Last modified: 2023-06-03 by 
zachary harden
Keywords: soccsksargen | mindinao | south cotabato | cotabato | sultan kudarat | sarangani | general santos city |
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Flag images here drawn after Symbols of the State, published by the Philippines Bureau of Local Government.
See also:
![[North Cotobato, Philippines]](../images/p/ph-nco.gif)
by Jaume Ollé,
12 January 2001
The Philippine province of Cotabato, like the rest of southern and western
Mindanao, was part of the Maguindanao Sultanate,
which established its freedom from Spain by treaty in 1645 under Sultan Mohammed
Kudarat. The Spanish did not succeed in subjugating the last of it until 1861.
The Province of Cotabato was formerly much larger; when it was reduced to its
present dimensions in 1973 it was named "North Cotabato," and the name survives
in popular use. "Cotabato" derives from the Maguindanao phrase "kuta wato,"
stone fort, which the tribesmen built to prevent foreign rule. Another
inconvenience to foreign rule appears on the shield: the wavy sword, or "kris"
(variously spelled), that was also used in what is now Indonesia. Christians
from the Visayas and Luzon now make up the greater part of the population, and
Christian-Moslem rioting in the early 1970s led to massacres. In 1989 the
province voted not to be part of the Autonomous Region of
Muslim Mindanao.
![[City of Cotobato, Philippines]](../images/p/ph-cq.gif)
by
Dirk Schönberger,
12 January 2001
Source: Symbols of the state
Flag not known.
![[South Cotobato, Philippines]](../images/p/ph-sco2.gif)
by Jaume Ollé,
12 January 2001
![[South Cotobato, Philippines]](../images/p/ph-sco.gif)
by Jaume Ollé,
12 January 2001
The Philippine Province of South Cotabato formerly curved all the way around
Sarangani Bay in Southern Mindanao. The eastern shore was separated as the
Province of Sarangani in 1992, long after this flag was adopted. South Cotabato
has since adopted a new flag to suit its new circumstances. This flag therefore
represents the former province. The area is quite mountainous. The plow and
animals at the bottom signify agriculture and stock-raising. The stock-raising
is now concentrated in Sarangani. Coconuts and bananas are major crops, as are
rice, maize, and pineapples. Fishing is also important. General Santos City,
though not the capital (that is Koronadal), is South Cotabato's most populous
subdivision (411,800 of the province's 1,102,550 inhabitants by the 2000 census)
and an active port. It splits Sarangani in two. The Tasaday, who became famous
some decades ago as a primitive tribe utterly ignorant of the outer world,
having no metals and no word for evil, live in South Cotabato and Sarangani - if
they exist at all. A special reserve was created to keep them isolated, and some
suspect that the Tasaday were a hoax perpetrated by the Marcos government for
some obscure reason.
John Ayer, 8 June 2001
The website at
http://asmi2.dyndns.org/cyber-flag/Html/Cotabatomeridional.htm reports the
blue-yellow-white flag, although the yellow field flag was reported in 2001.
It is not known if this is a change in flag, or an incorrect image.
Jay Allen Villapando, 18 March 2005
![[General Santos, Philippines]](../images/p/ph-gs.gif)
by
Dirk Schönberger,
12 January 2001
Source: Symbols of the state
Preliminary results of the 2000 census show General Santos has a population of
412,000 (slightly rounded),
John Ayer, 11 February 2001
![[General Santos, Philippines]](../images/p/ph-suk.gif)
by Jaume Ollé,
12 January 2001
North of the Philippine Province of South Cotabato is Sultan Kudarat in
Region XII, Central Mindanao. It has a population of 586,500 by the
2000 census. It has a smooth coastline along the Moro Gulf. The land
area of 4778 sq.km. is divided into twelve towns or municipalities, of
which Isulan is the capital. The province's economy is mainly
agricultural, the rich soil growing everything from peanuts and potatoes
(underground) to coconuts, African oil palms, and orchids (in the air).
The most splendid and expensive of these last is the Waling-Waling,
Vanda sanderiana, "the queen of orchids," but there are hundreds of
other species.
Sultan Mohammed Dipatuan Kudarat of Maguindanao ruled most of Mindanao
in the first half of the seventeenth century, and extended his authority
north into the Visayas and southwest through the Sulus to the coast of
Borneo. The Spanish, trying to extend their authority over the same
territory, were repeatedly beaten. In 1645 they signed a treaty with
Sultan Mohammed Kudarat, recognizing the independence of his state.
Part of Mindanao remained independent of Spain for two hundred years.
Today the highest honor awarded by the Republic of the Philippines is
named for Sultan Kudarat.
In the twentieth century non-Moslem immigrants, mostly Visayas, settled
in large numbers in parts of Mindanao which had previously been Moslem.
The Province of Sultan Kudarat, created in 1973, was originally
designated for inclusion in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao,
but opted out by popular vote in 1989.
John Ayer, 10 June 2001