Tiwi, Albay

Tiwi
Municipality
The foreground is the Corangon shoal, made up of mainly crushed corals and white sand, which is about 15 minutes boat ride from the shore of Brgy. Baybay. Mt. Mayon (left), Mt. Masaraga (center) and Mt. Malinao (right) serve as the background. The entire municipality of Tiwi is located at the north-eastern side of Mt. Malinao.
Map of Albay with Tiwi highlighted
Tiwi Location within the Philippines
Coordinates: 13°27′N 123°41′E / 13.450°N 123.683°ECoordinates: 13°27′N 123°41′E / 13.450°N 123.683°E
Country	Philippines
Region	Bicol (Region V)
Province	Albay
District	1st district
Founded	1696
Barangays	25
Government[1]
• Mayor	Leo P. Templado
Area[2]
• Total	105.76 km^2 (40.83 sq mi)
Population (2010)[3]
• Total	50,163
• Density	470/km^2 (1,200/sq mi)
Time zone	PST (UTC+8)
Zip Code	4513
Dialing code	52
Website	www.tiwi.gov.ph

Tiwi is a first class municipality in the province of Albay, Philippines. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 50,163 people.^[3] The present mayor is Hon. Leo P. Templado, serving in his first term after having won the mayoral election in May 2013.

History^[4]

Hence, the friars called the place Tigbi, which evolved into Tivi and, then, finally to its present name Tiwi.[5][6]

This place began as a barrio of Malinao before it was formally organized as a politically independent pueblo in 1696. As a pueblo, it was governed by a gobernadorcillo. As a Catholic parish, it was administered by a secular priest under the then Diocese of Nueva Caceres, now an archdiocese. In its primeval stages, it had some 1,105 houses, a parish church, a community-funded primary school, and a cemetery outside the town proper. The villagers ordinarily engaged in fishing, planting rice, corn, sugarcane, indigo, fruit-bearing trees, and vegetables. Aside from agriculture, they also busied themselves weaving cotton and abaca clothes, and in pottery.

In Kagnipa, known today as Barangay Baybay, the dilapidated Sinimbahan, the remnant of the first concrete house of worship built by the Franciscans led by the pastor of Malinao, Fray Pedro de Brosas, remains to be the deaf witness of both the villagers' ready acceptance of the Christian faith and their suffering of persecution at the hands of the Moslems; Christian missionaries called them Moros. The parola by the shore of Sitio Nipa of the same barangay testifies to the people's paralyzing fear of the Moros' capricious forays. The market site of the pueblo before these raids was located in the present location of Baybay Elementary School. In order to sidetrack surprise attacks, at least temporarily, the market site was transferred to southernmost part of now Brgy. Baybay; henceforth, it was called Binanwaan. The transfer, however, was useless. Finally, to have enough time to escape and keep themselves safer from their enemies' easy attacks, they moved the market site and their settlement to the present poblacion now named as Barangay Tigbi. Before the Moro's assaults, Brgy. Baybay was then the center of trade and commerce because of its easy accessibility to marine transportation of goods from the islands of what are now known as Catanduanes, San Miguel, Rapu-Rapu, and Batan, not to mention those from adjoining pueblos in the mainland of Ibalon, now the province of Albay, and the Camarines.

In the extant records of the municipality, the first chief executive of the municipal government was Don Lorenzo Mancilla installed in 1776.

Barangays

Tiwi is politically subdivided into 25 barangays.

• Bagumbayan
• Bariis
• Baybay
• Belen (Malabog)
• Biyong
• Bolo
• Cale
• Cararayan
• Coro-coro
• Dap-dap
• Gajo
• Joroan
• Libjo
• Libtong
• Matalibong
• Maynonong
• Mayong
• Misibis
• Naga
• Nagas
• Oyama
• Putsan
• San Bernardo
• Sogod
• Tigbi (Poblacion)

Tourist Attractions: Existing & Potential

• Parish Church of Our Lady of Salvation, Brgy. Joroan
• Parish Church of St. Lawrence, Deacon & Martyr, Brgy. Tigbi
• Corangon Shoal, Brgy. Baybay
• PhilCeramics, Brgy. Putsan
• Naglagbong Park cum Science Centrum Museum, Brgy. Cararayan
• Rangasa Spring Resort
• Sinimbahan Ruins, Brgy. Baybay
• Japanese Garden, Brgy. Tigbi
• Bugsukan Falls, Brgy. Misibis
• Baybay-Bolo Beach
• Sogod Beach
• Maslog Waterfalls, Brgy. Misibis
• Tiwi Geothermal Plants
• DJC Halo-Halo
• Capantagan Waterfalls, Brgy. Cale

Demographics

Population census of Tiwi
Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1990	34,658	—
1995	39,733	+2.59%
2000	44,261	+2.34%
2007	49,185	+1.47%
2010	50,163	+0.72%
Source: National Statistics Office[3][7]

References

1. "Municipalities". Quezon City, Philippines: Department of the Interior and Local Government. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
2. "Province: Albay". PSGC Interactive. Makati City, Philippines: National Statistical Coordination Board. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
3. "Total Population by Province, City, Municipality and Barangay: as of May 1, 2010" (PDF). 2010 Census of Population and Housing. National Statistics Office. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
4. Natanauan, Rommel A. (December 2002), "Tiwi: Yesterday...Today...Tomorrow", 1st Tiwi Coron Festival Souvenir Magazine, pp. 17–19. Print
5. The evolution of the nomenclature is not conclusive because a plant known as Tiwi (Bicol; Tua or Tui in Tagalog) also exists aside from the fact that the present poblacion was named differently being called Brgy. Tigbi; otherwise, it would have been simply called as poblacion.
6. http://www.bpi.da.gov.ph/bpioldsite/medicinalplant_t.php
7. "Province of Albay". Municipality Population Data. LWUA Research Division. Retrieved 16 August 2013.

External links

• Municipality of Tiwi Official Website
• Philippine Standard Geographic Code
• Philippine Census Information