Sultan Kudarat, officially the Municipality of Sultan Kudarat (Maguindanaon: Inged nu Sultan Kudarat; Iranun: Inged a Sultan Kudarat; Tagalog: Bayan ng Sultan Kudarat), is a municipality of the province of Maguindanao del Norte, Philippines. At the 2020 census it had a population of 105,121.

Formerly known as Nuling, it became the de jure capital of the former Maguindanao province in 1977. It served as the legislative capital of Maguindanao in 2011 as it plays host to the Maguindanao Provincial Board, previously housed in the former capitol at Shariff Aguak. This restored its previous status as provincial capital, which was shared with Buluan which served as the executive capital. In 2022, Republic Act 11550 officially designated Datu Odin Sinsuat as the official capital of Maguindanao del Norte and Buluan as official capital of Maguindanao del Sur. Once a provincial capitol is erected in Datu Odin Sinsuat, the legislature will move in that municipality.

The original seat of the Sultanate of Maguindanao was located at the mouth of the Maguindanao river (now Matampay) but later transferred to the nearby sitio at the bank of the Nuling Creek of Barangay Salimbao of this Municipality.

Sultan Mastura Kudarat, a royal lineage of the hero soldier Sultan Dipatuan Kudaratullah was appointed by American Governor Carpenter as President of the Municipal District of Nuling. The former declined and instead designated his son, Datu Mamadra Mastura for the position, who served from 1922 to 1923.

Nuling was a municipal district already prior to its reorganization as one of the twenty-eight, in the then-undivided Cotabato province, through Executive Order No. 9 issued by Department of Mindanao and Sulu acting governor Ponciano Reyes on March 8, 1917. It had six barrios then.

By virtue of Executive Order (EO) No. 82, issued by President Manuel Roxas on August 18, 1947, which organized the remaining municipal districts of the province into ten new municipalities, Nuling, Gubpañgan, and Balut, became part of the town bearing the name of the former, which would be its seat of government.

The boundary line with Parang was fixed twice through executive orders by President Elpidio Quirino, in 1949 and in 1953.

During the presidency of Carlos P. Garcia, the seat of municipal government was moved to Barrio Dalumangcob in 1957 through EO No. 267. Republic Act (RA) No. 3357, which became effective a year after its issuance in 1961, provided the conversion of ten sitios into barrios.

The municipality was renamed Sultan Kudarat through RA No. 5647, issued on June 21, 1969, in honor of Sultan of Maguindanao, Mohammad Dipatuan Kudarat.

In a plebiscite conducted on March 15, 2003, the electorate of the Municipality unanimously voted in favor of the creation of a new Municipality in the name of Sultan Mastura, being a son of Sultan Kudarat. The new Municipality of Sultan Mastura absorbed 13 barangays from the former leaving 39 for its mother town.

The town was part of the province of Shariff Kabunsuan from October 2006 until its nullification by the Supreme Court in July 2008.

On January 23, 2021, a joint police-military operation occurred, with twelve members of the Talusan group including a former village chief, as well as a Special Action Force member, killed in a shootout. The armed group was the "most wanted" in the municipality.

A plebiscite was scheduled to be held on September 7, 2024 to approve the creation of the municipality of Nuling from parts of Sultan Kudarat. However, the vote was shelved after the Supreme Court ruled on August 20 that provisions of the enabling act passed by the Bangsamoro government for the plebiscite were unconstitutional, particularly allowing only voters from barangays of the would-be municipality to participate in the exercise.

On July 11, 1977, Presidential Decree (PD) 1170, amending PD 341 that creating Maguindanao out of the divided Cotabato in 1973, moved the provincial seat from (now Shariff Aguak) to Sultan Kudarat, citing that the town "has more facilities to offer". Datu Sanggacala Baraguir, who served as the third provincial governor since that year, had a new provincial capitol built there, which was his hometown—at the present-day Simuay, situated near Camp Darapanan, the main camp of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. His successor returned the provincial government's office to the original site; yet the designation remained until 2001 under the governorship of Andal Ampatuan Sr. of Shariff Aguak, citing security concerns.

Later, the provincial board temporarily held office at the Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) building in the municipal compound. On May 3, 2011, Resolution 078 was passed establishing Simuay as their official site; and on April 3, 2012, Resolution 132 provided the reiteration of Sultan Kudarat as the official provincial seat. Meanwhile, vice governor Ismael Mastura temporarily held office in his hometown—in the ABC building, also due to security reasons.

After the rehabilitation of the old Capitol in Simuay, on June 14, 2012, a rehabilitated structure was inaugurated as the new site of the provincial legislature. Such designation as the provincial legislative capital remained until the division of Maguindanao in 2022 by the virtue of RA No. 11550, which stated that the seat of Maguindanao del Norte, which now constitutes Sultan Kudarat, would be in Datu Odin Sinsuat.

Abdulraof Macacua, at the beginning of his term as OIC governor in April 2023, announced that his leadership seeks to establish the seat in Simuay.

