| General Santos's at-large congressional district | |
|---|---|
| Constituency for theHouse of Representatives of the Philippines | |
 Boundary of General Santos's lone congressional district | |
 Location ofGeneral Santos withinSouth Cotabato. | |
| City | General Santos |
| Region | Soccsksargen |
| Population | 722,059 (2024)[1] |
| Electorate | 368,454 (2025) |
| Major settlements | General Santos |
| Area | 492.86 km2 (190.29 sq mi) |
| Current constituency | |
| Created | 2022 |
| Representative | Shirlyn Bañas-Nograles |
| Political party | PDP |
| Congressional bloc | Majority |
TheGeneral Santos's at-large congressional district[2] is the single representation of thehighly urbanized city ofGeneral Santos. It has been represented in theHouse of Representatives of the Philippines since 2022.[3] It is currently represented in the20th Congress byShirlyn Bañas-Nograles of thePartido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP).[4]
Prior to gaining separate representation, areas now under the jurisdiction of General Santos were represented under theDepartment of Mindanao and Sulu (1917–1935), the historicalCotabato Province (1935–1967),Region XI (1978–1984) andSouth Cotabato (lone district, 1967–1972;at-large district, 1984–1986;first district, 1987–2019).
Even after becoming ahighly urbanized city independent from South Cotabato in 1988,General Santos remained part of the province's congressional representation. The city only gained a separate representative with the passage of Republic Act No. 11243 on March 11, 2019,[5] which segregated General Santos from thefirst congressional district ofSouth Cotabato to form itsown congressional district.
Given that it was already too late for theCommission on Elections to change the old congressional district configuration data in the automated election system in time for theMay 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 reconfiguredfirst congressional district of South Cotabato to a date no less than six months from May 13, 2019.[6] By virtue of COMELEC Resolution No. 10552 promulgated on July 25, 2019, the date of elections for the lone district of General Santos was set for October 26, 2019.[7]
However, on September 10, 2019, theSupreme Court of the Philippines declared COMELEC Resolution No. 10524 null and void for violating the law, when COMELEC set separate special elections for the reconfigured1st Congressional District of South Cotabato and the newly created Lone Congressional District of General Santos instead of using the new district boundaries in the next regular (i.e., 2022) election, as RA 11243[5] intended.[8] 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 the1st Congressional District of South Cotabato, including General Santos.[8]
The Supreme Court ruling effectively sets the election of the first separate representative for General Santos to the2022 elections.
Subsection C in the Section 1 of the Republic Act No. 11243 that designated General Santos asSouth Cotabato's third district caused confusion of the bill's title, Consequently, Representative Ferdinand Hernandez filed the House Bill No. 10021 that officially mandate and legally clarify the City of General Santos as a lone district, separate from South Cotabato.[9] It passed in the third and final reading in the House on September 15, 2021 and in the Senate on January 31, 2022 with an amendment where the first election for the reapportioned seats will be onMay 12, 2025. The bill lapsed into a law without then-PresidentRodrigo Duterte's signature on June 2, 2022, and was indexed under the Republic Act No. 11804.[2]
| # | Image | Member | Term of office | Congress | Party | Electoral history | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | End | |||||||
General Santos's at-large district for theHouse of Representatives of the Philippines[edit] | ||||||||
| District created June 2, 2022.[10] | ||||||||
| 1 | .jpg) | Loreto Acharon | June 30, 2022 | June 30, 2025 | 19th | NPC | Elected in 2022. | |
| 2 | .jpg) | Shirlyn Bañas-Nograles | June 30, 2025 | Incumbent | 20th | PDP | Elected in 2025. | |
