Cotabato North Cotabato | |
|---|---|
| Other transcription(s) | |
| • Jawi | اوتار كوتوات |
  .jpg) .jpg)  .jpg) (from top: left to right)Mount Apo Rainforest, Paniki Falls inKidapawan,Kidapawan City Hall, Our Lady Mediatrix of All Grace Cathedral,Lake Venado, and Cotabato Provincial Capitol | |
 Flag  Seal | |
 Location in the Philippines | |
OpenStreetMap  | |
| Coordinates:7°12′N124°51′E / 7.2°N 124.85°E /7.2; 124.85 | |
| Country | Philippines |
| Region | Soccsksargen* |
| Foundation |
|
| Capital and largest city | Kidapawan |
| Government | |
| • Governor | Emmylou T. Mendoza (NP) |
| • Vice Governor | Rochella Marie T. Taray (Lakas-CMD) |
| • Legislature | Cotabato Provincial Board |
| Area | |
• Total | 9,008.90 km2 (3,478.36 sq mi) |
| • Rank | 6th out of 81 |
| Highest elevation | 2,954 m (9,692 ft) |
| Population (2024 census)[2] | |
• Total | 1,286,142 |
| • Rank | 22nd out of 81 |
| • Density | 142.763/km2 (369.756/sq mi) |
| • Rank | 57th out of 81 |
| Demonym(s) | North Cotabatnon North Kotabatnon |
| Divisions | |
| • Independent cities | 0 |
| • Component cities | |
| • Municipalities | |
| • Barangays | 606 |
| • Districts | Legislative districts of Cotabato |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (PST) |
| IDD : area code | +63 (0)64 |
| ISO 3166 code | PH-NCO |
| Spoken languages | |
| Income classification | 1st class |
| Website | cotabatoprov |
*excluding8 municipalities under BARMM | |
Cotabato, formerly and still commonly referred to asNorth Cotabato[a] and officially theProvince of Cotabato, is a landlockedprovince in thePhilippines located in theSoccsksargenregion inMindanao. Its capital is the city ofKidapawan, the most populous in the province.Some of its municipalities are under the jurisdiction of the nearbyBangsamoro Autonomous Region.
The nameKuta Watu inMaguindanaon (orKota Batu inMalay) means "stone fortress".
According to Maguindanao royal records, Islam was introduced to the Maguindanaos in the late 15th century by SharifMuhammad Kabungsuan, a Johorean Malay Muslim noble and missionary of Arab descent. Sharif Kabungsuan invadedMalabang in 1475, facing armed resistance from the principality, nevertheless successfully vanquishing and subjugating it to his Islamic rule through the employment ofSamal forces.[3]
Cotabato became the capital of the Maguindanao Sultanate. The city became the seat of power of SultanMuhammad Kudarat in 1619.
Christianity was introduced in 1596, but the Spaniards were unable to penetrate into the region until the second half of the 19th century. The district of Cotabato was formed in 1860,[4] covering the areas of what is now Cotabato,Maguindanao del Norte,Maguindanao del Sur, andSultan Kudarat provinces with its capital atTamontaka.Fort Pikit was established by the Spaniards in 1893 as they continued their conquest of the remnants ofMaguindanao Sultanate, which would soon be the site of one of the province's oldest towns,Pikit.
The coming of the Americans ushered in the creation of theMoro Province on July 15, 1903, throughAct No. 787 of thePhilippine Commission. Cotabato, covering what are now the provinces of Cotabato,Maguindanao del Norte,Maguindanao del Sur,Sultan Kudarat,South Cotabato andSarangani, became a district of the huge Moro province. During the American period, large companies were established in Cotabato to exploit the vast timber resources of the region. By the 1930s, settlers from Luzon and Visayas established homesteads in Cotabato.
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In December 1941, Japanese planes bombed and invaded Cotabato. In 1942, Cotabato was occupied by theJapanese Imperial forces. A military headquarters of thePhilippine Commonwealth Army existed in Cotabato from January 3, 1942, to June 30, 1946, and thePhilippine Constabulary 10th Constabulary Regiment was stationed in Cotobato from October 28, 1944, to June 30, 1946. Moro guerrilla fighters operating in the province of Cotabato helped local forces of the Philippine Commonwealth Army and the Philippine Constabulary 10th Constabulary Regiment fight against the Imperial Japanese Army until 1944. The Moro guerrillas fought the Japanese troops until liberation. In 1945, Cotabato was recaptured from the Japanese Imperial forces by the combined Filipino and American troops together with the recognized Moro guerrilla units. The guerrillas used the traditional MoroKampilan,Barong andKris swords as their weapons.
