Sorsogon

Sorsogon, officially the Province of Sorsogon (Bikol: Probinsya kan Sorsogon; Waray: Probinsya han Sorsogon; Tagalog: Lalawigan ng Sorsogon), is a province in the Philippines located in the Bicol Region. It is the southernmost province in the island of Luzon and is subdivided into fourteen municipalities (towns) and one city. Its capital (and largest city) is Sorsogon City (formerly the towns of Sorsogon and Bacon) and borders the province of Albay to the north.

Sorsogon is at the tip of the Bicol Peninsula and faces the island of Samar to the southeast across the San Bernardino Strait and Ticao Island to the southwest. Sorsoganons is how the people of Sorsogon call themselves.

In 1570 two Augustinian friars, Alonzon Jiménez and Juan Orta, accompanied by a certain captain, Enrique de Guzmán, reached Hibalong, a small fishing village near the mouth of Ginangra River, and planted the cross and erected the first chapel in Luzon. It was from this village that Ibalong, referring to the whole region, came to be. Moving inland with a northwesterly direction they passed by the territory now known as Pilar, before they reached Camalig, Albay. The establishment of the Abucay-Catamlangan Mission later was ample proof of this. The early towns established here were: Gibalon in 1570 (now sitio of Magallanes); Casiguran – 1600; Bulusan – 1631; Pilar – 1635; Donsol – 1668; Bacon - 1754; Gubat - 1764; Juban and Matnog – 1800; Bulan – 1801; Castilla – 1827; Magallanes – 1860; Barcelona – 1866 and Irosin – 1880. The province was eventually separated from Albay on October 17, 1894, and adopted the name Sorsogon. The town of Sorsogon was also selected as its capital.

At the 1935 Philippine Constitutional Convention, Sorsogon had its own delegates. They were Adolfo Grafilo, Francisco Arellano, José S. Reyes, and Mario Gaurino.

The Philippines' gradual postwar recovery took a turn for the worse in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with the 1969 Philippine balance of payments crisis being one of the early landmark events. Economic analysts generally attribute this to the ramp-up on loan-funded government spending to promote Ferdinand Marcos’ 1969 reelection campaign, The next two and a half years were fraught with social conflicts as various sectors went to the streets to express their dissastisfaction with policies that fostered widespread poverty. In 1972, one year before the expected end of his last constitutionally allowed term as president in 1973, Ferdinand Marcos placed the Philippines under Martial Law. This allowed Marcos to remain in power for fourteen more years, during which Sorsogon went through many social and economic ups and downs. Labor unions and protest actions were banned, media outlets were shuttered, the legislature was shuttered, and freedom of expression was generally suppressed. Those who expressed opinions which criticized the government or its policies were accused of being communists and arrested without warrant.

During this time, many citizens of Sorsogon joined the effort to resist the erosion of democracy, and many of them became political detainees, or were tortured and killed by the dictatorship's forces. Among the more prominent of them were local figures Ma. Antonia Teresa “Nanette” Vytiaco, Antonio "Tony" Ariado, Ceasar Gavanzo Jr., and Manuel Dorotan, as well as figures like Liliosa Hilao and Juan Escandor, who were killed in Manila. Vytiaco, Ariado, Gavanzo, Dorotan, Hilao, and Escandor have all since been honored by having their names inscribed on the Wall of Remembrance at the Philippines' Bantayog ng mga Bayani, which honors the martyrs and heroes who fought against the authoritarian regime.

In 2000, Sorsogon City was created through the merging of the municipalities of Bacon and Sorsogon.

Sorsogon covers a total area of 2,119.01 square kilometres (818.15 sq mi) occupying the southeastern tip of the Bicol Peninsula in Luzon. The province is bordered on the north by Albay, east by the Philippine Sea, south by the San Bernardino Strait, and west and northwest by the Ticao and Burias Passes. The Sorsogon Bay lies within the central portion of the province.