Also known as: Lalawigan ng Timog Cotabato
South Cotabato is a province in Region XII (SOCCSKSARGEN). Population 1.01M (PSA 2024 census), 1 component city + 10 municipalities, 199 barangays total, land area 3,793.9 km². Provincial capital: Koronadal City.
South Cotabato is a province in Region XII (SOCCSKSARGEN). Its capital is Koronadal City.
South Cotabato had 1,010,009 residents in the 2024 census (PSA 2024 Census of Population (POPCEN 2024), reference date July 1, 2024). That is the most recent official count. There is no 2026 census result, so any 2026 population figure is an estimate.
South Cotabato covers 3,793.9 km², per the PSA Philippine Statistical Yearbook figure used on this page.
South Cotabato has 1 component city and 10 municipalities (11 LGUs under the province), per PSA's Philippine Standard Geographic Code (2Q 2026), and 199 barangays. General Santos City is a highly urbanized city located within South Cotabato but administered independently of the province, so it is not counted above; counting it, there are 2 cities in all.
South Cotabato's 1 component city is Koronadal City. Its 10 municipalities are Banga, Lake Sebu, Norala, Polomolok, Santo Niño, Surallah, Tampakan, Tantangan, T'boli and Tupi. General Santos City is a highly urbanized city located within South Cotabato but administered independently of the province, so it is not counted above; counting it, there are 2 cities in all.
South Cotabato and neighboring Sultan Kudarat are sibling provinces, not one carved from the other: both descended from the old, undivided Cotabato province, but via two separate legislative acts seven years apart — Republic Act No. 4849 (1966) segregated South Cotabato (plus what became General Santos City) first, and the remaining territory was split into North Cotabato, Maguindanao, and Sultan Kudarat only later, by Presidential Decree No. 341 (1973). Koronadal has been the provincial capital since South Cotabato's 1966 creation, later upgraded from municipality to component city status in 2000.
Key industries: Agribusiness (Dole Philippines pineapple plantation, Polomolok), Diversified agriculture (rice, corn, rubber, banana), Mining (Tampakan copper-gold deposit, under a provincial open-pit ban since 2010), Traditional weaving (T'nalak, Lake Sebu)
Agriculture defines the province's land-use pressure: Dole Philippines' pineapple plantation in Polomolok is one of the country's largest agribusiness operations, while the Tampakan copper-gold project — among the largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits in the world — has been frozen by a provincial open-pit mining ban since 2010, with continuing legal ambiguity as of the most recent reporting. Lake Sebu, home to the T'boli people's T'nalak dream-weaving tradition (four GAMABA National Living Treasure awardees), anchors the province's cultural-tourism identity alongside Mt. Matutum, a dormant stratovolcano stewarded by the Blaan indigenous community.
Key industries: Agribusiness (Dole Philippines pineapple plantation, Polomolok), Diversified agriculture (rice, corn, rubber, banana), Mining (Tampakan copper-gold deposit, under a provincial open-pit ban since 2010), Traditional weaving (T'nalak, Lake Sebu)
More on the regulatory framework: CLUP explainer · RA 7160 explainer · SGLG explainer · full glossary. Working a CLUP review cycle? Run the CLUP readiness self-check or see CLUP compliance monitoring.
South Cotabato's land-use planning has to hold three things in tension at once — Dole's agribusiness footprint, the multi-decade Tampakan mining standoff, and Lake Sebu's indigenous-led cultural tourism — across 11 LGUs with very different economic bases. That's exactly the kind of multi-hazard, multi-stakeholder coordination problem a live PDPFP-to-CLUP dashboard is built to help a PPDO track.
From Dole's agribusiness footprint to the Tampakan mining standoff to Lake Sebu's cultural tourism, South Cotabato's PPDO tracks very different land-use pressures across 11 LGUs. A Nova Gov pilot could roll that into one dashboard.
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