Tugunan, officially the Municipality of Tugunan ( Maguindanaon: ''Inged nu Tugunan'', Jawi: ; Hiligaynon: ''Banwa sang Tugunan''; Cebuano: ''Lungsod sa Tugunan''; Tagalog: ''Bayan ng Tugunan''), is a municipality in the province of

Cotabato Cotabato, formerly and still commonly referred to as North Cotabato and officially the Province of Cotabato, is a landlocked Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Soccsksargen Regions of the Philippines, regi ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. The municipality is part of the

Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Bangsamoro, officially the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM; ; ), is an Autonomous regions of the Philippines, autonomous region in the Philippines, located in the southwestern portion of the island of Mindanao. Replacin ...

despite Cotabato being part of

Soccsksargen Soccsksargen (officially stylized in all caps; ), formerly known as Central Mindanao, is an Regions of the Philippines, administrative region of the Philippines, designated as Region XII. Located in south-central Mindanao, its name is an List of g ...

History

When the

Bangsamoro Bangsamoro, officially the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM; ; ), is an autonomous region in the Philippines, located in the southwestern portion of the island of Mindanao. Replacing the Autonomous Region in Muslim Minda ...

was created in 2019 to supplant the

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (; ''Al-ḥukm adh-dhātī al-'iqlīmī li-muslimī Mindanāu''; ARMM) was an Autonomous regions of the Philippines, autonomous region of the Philippines, located in the Mindanao Island groups of the P ...

, 63 barangays in the province of

were grouped with the newer autonomous region in the second part of the plebiscite held in February 6. The mother municipalities and Cotabato province remained part of

. By March 2020, these barangays were designated as a Special Geographic Area (SGA) of the Bangsamoro region. On August 17, 2023, the bills consolidating the SGA barangays into 8 municipalities were approved by the

Bangsamoro Parliament The Bangsamoro Parliament is the legislature of Bangsamoro, an autonomous region of the Philippines. It is currently led by the Bangsamoro Transition Authority, an interim regional governing body. The inaugural session of the parliament took pl ...

, The particular bill creating Tugunan was Bangsamoro Autonomy Act No. 135. A plebiscite was held on April 13, 2024, and voters approved all eight bills reconstituting the SGA barangays to eight municipalities including Tugunan, where 11,501 voted in favor of its creation while 13 voted against. The Bangsamoro regional government will provide P2.5 million in funding for the municipal government until it gets its share of income from the National Tax Allotment. Tugunan was created from eight barangays of Pikit and a single barangay from Aleosan.

Geography

Barangays

Tugunan is politically subdivided into nine

barangay The barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as ''barrio'', is the smallest Administrative divisions of the Philippines, administrative division in the Philippines. Named after the Precolonial barangay, precolonial po ...

s. Each barangay consists of

purok A ''purok'' () is an informal division within a barangay in the Philippines. While not officially considered a local government unit (LGU), a ''purok'' often serves as a unit for delivering services and administration within a barangay. ''Pur ...

s while some have

sitios A ''sitio'' (Spanish language, Spanish for "site") in the Philippines is a territorial enclave that forms part of a barangay. Typically rural, a ''sitios location is usually far from the center of the barangay itself and could be its own bar ...

. * Balong * Bualan * Lagunde * Macatual * Macasendeg * Manaulanan * Pamalian * Panicupan * Tapodoc

Government

Officers-in-charge (OIC) was selected by BARMM Chief Minister

Murad Ebrahim Ahod Balawag Ebrahim (; Jawi: احد بلاوݢ ابرهیم; born May 15, 1949), better known as Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, is a Moro Filipino politician and former rebel leader who served as the first chief minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous ...

to fill positions in the municipal government pending regular elections in 2025. The municipality remains under the jurisdiction of the Special Geographic Area pending the creation of a new province. Abdullah Pungot Abas is the OIC mayor of Tugunan since July 9, 2024,

References

{{Bangsamoro Municipalities of Cotabato 2024 establishments in the Philippines Municipalities of the Special Geographic Area