Is the Province called North Cotabato or just Cotabato?

image source: Lakbayan

There appears to be an ongoing confusion about what the correct name of the province is. Is it North Cotabato or simply Cotabato? Let's trace the history of this province through a series of Legislative Enactments:



1914
Act No. 2408, July 23, 1914 - the creation of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu was enacted where a civil provincial government was established for the province of Cotabato.

1966
Republic Act No. 4849, July 18, 1966 - a number of municipalities of the old province of Cotabato were segregated to form the new province of South Cotabato.

1973
Presidential Decree No. 341, November 22, 1973 - the old province of Cotabato was divided into three provinces: North Cotabato, Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat.

1983
Batas Pambansa No. 660, December 19, 1983 - the name of the province of North Cotabato was changed to Cotabato.

Thus the province of North Cotabato ceased to exist in December 1983 and the province should thereafter be refered to as simply Cotabato. In present day, news and blog articles still refer to the province as North Cotabato, even wikipedia is guilty of this. This is perhaps to differentiate it with South Cotabato or just a force of habit or just a mere confusion.

For the purpose of standards, Pinas Muna will refer to the province as Cotabato (or Cotabato Province, to differentiate with Cotabato City) in its blogposts.

Province of Cotabato
http://www.cotabatoprov.gov.ph/