IN 2021, Congress passed Republic Act (RA) 11550 dividing the province of Maguindanao into two because this would lead to more accessible public service and efficient resource management. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed it was among the poorest provinces in the country at that time, aside from belonging to the Philippines' most impoverished region, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
RA 11550 also required that a plebiscite be held in August 2021 to ratify the division, but was postponed to September 2022 when the split into Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur was ratified by 99 percent of the voters. Due to the postponement, no elections for provincial officials of the two newly created provinces were conducted in May 2022 as provided by the law.
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