Municipality of Surallah

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 Surallah

-is an agri-industrial municipality in the province of South Cotabato, Philippines in SOCSKSARGEN or Region XII which is a part of the Mindanao Island. The municipality is seated about 20 km south-west of province capital city of Koronadal and about 1,002 km south-south-east of Philippine main capital, Manila. The geographic coordinates of Surallah are 6° 22' 0 N, 124° 43' 59 E.. According to the 2010 census of population, it has a population of 76,035. It is also the fastest growing municipality of South Cotabato. It also boasts its one of a kind rotounda, depicting ethnic groups and a multi- million peso integrated public terminal.

 

History

The Municipality of Surallah was created by virtue of Republic Act 3420 on June 18, 1961 as later amended by RA 3664 on June 22, 1963. Its history is generally reckoned with the influx of settlers coming from their abilities under the settlements Programs of NLSA; RPC-NDC; NARRA and LASEDECO. Surallah started as 6th Class Municipality with 26 barrios and a population of 26,162 settling in a vast land area of 97,000 hectares. The rapid growth of its cluster barrios made the support of the new town. The creation of the Municipality of T’boli in 1964 making six (6) barrios integrated in thus, reducing the total land area to 31,200 hectares. Subsequently, three (3) Barangays were created from their mother barangay; hence, the municipality has 23 officials barangay. Lately, the booming tourism industry in the south made to be the primary factor of the birth of the new Municipality of Lake Sebu in 1982, causing the reduction of the total land area and population of Surallah from 31,200 to 31,110 hectares and from 52,703 to 42,467 respectively. The separation of Lake Sebu into Municipality made another reduction in the number of barangay from 23 to 17. The influential leadership of the municipality triggered the tremendous growth development from a small span of years from its creation up to 1990. First, the administration of the Hon. Jose T. Sison who served the Municipality from 1963 to 1978 until the election for regional representatives caused Mayor Jose T. Sison to become the Assemblyman of Region XI. Former barrio treasurer of Libertad, Federico Magalona, Jr. was appointed to assume the office until the Local Election of January 31, 1980. The concluded poll gave the mayoralty seat to Conrado P. Haguisan to serve from seat Hon. Lorenzo Delmo until November 21,1987 who vacated the post to run in January 18,1988 election. From December 1, 1987 to January 31, 1988 former OIC Councilor Fransisco Sodusta served as OIC Mayor. The election in January 1988 gave back the local leadership to former Assemblyman Jose T. Sison as Municipal Mayor of Surallah who served for three terms until May 1998. The race for Local leadership in May election proved to be competitive among aspirants who had eventually won by Hon. Romulo O. Solivio. The new leadership brought necessary changes in the administration more specific on a gradual shift from traditional type to a more conventional way of governance by re-inventing new techniques thru dynamic participative approaches. There is no official source of information regarding the origin of the name of the place according to pioneer inhabitants, they called the place “Scherazade Allah” Scherazade is an Arab word which denotes something beautiful. The Christian settlers later modified the word into “Surallah” Which means South of Allah. The origin inhabitants of the area are the tagabilis, a mountain tribe people who moved inward after the arrival of the Christian settlers from Luzon and Visayas. The latest census of May 2000 gave Surallah the Officials population count of 66,208. On July 1991, Surallah was reclassified from fifth class to third class Municipality being considered as one of the most progressive municipality in the province of South Cotabato. Subsequently in 1993, it became a second class municipality and later in July of 1997 it was reclassified as first class municipality by the Department of Finance Banking on the Potentials for Agro-industrial and commercials developments, the administration geared its program toward making Surallah as the Agro-industrial and commercial center for Upper Valley Area where vision is specifically addressed to. As economic activities flourished in the area, more people especially businessmen settled into the place which contributed much to faster pace of development. The Municipality’s vision as an Agro-industrial and Commercial center of the Upper valley Area for the coming years continues as it directs its mission towards providing infrastructure developments, economic supports services and facilities to attract and encourage growth of investments in the municipality. Aside from these, the improvement of the social services, the conservation of the natural resources and protection of the environment are also priority development objectives of this fast growing municipality presently serving as the economic center of the Upper Valley Area.

Barangays

Administratively the Municipality of Surallah is subdivided into 17 barangays. One forms the center of the municipality whereas the other 16 are in the outlying areas. Some of them are even several kilometers away from the town proper.

Name	Area in km²	Urbanisation	Population
Buenavista	-	rural	1,610
Centrala	-	rural	7,805
Colongulo	-	rural	4,626
Dajay	-	rural	7,544
Duengas	-	rural	829
Canahay (Godwino)	-	rural	2,428
Lambontong	-	rural	3,902
Lamian	-	rural	3,467
Lamsugod	-	rural	2,662
Libertad (Pob.)	-	urban	15,388
Little Baguio	-	rural	2,735
Moloy	-	rural	3,164
Naci (Doce)	-	rural	3,787
Talahik	-	rural	2,164
Tubiala	-	rural	2,926
Upper Sepaka	-	rural	5,047
Veterans	-	rural	1,429

Economy

As economic activities flourished in the area, more people especially businessmen settled into the place, which contributed to a faster pace of development. ts functional role is an Alternate Provincial Agro-industrial Center. While being a major producer of corn and rice, Surallah has explored its vast potential for progress.
Recognized as the champion-advocate of the Clean and Green Program, Surallah envisions the integral development of the municipality and the people. Through the USWAG Surallah Program, a multi-sectoral approach to addressing the main thrust of its people, Surallah is certain to be the next leading agri-industrial zone in the province of South Cotabato.
Agriculture is the major economy of Surallah, but multinational companies like Dole Philippines has constructed a plant in the municipality. Also, major economic boom in the municipality was due to its location. Surallah is in the center of many National Road thus, many businessmen settled here because it is in the center of some municipalities. It is the Economical Center of the Upper Valley Area, which is composed of all the municipalities of Tboli, Lake Sebu, Banga, Norala, Santo Nino and Surallah. Together they function like a metropolitan area with Surallah as its Central Business District.
According to the Philippine income classification for provinces (cities and municipalities) Surallah is a 1st class municipality. The urbanization status of Surallah is classified as partly urban