Согод муниципалитеті: тарихы мен географиясы

Municipality in Southern Leyte, Philippines

Sogod (IPA:), officially the Municipality of Sogod (; ), is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Southern Leyte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 47,552 people. The name of the municipality originated from the Cebuano word, sogod, meaning "to start." Founded as a Catholic mission station by the Society of Jesus in 1601, Sogod became a regular municipality on June 10, 1853. Sogod is located along the Southern Leyte section of the Pan Philippine Highway, south of Tacloban City, the regional center of Eastern Visayas. Rugged mountains enveloped most of the town's northern terrain with numerous river systems crept throughout the southern lowlands. Known as the center of trade, commerce and industry in the south central region of Leyte, Sogod is also home to Southern Leyte State University (SLSU) Main Campus and Saint Thomas Aquinas College (STAC).

The dearth of resource materials brought difficulty in providing a complete historical account of Sogod from the pre Hispanic era up to today. Most of the references identified in the account were chronicles written by Spanish missionaries – the Jesuits, the Augustinians, and the Seculars (the Franciscans were assigned to parishes of northeastern Leyte and Samar) – who administered the town. At the forefront of colonization, the islands of Leyte and Samar were neglected by the Spanish colonial government which brought short term revolts and insurrections to the region. In addition, it is worthy to attribute the Catholic Church's influence in the islands which further improved the shaping of cultural, political, economic and spiritual dimension of the people of Sogod.

Early annals account that Sogod was first located near the mouth of the Subangdaku River. It was then a satellite territory under the domain of Seilani, which comprises the areas from Bontoc and Sogod to the island of Panaon. Around 1544, due to unfavorable winds, a Spanish expedition headed by Ruy López de Villalobos arrived at the eastern town of Abuyog, Leyte where an aged inhabitant informed Garcia de Escalante Alvarado, the chronicler of the expedition, on the presence of trading posts found in the archipelago:"I asked him [writes Escalante], whether there was a big town anywhere on the island of Abuyo [mistakenly referred by the Spaniards as Leyte] and he said yes, on the other side of the island to the north west [south west?] there was a big town called Sugut whither Chinese junks come every year and where there are resident Chinese who have a house for their merchandise. He said that what they buy there is gold and slaves " On September 6, 1571, Leyte was established as an encomienda with Tandaya as the command post of the Spanish colony in the island. Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, the first Governador General of the Philippines, assigned Juan de Trujillo as the first encomendero, or land trustee, of Tandaya. Miguel de Loarca, one of the first Spanish conquistadores to arrive in the Philippines and conducted one of the earliest census in the country, affirmed that Sogod was already drafted to the encomienda system in 1582. However, the town was pronounced as Tugud or Tugut:"Island of Baybay". About three (3) leagues [fourteen (14) kilometers from Camotes] farther east lies the island of Baybay, or Leyte, as it is also called. It is a large and well provisioned island, although the people dress in medriñaque [a fiber from the sago palm in the Philippines]. Leyte is thickly settled; it may have a population of fourteen or fifteen thousand (14,000 15,000) Indians, ten thousand of whom pay tribute because that has been a people hard to conquer. There are twelve (12) encomenderos; but his Majesty owns none of the Indians. This island is about eighty (80) leagues in circumference, and fifteen (15) or sixteen (16) wide. Its principal settlements and rivers are Vaybay, Yodmuc, Leyte, Cavigava, Barugo, Maraguincay [a river and a current village in Tanauan, Leyte (barangay Malaguicay)], Palos, Abuyo, Dulaque, Longos, Bito [a lake bordering the towns of MacArthur and Abuyog in Leyte], Cabalian, Calamocan [the old name of Inopacan, Leyte] and Tugud. This island possesses neither mines nor gold placers; the only cloth it produces is medriñaque, which, as I have said before, resembles calico, and is made from a kind of wild banana."

