Also known as: Lalawigan ng Sultan Kudarat
Sultan Kudarat is a province in Region XII (SOCCSKSARGEN). Population 864K (PSA 2024 census), 1 city + 11 municipalities, 249 barangays total, land area 5,363.86 km². Provincial capital: Isulan.
Sultan Kudarat is a province in Region XII (SOCCSKSARGEN). Its capital is Isulan.
Sultan Kudarat had 863,651 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.
Sultan Kudarat covers 5,363.86 km², per the PSA Philippine Statistical Yearbook figure used on this page.
Sultan Kudarat has 1 component city and 11 municipalities (12 LGUs under the province), per PSA's Philippine Standard Geographic Code (2Q 2026), and 249 barangays.
Sultan Kudarat's 1 component city is Tacurong City. Its 11 municipalities are Bagumbayan, Columbio, Esperanza, Isulan, Kalamansig, Lambayong, Lebak, Lutayan, Palimbang, President Quirino and Senator Ninoy Aquino.
Sultan Kudarat's capital is Isulan, not Tacurong — a distinction worth stating clearly, since Tacurong is the province's largest city and commercial center and is easy to mistake for the seat of government. Presidential Decree No. 341, the 1973 Martial Law-era decree that created the province from the remainder of the old undivided Cotabato province, names Isulan as capital in its own text, and that has never changed.
Key industries: Agriculture (rice, corn, oil palm — Isulan is branded the 'Oil Palm Capital of the Philippines'), Freshwater fishing (Lake Buluan), Mining (small-scale gold; the Tampakan copper-gold deposit extends into Columbio municipality)
Lake Buluan — the third-largest lake in Mindanao, shared with neighboring Maguindanao del Sur — supports a commercial freshwater fishery, though it is currently under ecological stress from a large water-hyacinth infestation. The province's economy was SOCCSKSARGEN's fastest-growing in 2023, at 5.2%. In March 2024, stakeholders across South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and Maguindanao del Sur signed a joint pledge to protect the 121,000-hectare Marbel-Buluan Watershed the three provinces share.
Key industries: Agriculture (rice, corn, oil palm -- Isulan is branded the 'Oil Palm Capital of the Philippines'), Freshwater fishing (Lake Buluan), Mining (small-scale gold; the Tampakan copper-gold deposit extends into Columbio municipality)
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.
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