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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.

SOCCSKSARGEN, Philippines

Cotabato

City of Cotabato

Sarangani

South Cotabatu