Sultan Kudarat is politically subdivided into 39 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks while some have sitios.

Population census of Sultan Kudarat

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1918	6,603	—
1939	15,823	+4.25%
1948	15,127	−0.50%
1960	30,614	+6.05%
1970	40,377	+2.80%
1975	47,101	+3.14%
1980	48,383	+0.54%
1990	72,331	+4.10%
1995	76,125	+0.96%
2000	94,861	+4.83%
2007	121,324	+3.45%
2010	82,758	−13.00%
2015	95,201	+2.70%
2020	105,121	+1.97%
Source: Philippine Statistics Authority

Poverty Incidence of Sultan Kudarat

10 20 30 40 50 60 2000 59.72 2003 35.10 2006 50.10 2009 50.03 2012 54.66 2015 52.26 2018 58.88 2021 37.17 Source: Philippine Statistics Authority

The LGU had a poverty incidence of 35.1% or there are about 57,147 of the 181,419 population who are living below the ARMM's poverty threshold of 75,000 or an annual per capita income of P10,714 for the family size of 7. This poverty incidence is 1.4% lower than the National average of 32.9%.

Though Sultan Kudarat hosts seventy percent of the agro-industries of the Province of Shariff Kabunsuan, its main economy is derived from the agriculture sector.

The municipality of Sultan Kudarat hosts Lamsan, one of the largest corn products manufacturers in the Philippines. The company provides employment to hundreds of workers in the municipality and nearby towns of Maguindanao.

The Gross Domestic Product of the Municipality (2022) is 23,646,300,000(PHP).

The municipality has 23,152.263 hectares of agricultural lands. While based on the year 2005 MAO's report, only 10,035 hectares of which or forty percent (49%) have been productively used, reflecting a yield of 121.4, 13,282 and 7,820 metric tons for copra, rice and corn respectively, earning a gross income of P169,279,300.00 for the year 2005. Its High Value Commercial crops have so far covered 273 hectares and shared a total yield of 536 metric tons that earned P9, 357,000.00.

YEAR 2010 CROP PRODUCTION

• CROPS PLANTED AREA PLANTED IN HA.

Ave. / Yield, crop, ha (in Metric Tons) / Remarks

1. Rice / 12,000 / 3.5 / Mostly upland rice
2. Corn / 10,000 / 2.5
3. Coconut intercropped with corn and other crops / 12,000 / 2 (for coconut) 2,5 (for other crops)
4. Mango / 2,000 / 3
5. Banana / 5,000 / 5

TOTAL: 41,000 18.2

The town possesses vast fishing grounds, the Maguindanao and Matampay Rivers, Illana Bay, lakes and its 1,393.4 hectares fishpond have been the major source of fish that supplies the fish requirements of the municipality and its neighboring towns. However, development programs have to be introduced to fully develop its potentials. The fish production reported is only 167,300 kilograms for the year 2005 which is not enough to supply the municipality's fish requirement of 3.9 million kilograms.

In 2005, the Municipality of Sultan Kudarat has a total livestock population of 10,997 heads. The livestock species that are popularly raised in the municipality are carabao, cattle, and goat, probably because the town is thickly populated by the Islam believers. Its poultry population have totaled to 24,693 heads. The present livestock and poultry production of the municipality is not sufficient to supply the meat requirements of the municipality for it can only provide a total of 234,691 kilograms for the year 2005 which is very far behind the town's food requirements of about 3.7 million kilograms.

Livestock Production:

Livestock / Number of Heads / Percent to Total

1. Carabao / 3,120 / 17.4
2. Cattle / 4,387 / 24.4
3. Goat / 8,775 / 48.9
4. Swine / 960 / 5.3
5. Sheep / 136 / .75
6. Horse / 53 / .29
7. Others / 500 / 2.7

T O T A L: 17,931 100%

Poultry Production:

Livestock / Number of Heads / Percent (%) to Total

1. Chicken / 31,287 / 36.1
2. Ducks / 38,732 / 44.7
3. Turkeys / 6,751 / 7.79
4. Geese / 9,873 / 11.39

T O T A L: 86,643 100.00%

Source: DAF-ARMM, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao

About 79.2 percent of the municipality's school age population are literate, that is able to read and write, based on the 1995 census. The data likewise shows that 43% are in elementary level and 26% are in high school level. College undergraduate shared with 5.4%, and 2.4% are college graduate.

There is one government hospital in the town, the Cotabato Sanitarium, but it caters only to specific health needs. There are about 26 Barangay Health Centers and 10 health personnel, composed of 1 medical doctor, 1 dental doctor, 6 midwives, 1 nurse and 1 sanitary inspector, serving the 39 barangays of the municipality. The health personnel are being augmented by 8 health workers and 39 trained hilots.

• List of renamed cities and municipalities of the Philippines

• Sultan Kudarat Profile at the DTI Cities and Municipalities Competitive Index
• Philippine Standard Geographic Code
• 2000 Philippine Census Information
• Local Governance Performance Management System
• Inquirer.net, Sultan Kudarat town aims for nat’l recognition