A bustling urban center that stands out in terms of progress and development in Southern Philippines is General Santos City.
Located between 125°1′ and 125°17′ east longitude and between 5°58′ and 6°20′ north latitude at the island of Mindanao, it is less than 2,000 kms. away from Singapore and is the nearest point in the Philippines to Australia.
The port city is southeast of Manila, southeast of Cebu and southwest of Davao (150 kms. away). It is bounded in the south by the magnificent Sarangani Bay and Mt. Matutum, the highest peak in South Cotabato, towering at 2,293 meters above sea level, in the far north.
The city enjoys good weather all year round and is generally typhoon-free and with evenly distributed rainfall.
It is home to over a half a million people (529,542) according to the latest census of population by the National Statistics Office with an annual growth rate of 3.53, the 7th fastest-growing city in the country.
It serves as a financial hub of the SOCCSKSARGEN Growth Region (South Cotabato, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and Gen. Santos) or SOX in Mindanao with almost 100 banks in operation.
Gensan, as it is fondly called maintains some of the best support infrastructure in the East ASEAN Growth Area.
- The General Santos International Airport keeps an instrument landing system and a runway capable of handling wide-bodied aircrafts (now undergoing a massive P1 Billion upgrade);
- The modern expansion of Makar Wharf presently facilitates more passenger and cargo traffic flow.
- The Gen. Santos Fishport which is the most modern in the country and is accredited with US FDA and EU FDA Standards has just undergone expansion.
- The 178-km all-weather world standard road network interconnecting it with the neighboring provinces provides efficient links for the products of South Central Mindanao to the ports of the world.
All these were made possible through grants from the USAID and the OECF of Japan totalling more than US$200 million.
General Santos City is rightfully the Tuna Capital of the Philippines.
It has over 85 tuna value-added processors, 6 of the country’s 7 tuna canneries and hundreds of allied services all contributing 61,000 jobs for the city.
For more info, check out the Official Website of General Santos City Local Government Unit by clicking here.
