Kadayangan

Kadayangan is a municipality in Cotabato province, Philippines. Although geographically situated in Cotabato, it forms part of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), while Cotabato province itself remains within the Soccsksargen administrative region. The municipality was created from seven barangays that had previously belonged to the municipality of Midsayap. Its formation was part of the institutional reorganization of the Bangsamoro region's Special Geographic Area (SGA), a group of Cotabato barangays that voted to join BARMM during the 2019 plebiscite but remained outside the region's original territorial structure for several years. The area's political status changed after the establishment of BARMM in 2019. Sixty-three Cotabato barangays were grouped with the new autonomous region following the February 6, 2019 plebiscite. In March 2020, those communities were formally designated as the Special Geographic Area. The Bangsamoro Parliament later approved legislation to consolidate the SGA barangays into eight municipalities. The law specifically creating Kadayangan was Bangsamoro Autonomy Act No. 42, approved on August 17, 2023. A plebiscite on April 13, 2024, asked residents to approve the creation of the proposed municipalities. In Kadayangan, 6,292 voters supported its establishment and 80 voted against it. The result gave the municipality a formal legal basis, although its administrative arrangements remained transitional. The Bangsamoro regional government committed 2.5 million Philippine pesos in initial funding for the municipal government until Kadayangan could receive its share of the National Tax Allotment. Kadayangan is politically divided into seven barangays, which are further organized into puroks and, in some cases, sitios. Pending regular local elections scheduled for 2025, the municipality operated under officers-in-charge appointed by Bangsamoro Chief Minister Murad Ebrahim. Duma Madi Mascud became the municipality's officer-in-charge mayor on July 9, 2024. The municipality also remained under the jurisdiction of the Special Geographic Area while broader arrangements, including the creation of a new province for the SGA, were being developed. Kadayangan is therefore not a commercial consumer brand. Its name identifies a newly constituted local-government municipality whose principal institutional functions concern public administration, local governance, community services, and integration into BARMM's political and fiscal system.

Kadayangan emerged from the political and administrative restructuring that followed the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. During the February 6, 2019 plebiscite establishing BARMM, 63 barangays in Cotabato province voted to join the autonomous region. The barangays' original municipalities and Cotabato province did not leave Soccsksargen, producing a geographically dispersed group of Bangsamoro communities administered separately from their former municipal governments. In October 2019, the area experienced armed violence when government forces clashed with suspected Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters members in Barangay Tumbras. The encounter reportedly caused seven deaths. By March 2020, the Cotabato barangays that had joined BARMM were designated as the Special Geographic Area, or SGA. This designation provided a transitional administrative framework while the Bangsamoro institutions considered how to organize the communities as municipalities and eventually integrate them into a more permanent territorial structure. The next major step came in 2023, when the Bangsamoro Parliament approved legislation creating eight municipalities from the SGA barangays. Bangsamoro Autonomy Act No. 42 provided the legal basis for Kadayangan. The municipality was formed from seven barangays that had previously been part of Midsayap. The legislation required popular approval, leading to a plebiscite held on April 13, 2024. Kadayangan's voters approved municipal creation by a large margin, with 6,292 votes in favor and 80 opposed. Following the plebiscite, Kadayangan entered operation as a new municipality, but not immediately as a fully normalized local-government unit. The Bangsamoro regional government committed initial funding of 2.5 million Philippine pesos until the municipality could receive its allocation from the National Tax Allotment. Transitional officers-in-charge were appointed pending regular elections planned for 2025. Duma Madi Mascud became officer-in-charge mayor on July 9, 2024. The municipality remains linked to the SGA's wider transitional status, including the question of establishing a new province for the area. Kadayangan's early history is consequently defined less by commercial development than by territorial reorganization, local democratic ratification, public-sector institution building, and the political integration of Cotabato communities into BARMM.

• 2024

  Municipal creation ratified by plebiscite

  [1]Kadayanganen.wikipedia.org

  Voters approved Kadayangan's creation by 6,292 votes to 80 in the April 13 plebiscite.

• 2024

  Transitional municipal administration begins

  [1]Kadayanganen.wikipedia.org

  Kadayangan began operating with transitional officers-in-charge, with Duma Madi Mascud serving as officer-in-charge mayor from July 9.

• 2023

  Bangsamoro Autonomy Act No. 42 approved

  [1]Kadayanganen.wikipedia.org

  The Bangsamoro Parliament approved the act creating Kadayangan from seven former Midsayap barangays.

• 2020

  Special Geographic Area designation

  [1]Kadayanganen.wikipedia.org

  The Cotabato barangays that joined BARMM were designated as the Special Geographic Area, establishing an interim administrative framework.

• 2019

  Cotabato barangays vote to join BARMM

  [1]Kadayanganen.wikipedia.org

  Sixty-three barangays in Cotabato province were grouped with the newly created Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao after the February plebiscite.

• 2019

  Clash in Barangay Tumbras

  [1]Kadayanganen.wikipedia.org

  A clash involving government forces and suspected Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters members left seven people dead in an area later associated with Kadayangan.

A newly established local-government municipality within the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, serving seven former Midsayap barangays and operating within the transitional administrative framework of the Special Geographic Area.

• 2024

  Plebiscite ratification of municipal statusOther

  Background

  The proposed municipality required approval from affected voters before its legal and administrative formation could proceed.

  Action taken

  Residents voted on April 13, 2024, with 6,292 supporting and 80 opposing the creation of Kadayangan.

  Aftermath

  Kadayangan proceeded as a municipality under transitional administration and became eligible for regional startup support.

  Initial regional funding. PHP 2.5 million (Until receipt of the municipality's National Tax Allotment share)

  Source

• 2023

  Creation of Kadayangan as a new municipalityStrategy

  Background

  The Bangsamoro Parliament sought to convert Special Geographic Area barangay groupings into municipalities with clearer local-government structures.

  Action taken

  It approved Bangsamoro Autonomy Act No. 42, proposing Kadayangan as a municipality formed from seven barangays formerly administered by Midsayap.

  Aftermath

  The proposal was submitted to voters and was approved in the April 2024 plebiscite.

  Source

1. 1Kadayanganen.wikipedia.org