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SOCCSKSARGEN, Philippines

Region XII, or SOCCSKSARGEN, was previously known as Central Mindanao, and originally included the provinces of Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao. SOCCSKSARGEN is an acronym for the four remaining provinces, South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani, plus General Santos City.

Flag images here drawn after Symbols of the State, published by the Philippines Bureau of Local Government.

Cotabato
- City of Cotabato
Sarangani
South Cotabato
- General Santos
Sultan Kudarat

Cotabato

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 Cotabato

by Dirk Schönberger, 12 January 2001

Source: Symbols of the state

Sarangani

Flag not known.

South Cotabatu

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

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

Sultan Kudarat

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