Prior to gaining separate representation, areas now under the jurisdiction of General Santos were represented under the
Department of Mindanao and Sulu (1917–1935), the historical
Cotabato Province (1935–1967),
Region XI (1978–1984) and
South Cotabato (
lone district, 1967–1972;
at-large district, 1984–1986;
first district, 1987–2019). Even after becoming a
highly urbanized city independent from South Cotabato in 1988,
General Santos remained part of the province's congressional representation. The city only gained a separate representative with the passage of Republic Act No. 11243 on March 11, 2019, which segregated General Santos from the
first congressional district of
South Cotabato to form its
own congressional district. Given that it was already too late for the
Commission on Elections to change the old congressional district configuration data in the automated election system in time for the
May 2019 polls, COMELEC Resolution No. 10524 was promulgated on April 11, 2019, to delay the elections for both the new lone congressional district of General Santos and the newly reconfigured
first congressional district of South Cotabato to a date no less than six months from May 13, 2019. By virtue of COMELEC Resolution No. 10552 promulgated on July 25, 2019, the date of elections for the lone district of General Santos was set for October 26, 2019. However, on September 10, 2019, the
Supreme Court of the Philippines declared COMELEC Resolution No. 10524 null and void for violating the law, when COMELEC set separate special elections for the reconfigured
1st Congressional District of South Cotabato and the newly created Lone Congressional District of General Santos instead of using the new district boundaries in the next regular (i.e., 2022) election, as RA 11243 In the same ruling, the Supreme Court ordered COMELEC to convene a Special Provincial Board of Canvassers to proclaim the winning candidate, Shirlyn L. Bañas-Nograles who garnered 68.55% of the votes cast in the May 2019 election, as the duly elected representative of the
1st Congressional District of South Cotabato, including General Santos. It passed in the third and final reading in the House on September 15, 2021 and in the Senate on January 31, 2022 with an amendment where the first election for the reapportioned seats will be on
May 12, 2025. The bill lapsed into a law without then-President
Rodrigo Duterte's signature on June 2, 2022, and was indexed under the Republic Act No. 11804. ==Representation history==