Sorsogon City, Philippines

By James Barcelona

Tourist Attractions

Subic and Tikling Beach

The City of Sorsogon was created by virtue of Republic Act 8806, which was signed into law on August 16, 2000 and ratified during a plebiscite on December 16, 2000. RA 8806, also known as the Cityhood Law, called for the merger of the municipalities of Sorsogon and Bacon into a component city of the Province of Sorsogon. Sorsogon thus, functioned as a full-pledged city on June 30, 2001, with the assumption into office of the first city officials.

Brief History

Although relatively young, the city boasts of a colorful history that goes back to the pre-Hispanic times, when Moro pirates frequently trespassed its territorial waters. With the coming of the Spanish colonizers in the 1600s, Bacon was organized into a visita of the town of Casiguran, one of the oldest settlements in Luzon. The municipality of Sorsogon, whose original Site was in Sitio Pocdol in Capuy, was in turn, a visita of Bacon. As its population increased, however, Sorsogon was declared an independent, full-fledged parish in 1628.

The Pueblo Civil de Bacon was established in 1754, with Juan Elias as its first gobernadorcillo. Sorsogon on the other hand, became an independent political unit in 1864.

From their organization as visitas and eventually as independent pueblos, both Bacon and Sorsogon remained under the territorial jurisdiction of the province of Albay. On October 17, 1894, the Spanish authorities organized a geographical unit independent from Albay, with the town of Sorsogon as its seat of government. The new province adopted the name of the town and has since been known as the Province of Sorsogon.

Before the merger to form the City of Sorsogon, Bacon and Sorsogon enjoyed different economic classifications, with Sorsogon classified as first-class municipality and Bacon, fourth class. The merger has resulted in a political unit composed of 64 barangays falling into three districts: Bacon (with 28 barangays), Sorsogon West (with 22 barangays) and Sorsogon East (with 14 barangays).

​Location 

Sorsogon City lies from 1230 53’ to 1240 09’ east longitude and from 120 55” to 130 08 north latitude. It is 600 km southeast of Manila and is located at the southernmost tip of Luzon.

The city is bounded on the east by the municipalities of Pto. Diaz and Gubat, on the south by the municipality of Casiguran and Sorsogon Bay, on the west by the municipality of Castilla, on the northeast by the municipality of Manito in Albay, and on the north by Albay Gulf.  Sorsogon is part of the geographical chain linking Luzon to the rest of the Philippines. It is a transshipment corridor and serves as the seat of the Province of Sorsogon.

​Terrain 

Mountain range on the northwest, sloping uplands on the central part, plain areas south western and central north and southeast portion, and marshlands on the southeast deltas.

​Climate

Type II, No pronounced dry season but with very pronounced maximum rain from November to January

​Geology and Natural Resources

Geothermal Energy is extracted in West and Bacon District and Limestone are available in Bato, Bacon District.

Population and Language

The 2007 Census conducted by the National Statistics Office places the city’s population at 151,454. Projected population is 159,263 based on 1.78% growth rate for the period of 2000-2007. The total number of household is 30,290.