunct)
- encompasses present-day provinces of Sarangani and South Cotabato, and the highly urbanized city of General Santos
| Period | Representatives |
| Regular Batasang Pambansa 1984-1986 | Rufino B. Bañas |
| Regular Batasang Pambansa 1984-1986 | Hilario B. De Pedro |
| Regular Batasang Pambansa 1984-1986 | Rogelio Garcia |