Cotabato in the context of "Precolonial barangay"

The Lumad are a group of Austronesian indigenous peoples in the southern Philippines. It is a Cebuano term meaning 'native' or 'indigenous'. The term is short for Katawhang Lumad (lit. 'indigenous people'), the autonym officially adopted by the delegates of the Lumad Mindanao Peoples Federation (LMPF) founding assembly on 26 June 1986 at the Guadalupe Formation Center, Balindog, Kidapawan, Cotabato. Usage of the term was accepted in Philippine jurisprudence when President Corazon Aquino signed into law Republic Act 6734, where the word was used in Art. XIII sec. 8(2) to distinguish Lumad ethnic communities from the islands of Mindanao.

Mindanao is home to a substantial part of the country's indigenous population, comprising around 15% of the Philippine population.

Cebuano (/sɛˈbwɑːnoʊ/ se-BWAH-noh) is an Austronesian language spoken in the southern Philippines by Bisaya people and other ethnic groups as a secondary language. It is natively, though informally, called by the generic name Bisayâ (Cebuano pronunciation: [bisəˈjaʔ] ), or Binisayâ ([bɪniːsəˈjaʔ]) (both terms are translated into English as Visayan, though this should not be confused with other Bisayan languages) and sometimes referred to in English sources as Cebuan (/sɛˈbuːən/ seb-OO-ən). It is spoken by the Visayan ethnolinguistic groups native to the islands of Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor, the eastern half of Negros, the western half of Leyte, the northern coastal areas of Northern Mindanao and the eastern part of Zamboanga del Norte due to Spanish settlements during the 18th century. In modern times, it has also spread to the Davao Region, Cotabato, Camiguin, parts of the Dinagat Islands, and the lowland regions of Caraga, often displacing native languages in those areas (most of which are closely related to it).

While Tagalog has the largest number of native speakers among the languages of the Philippines today, Cebuano had the largest native-language-speaking population from the 1950s until about the 1980s. It is by far the most widely spoken of the Bisayan languages.

Soccsksargen (officially stylized in all caps; [sokˈsardʒɛn]), designated as Region XII, is an administrative region of the Philippines. Formerly known as Central Mindanao, it is located in south-central Mindanao and comprises four provinces: Cotabato, Sarangani, South Cotabato, and Sultan Kudarat, and one highly urbanized city, General Santos. The regional center is Koronadal in South Cotabato, while the center of commerce and industry is General Santos, the most populous city in the region.

The 2019 Bangsamoro autonomy plebiscite was a two-part plebiscite held in Mindanao, Philippines, that ratified the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) and replaced the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) with the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), as well as the scope of the said region.

Under the organic law, the government would have to hold the plebiscite not more than 150 days from the signing of the BOL into law (July 26, 2018) but not earlier than 90 days from the law's signing. The first part of the plebiscite was held on January 21, 2019, where voters from the ARMM voted regarding the BOL's ratification and residents of Cotabato City and Isabela City voted for or against their cities' inclusion into the then-proposed region. The second part was held on February 6 to potentially expand the BARMM; with voters from six municipalities in Lanao del Norte and 67 barangays in Cotabato province voting for or against their localities' inclusion into the BARMM.

The Iranun language (Jawi: إيراناونساي), also known as Iranon or Illanun, is an Austronesian language belonging to the Danao languages spoken in the provinces of Maguindanao del Norte and other part of Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte, coastal municipalities of Zamboanga del Sur from Tukuran to Dumalinao, and Cotabato in southern Philippines and the Malaysian state of Sabah. It is the second most spoken language in Maguindanao del Norte after the Maguindanao language.

Maguindanaon (Basa Magindanawn, Jawi: باس مڬندنون‎), or Magindanawn is an Austronesian language spoken by Maguindanaon people who form majority of the population of eponymous provinces of Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur in the Philippines. It is also spoken by sizable minorities in different parts of Mindanao such as the cities of Zamboanga, Davao, General Santos, and Cagayan de Oro, and the provinces of Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato, Sarangani, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, Davao del Sur, Davao Occidental, Bukidnon as well as Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal and Laguna. As of 2020, the language is ranked to be the ninth leading language spoken at home in the Philippines with only 365,032 households still speaking the language.