General Santos City, popularly called GenSan, is not part of Sarangani province, as stated by television game show SPINGO aired by TV5 Philippines.
GenSan geographically belongs to South Cotabato, recognized as such by various institutions, including national government agencies.
At the 29:17 timestamp of the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_bs_E6zrbY, SPINGO host John Arcilla asked the finalist “Anong S ang lalawigan kung saan nakapaloob ang General Santos City?” (What province that starts in “S” does General Santos City belong to?)
The contestant answered Sorsogon, which Arcilla said was wrong.
At the 30:33 mark of the video aired on September 22, Arcilla said that the correct answer was Sarangani, which is wrong.
GenSan, a highly urbanized city, is geographically grouped with South Cotabato province.
However, GenSan is not under the administrative supervision of South Cotabato, the former being a chartered city since July 8, 1968 by virtue of Republic Act 5412.
On the other hand, Sarangani province was carved out of the coastal towns of South Cotabato province in 1992.
GenSan was named in honor of General Paulino Santos, who along with 62 other pioneers, landed on February 27, 1939 at the shores of Sarangani Bay as part of the national government’s settlement program then.
It maintains its own local government autonomy as a chartered city separate from South Cotabato.
They belong to Region 12, formerly known as Central Mindanao, along with the provinces of North Cotabato, Sarangani and Sultan Kudarat and the cities of Koronadal, Tacurong, Kidapawan and Cotabato.
But Cotabato City now belongs to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao after its residents ratified Republic Act 11054 or the Bangsamoro Organic Law during the plebiscite in 2019.
As with all our other reports, MindaNews welcomes leads or suggestions from the public to potential fact-check stories.
MindaNews is a verified signatory to the Code of Principles of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). (Yas D. Ocampo / MindaNews)