The pace of settlement in the region accelerated in the 1950s and 1960s. Theformer province of Cotabato was once the largest in the Philippines. In 1966,South Cotabato was created as a separate province.[5]
Mindanao, including Cotabato, was relatively peaceful in the 1950s and the mid-1960s. While there were some ethnic tensions, there was essentially no presence of secessionist groups in Mindanao yet.[6]
The relative peace of the postwar era began to change in the last years of PresidentFerdinand Marcos'first term, when news about theJabidah massacre ignited a furor in the Moro community, and ethnic tensions encouraged with the formation of secessionist movements.[7] None of these groups had enough followers to form a viable opposition until Marcos declared Martial Law,[8] but when political parties were dissolved upon the proclamation of Martial Law in September 1972, it became easy for the armed secessionist group known as theMoro National Liberation Front to consolidate power, and the decades-longMoro conflict began in earnest.[9]
One major event of Martial law which took place in Cotabato was theManili massacre, which saw themass murder of 70[10] to 79[11]Moros, including women and children, committed in amosque in Manili,Carmen on June 19, 1971.[12] The Muslim residents of the town had gathered in their mosque to participate in a supposed peace talk withChristian groups when a group of armed men suspected to be part of theIlaga militant group[10] opened fire on them.[12]
On November 22, 1973, throughPresidential Decree No. 341, what remained of the old Cotabato was further divided into the provinces ofNorth Cotabato,Maguindanao, andSultan Kudarat.[13]North Cotabato was later renamedCotabato throughBatas Pambansa Blg. 660 approved on March 7, 1984.[14]
By the aftermath of theplebiscite to form the autonomous administrative region ofBangsamoro in February 2019, 63 barangays from Cotabato's western municipalities, all of which inhabited mostly by Muslim natives, opted to join the newly formed region.[15] This will result in the reduction of the number of barangays the province currently administers after the national midterm elections on May 13, 2019.[16]Cotabato now comprises the capital city ofKidapawan and 25 municipalities.
Cotabato covers a total area of 9,008.90 square kilometres (3,478.36 sq mi)[17] occupying the northeastern tip ofRegion XII and is centrally located inMindanao. It is bounded on the north by the provinces ofLanao del Sur andBukidnon, on the east byDavao City andDavao del Norte, on the west byMaguindanao del Norte andMaguindanao del Sur, on the south bySultan Kudarat, and on the southeast byDavao del Sur.
Cotabato is strategically linked to the major "Arterial Road System" that traverses and connects the province to Davao City - Soccsksargen - Cotabato Corridor. The Cotabato via Kabacan - Maramag - Kibawe, BukidnonSayre Highway meanwhile serves as its link to theCagayan de Oro-Iligan City Corridor.
Cotabato stretches from the east atMount Apo, which separates it from Davao, to thePiapayungan Range on its boundary with Lanao in the west.[18] Between these highlands is thebasin of thePulangi River orRio Grande de Mindanao,[18] the second longest in the Philippines at 373 kilometres (232 mi), which rises in Bukidnon and flows westward to Maguindanao del Norte andIllana Bay. The province's fertile plains are traversed bytributaries of this great river.
Typhoons do not pass through Cotabato and rainfall is evenly distributed throughout the year.[18]
| Climate data for Cotabato | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 30.5 (86.9) | 31.0 (87.8) | 32.0 (89.6) | 32.8 (91.0) | 32.2 (90.0) | 31.8 (89.2) | 31.3 (88.3) | 31.5 (88.7) | 31.8 (89.2) | 32.3 (90.1) | 31.8 (89.2) | 31.3 (88.3) | 31.7 (89.0) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 23.7 (74.7) | 23.9 (75.0) | 24.1 (75.4) | 24.7 (76.5) | 24.8 (76.6) | 24.6 (76.3) | 24.4 (75.9) | 24.5 (76.1) | 24.4 (75.9) | 24.4 (75.9) | 24.4 (75.9) | 24.2 (75.6) | 24.3 (75.8) |
| Average rainy days | 15 | 11 | 13 | 11 | 15 | 17 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 13 | 167 |
| Source: Storm247[19] | |||||||||||||
Cotabato comprises 25municipalities and onecity.[17] However, 8 municipalities are under the jurisdiction ofBangsamoro as part of itsspecial geographic area.[20][21]
During the 2001 Referendum for inclusion to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, 2 out of 28 barangays ofCarmen, Cotabato chose to be part of ARMM, but were excluded because they are not connected to the main region of ARMM. During 2010-2016 Administration, the Bangsamoro ideal sprouted and a newly proposed region was in the making. According to the agreements signed by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Administration of Noynoy Aquino, Carmen will be included in Bangsamoro because of the two out of twenty-eight barangays that voted in favor of joining the Muslim region back in 2001. Unfortunately, Bangsamoro was not implemented before the term of Aquino ended. Despite this, the current administration aims to establish a Federal Government, where Bangamoro will be realized into a State of the Philippines wherein Carmen will be included in Bangsamoro.
Plans to establish a new municipality in the south of Carmen so that the indigenous and Christian central and northern part of Carmen will be retained in Cotabato has yet to be confirmed. The idea arose because once the entire municipality of Carmen is included inBangsamoro, the province of Cotabato will be cut into half, leaving three towns (Banisilan,Alamada, andLibungan) at its west without connection to the center of Cotabato, isolating these towns in the process.