The missionaries of the Order of Saint Augustine (OSA) were the first to Christianize Leyte in 1580. But because they were lacking in number, the mission was given to the care of the priests of the Society of Jesus (SJ) in 1595. The Vice Provincial of the Jesuit mission in the Philippines, Padre Antonio Sedeño, chose four priests, Pedro Chirino, Antonio Pereira, Juan del Campo, and Cosme de Flores, and one lay brother, Gaspar Garay to reopen the mission of Leyte. Of the five, Padre Chirino was the superior of the expedition. The missionaries arrived in the town of Carigara on the morning of July 16, 1595, the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, from Zebu. They introduced themselves to the encomendero of Carigara, Cristobal de Trujillo, and presided an assembly for the construction of the mission residence there. While the rest of the Jesuits studied Visayan and catechize the natives to the Faith, Padre Chirino and Padre Pereira crossed the central Leyte valley towards the eastern Pacific coast and founded the town of Dulac. Within a span of two years, the Sons of Saint Ignatius of Loyola founded five permanent mission stations: Carigara (July 1595), Dulag (September 1595), Palo (October 1596), Alangalang (May or June 1595) and Ogmoc (1597). Since the settlement was frequented by Moro raids, a baluarte [watchtower] was built to warn villagers against the approach of the raiders. There were no Jesuits stationed in southern Leyte at this time and that all commands came from the datu. In such crisis, Bancao, who was, and until now, revered as Mangkaw, emerged among the populace. The son of a certain Mangaris, his presence in Sogod was explained by some Portuguese chroniclers. Around 1563, some Portuguese from Moluccas raided and depopulated Limasawa, with a fleet of eight (8) praus. Eventually, Bancao and a number of his household managed to escape to Sogod, while his brother fled to Butuan for refuge. Notorious for his defense against the pirates, Bancao was a known net fisherman. Already a fishing ground that it is today, Sogod then had houses clustered close to shore around the watchtower. Being an expert in the art of casting the net, Laya, he could send out the casting net in a perfect circle in the sea. As the community grew bigger, the residents agitated for a name for their place. Meetings after meetings were held presided by Mangkaw. But every time a meeting is ongoing, a shoal of fish would form a quick shifting shadow beneath the surface. The eyes of the pondering datu kept stalking it, interfering with the discussion. Satisfying his unequalled fisherman's instinct, he would leave the session unattended. The body language of the datu, which portrays an artful slide of the feet, the legs and the hips, while getting a perfect hold of the fishes through his laya would amaze the attendees from the shore. As a father to the community, he shared his catch with the people for the asking, even by strangers. After which, shouts of "Sogod, sogod!" (vernacular for "to begin") would reconvene the meeting. Thus the word "Sogod" became the name of the town. Although the name Sogod already existed before the 1600s, the Bancao account remains to be the accepted etymological origin of the name of the town. However, it might be deduced that the first name, which is pronounced as (sú. gut.) fits the Escalante description of Sogod being a bustling commercial town of the pre Hispanic era. The major means of initiating trade during those days were done by barter, that is "to comply," or "to consent" with the suggested value offered by the merchant to the townsfolk of Sogod. Thus, whenever the buyer and the seller came into agreement on the bartered item, the expression was affirmed in Cebuano, "ming súgut." The term Tugud, on the other hand, seems like a concealed version of the former. The Spaniards, as accounted by many town histories in Leyte [such as the case of the town of Barugo, Leyte], have difficulty reading and pronouncing Visayan.

The town covered a total land area of until 1953. Due to the enactment of Republic Act No. 522 on June 15, 1950, which establishes the municipality of Bontoc, the municipal area of Sogod decreased. However, the newly ordained act was proven to be lax in nature. The juridical boundaries of the town of Bontoc were not fully indicated, causing much tension between the two municipalities. After the 1959 promulgation of the Executive Order No. 368, all conflicting areas between the municipalities of Sogod and Bontoc were reorganized and reevaluated. Many complaints and petitions were sent to the Provincial Board of Southern Leyte and to the Regional Trial Court (RTC) to reconcile the disputed villages to Sogod, but all were in vain. As a result, the land area of the municipality was reduced to in land area. With the coordinates of 10°23'10 North Longitude and 124°58'48 East Latitude, Sogod is situated in the northern portion of the province of Southern Leyte and in the south central side of Leyte Island, facing the Sogod Bay. It is approximately 72 kilometers east from the city of Maasin, the provincial capital of Southern Leyte; 127 kilometers south from Tacloban City, the regional center of Eastern Visayas and the provincial capital of Leyte; 106 kilometers from Ormoc City, a port city on the north western coast of Leyte. The town is bounded by the municipality of Mahaplag, approximately 38 kilometers northbound via the Maharlika Highway; in the east are the municipalities of Silago, Hinunangan, and Saint Bernard; in the southeast is the municipality of Libagon, about 22 kilometers eastbound via the national highway; facing to the south is Sogod Bay, the only water form that divides the province from west to east; 6 kilometers south west lies the municipality of Bontoc; in the west are the towns of Bato, Hindang, Hilongos, and Inopacan. The Mahaplag Sogod mountain rim is the boundary line of the two provinces of Leyte and Southern Leyte. Two bridges in sitio Balintulay, barangay Kahupian serve as markers for the boundary. In the east and west sides of the municipality are much similar to the north. The slopes serve as barricades from the municipalities facing the eastern Pacific region. Every rainy season, frequent landslips would mar the soil condition of upland barangays causing the feeder roads to be impassable. The southern part is bordered by rivers and creeks. The Santa Cruz Creek serves as a demarcation line between the towns of Bontoc and Sogod. Gakat Creek functions as boundary between Sogod and Libagon.

