Municipal Profile

“Maitum” refers to the stones that berth in Saub River. Pioneers of the Municipality believed that stones of the river turned “Maitim, a native term meaning black when the native princess and her warrior lover escaped from the princess’s wrathful father who disapproved their marriage.

Maitum became a Municipality through Republic Act No. 2189 enacted on May 7, 1959. a 2nd class municipality with 8,521 household and 37,054 total population it is geographically located at the westernmost part of Sarangani Province, bounded north by the Province of South Cotabato, west by Sultan Kudarat Province, east by the Municipality of Kiamba and south by the Celebes Sea. It lies between the coordinates of East Longitude 124º29’45” and North Latitude 6º03’41”

The Municipality of Maitum is composed of 19 barangays namely: Batian, Kalaneg, Kalaong, Kiambing, Kiayap, Mabay, Maguling, Malalag, Mindupok, New la Union, Old Poblacion, Pangi, Pinol, Sison, Ticulab, Tuanadatu, Upo, Wali and Zion.

Maitum’s land area is 7.91% of the total land area of Sarangani Province which is 410,042 hectares or 4,100.42 sq.km. Maitum has a total land area of 32,435 hectares; forestland has a the largest area of 21,773 hectares or 67.128% of the total land area, followed by the agricultural land with an area of 9,546.34 hectares or 29.432% The municipality is 117 kms. from General Santos City. Approximate travel time is two (2) hours by air-conditioned vans. Commuters enjoy each travel in a fairly good asphalt/concrete road from General Santos City to Maitum. There are 659 units motorcycles in the municipality and 413 of which are used privately and 246 are used as public utility. Tricycles counted to 279 and 212 are used for hire. There are 65 air-conditioned vans in the municipality in which 63 were used as commuter vans that transport passengers to and from General Santos City.

Maitum is richly blessed with natural resources. The municipality is proud of its clean rivers, spring, coastal and marine resources, forest and watershed areas, tourist spots and its vast agricultural lands. Four of its major rivers namely; Saub, Pangi, Kalaong and Luan Rivers serve seven communal irrigation systems. Pangi irrigates a total of 565 hectares of rice lands at barangays Zion, Old Poblacion, Pangi, Kiambing and Wali. Aside from being a source of irrigation water, Pangi River also brings pride to the municipality as it was awarded 2nd runner-up Cleanest Inland Body of Water in the country in the year 2003.

Safe and potable water from barangays New La Union, Upo, Zion, Kiayap and Batian serve 2,999 households or approximately 42% of the total population. The average discharge of these springs is eleven (11) liters per second or 3,801 liters per day. Kalaong River which has a drainage area of 228 square kilometer is capable of generating 11.7 megawatts of potential hydroelectric generation.