The issue was partially resolved when the second part of the plebiscite was conducted on February 6, 2019, when 63 barangay from the towns ofPigkawayan, Libungan,Midsayap,Aleosan,Carmen,Banisilan andPikit opted to join the new administrative autonomous region ofBangsamoro after the results of theregion's formation plebiscite were confirmed three days later on February 9.[15] These barangays are to join either the adjacent province ofMaguindanao as parts of the said province's nearby and respective municipalities or to cluster on their own as new municipalities within the said province after thenational midterm elections on May 13, 2019.[16] The size and population of Cotabato province had officially diminished on November 20, 2019, as the barangays which voted to join the Bangsamoro made their exit from the province and their respective mother municipalities and were officially turned over to the Bangsamoro government asan interim province within the autonomous region divided into several clusters.[23][24]
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1903 | 3,988 | — |
| 1918 | 16,165 | +9.78% |
| 1939 | 50,012 | +5.53% |
| 1948 | 87,236 | +6.38% |
| 1960 | 279,478 | +10.19% |
| 1970 | 468,354 | +5.29% |
| 1975 | 472,302 | +0.17% |
| 1980 | 564,599 | +3.63% |
| 1990 | 763,995 | +3.07% |
| 1995 | 862,666 | +2.30% |
| 2000 | 958,643 | +2.29% |
| 2007 | 1,121,974 | +2.19% |
| 2010 | 1,226,508 | +3.29% |
| 2015 | 1,379,747 | +2.27% |
| 2020 | 1,275,185 | −1.65% |
| 2024 | 1,286,142 | +0.21% |
| Source:Philippine Statistics Authority[25][26][27][28] 2020 Census count was revised as per PSA Board Resolution No. 13 Series of 2021 adopted on November 9, 2021.[22][23] | ||
| Languages | percentage | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hiligaynon | 46% | |||
| Maguindanao | 38% | |||
| Cebuano | 8% | |||
| Ilocano | 4% | |||
Based on the 2020 census, Cotabato has an overall population of 1,275,185.[2] The average population growth rate was 2.27% in the period 2010–2015, which is higher than the national average of 1.72%. The province had a density of 140 inhabitants per square kilometre or 360 inhabitants per square mile.
Cotabato is an ethnolinguistically diverse province. The firstVisayan settlers reached the town ofPikit in 1913, and since then, Christian migrants have moved and lived in Cotabato, cohabitating the province with the local indigenous groups. 71% of Cotabato's population descended from settlers who migrated from the Visayas and Luzon, while the remaining 18% belong to the communities of Magindanaons, Iranuns, Ilianens, Dulangan Manobo, Obo, Tagabawa, and Tboli. The major languages spoken are Hiligaynon (46%), Maguindanao (38%), Cebuano (8%), and Ilocano (4%).[18]
| Religion | percentage | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catholic | 52.77% | |||
| Islam | 19.32% | |||
| Southern Baptist Church | 3.73% | |||
| Iglesia ni Cristo | 2.2% | |||
| Others | 21.98% | |||
| ||||
Cotabato's population is predominantly Catholic. According to the 2020 census,[30] 52.77% of the population areRoman Catholic.[31]
As of 2020,Muslims represent close to 20% of the population.
The other significant minorities areEvangelical Christians at 8.4% of the population, Southern Baptist Church with 3.7% of the population, and Iglesia Ni Cristo which forms 2.2% of the Province population.[32]
Cotabato is considered a major food basket in Mindanao. It is a top producer of cereals, tropical fruits, vegetables, sugarcane, coconut, coffee, freshwater fish and livestock.
It is also one of the country's leading producers of raw and semi-processed rubber and industrial trees,[41] with markets in Asia and Europe.
Among its major natural assets areMt. Apo, the country's highest peak at 9,692 feet (2,954 m) above sea level, thePulangi River which is a major contributor to Mindanao's irrigation system and hydro-electric energy, and the vastLiguasan Marsh which not only supplies a bounty offreshwater fish and organic fertilizer but considered as a possible source as well ofnatural gas.
Power utility in the province comes from two energy sources - theNAPOCOR Agus Grid inIligan transmitted through itsTacurong Substations and theMount Apo Geothermal Power Plant at the foot of Mt. Apo in Ilomavis,Kidapawan City which produces 97 megawatts of electricity. Power distribution is handled byCotabato Electric Cooperative, Inc. (COTELCO).
The province has a 4,131.32-kilometre (2,567.08 mi) road network connecting the major centers to each other and the outlying barangays, and communication linkage through NDD-IDD, fax, cellular phone and the internet is available.
PresidentBenigno Aquino III signed the law dividing to new 3 legislative district of Cotabato on September 14, 2012. The representative shall continue to serve until next national election.[42]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)North Cotabato is the country's second largest rubber producer, next to Zamboanga Sibugay, with a rubber plantation area of at least 55,000 hectares.
Media related toCotabato (province) at Wikimedia Commons
Geographic data related toCotabato atOpenStreetMapPlaces adjacent to Cotabato | |
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 Province ofCotabato | |||||
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Kidapawan (capital) | |||||
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