South Cotabato's 3rd congressional district is a congressional district that previously encompassed the Sarangani Bay region, a former territory of South Cotabato. It was represented in the House of Representatives from its creation under the ordinance annex of the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines that divided the province into three congressional districts, until 1995.[1][2] The district was dissolved following the ratification of Sarangani's organic law of March 1992 which elected its own provincial at-large representative beginning in May 1995.[3]
The district was recreated March 11, 2019 from South Cotabato's 1st district, with General Santos being the sole component under Republic Act No. 11243.[4] The title of the act mentions creating "the Lone Legislative District of General Santos City," but its Section 1, paragraph (C) shows that General Santos was South Cotabato's 3rd district.[5] As it was too late in the preparation for the May 2019 elections, elections were postponed to October 2019.[6] As the ballots, which showed the old configuration with General Santos as part of the first district, also had ballot questions for other positions, voting went through, and voters freely voted on the 1st district race. Days before the rescheduled election, the Supreme Court declared the postponement as unconstitutional, and declared the candidate with the most votes in May 2019 as the winner, with the 3rd district as General Santos scheduled to be first contested in 2022.[7]
However, the South Cotabato's districts were redistricted in 2022 through a law that reapportioned South Cotabato's districts into three and made General Santos officially a single, distinct legislative district. This time, it will encompass the western municipalities of Lake Sebu, Norala, Santo Niño, Surallah, and T'boli. The district will be contested again in May 2025.[8]