Mayor Macabayao M. Macadato has been elected four (4) times (four-year term) as mayor and was only deposed when then dictator President Ferdinand E. Marcos replaced him with OIC in 1979 due to his being in opposition to the ruling KBL Party at that time. The late Macabayao Macadato, former Sultan of the Royale House of Butig is considered as the father of democracy in Butig as many people thereat love him so much due to his being approachable and a hardworking public servant. Butig is one of the oldest town in the province and the inhabitants thereat are connected to all the Seventeen Royal Houses of Lanao. By tradition, any individual who has no blood line in Butig cannot hold any recognized Royal Title in the Sultanate of Lanao. Clashes between the Philippine military and a local terrorist organization known as the Maute group which is believed to have ties with Jemaah Islamiyah started on February 20, 2016, after the Maute Group raided the detachment of the 51st Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army in the town. Islamic State of Iraq and Syria paraphernalia were discovered at the group's lair after government forces overran the group's camp on February 26, 2016. The firefight displaced 2,000 residents of Butig, and killed 42 members of the group and three government troops. In November 2016, the Maute group seized the town but were driven from their positions by Philippine Army troops after about a week of fighting.