The municipality has flat to rolling plains in the southern part, with rivers crisscrossing the lowland. The rivers of Subangdaku and San Francisco are the major waterways of the town. The headwaters of these rivers are located at the Leyte Cordillera. The rivers flow southward from the villages of Kahupian, Pancho Villa, San Francisco Mabuhay and San Juan to its mouth at the Sogod Bay near the Sogod poblacion. Numerous springs are located in the town. Some of them are situated in barangay Consolacion, Hibod Hibod, Kahupian, Lum an, Pancho Villa, and San Juan. The Magaupas Spring in barangay Pandan and Banat e Spring in barangay San Pedro supplies the water needs of the Sogodnons. Rugged peaks covered the town’s northern area. These slopes are dotted with thick rain forests which served as habitat for rare species of flora and fauna, like the Philippine Eagle and Tarsier. Of the twenty four mountains in Southern Leyte province, five are located in Sogod. These are the mountains of Bitanhuan 3,169 feet (966 m), Cagbano 725 feet (221 m), Capuloan 2,583 feet (787 m), Llave 2,583 feet (787 m) and Panjongon 1,259 feet (384 m). Recently, two new species of frogs belonging to the genus Platymantis were discovered specifically inhabiting the montane and mossy forests of the Nacolod Mountain Range (the Hinunangan Silago Sogod corridor of the Leyte Cordillera) in Southern Leyte. Both species differ markedly from other known species of Philippine Platymantis frogs by their body size, coloration patterns, and advertisement calls. The two species are allied to two different species groups, the Platymantisguentheri group and Platymantishazelae group. This is the first time that a Platymantis species belonging to the Hazelae group has been discovered in Mindanao faunal region, of which the island of Leyte belongs to. There are three mountain ranges that separates the municipality from the other towns of the province, these are: Baybay Maasin Cordillera, the Abuyog Liloan Cordillera and Mahaplag mountain range. The Baybay Maasin Cordillera consists of rolling hills and varied upland plains. This area is known for its lush and productive coconut and abaca plantations. Rice paddies formed the rest of the agricultural thicket of the area. The Abuyog Liloan Cordillera is regarded as the bounty for endangered animals such as tarsiers, eagles, deers and monkeys. The mountain range has an altitude of about 2,000 above sea level. In the recent years, this part of the province had experienced deforestation. Due to massive exploitation of hardwood in the area, it resulted to severe flowing of the Subangdaku River and landslides in Sogod’s mountain villages. In the mid 1980s, the Philippine Government issued the banning of timber cutting in the entire country, leading to the massive restoration of the forests in the country. The Mahaplag cordillera is an arm of the Abuyog Liloan mountain range and has the same characteristics with the other mountain ranges. Being isolated by human activities, it is also home to rare species of flora and fauna. Being a coastal town, the bay that divides the province into two regions is named after Sogod. Of all the municipalities comprising the province of Southern Leyte, the municipality has the shortest shoreline.

Sogod is situated at the head of Sogod Bay. The bay, home to a variety of fishes, provided food and livelihood to the people of Sogod and nearby municipalities. The Subangdaku River is a major tributary of the bay, emptying into the bay at the municipality of Sogod. Much of the bay's ecology has been disturbed due to human activity, ranging from quarrying and rechanneling to improper waste management.

The average climate in Sogod presents a low mean seasonality in comparison to similar climates in other parts of the world. This means that, on average, seasons (whether hot or cold or dry or wet) are not marked. The mean monthly temperature ranges from 23.6 °C to 25.4 °C and Precipitation from 147 to 351 millimeters/month. According to the Coronas Classification, the main climate classification system used in the Philippines, the largest part of Sogod falls under Type II, which characterized by the absence of a dry season and months with the largest rainfalls between November and January. A small part of Sogod, the western part of the province of Southern Leyte, falls under Type IV and has an even more evenly distributed rainfall throughout the year.

The population of Sogod exceeded 45,000 during the 2015 Philippine National Census. Of about 3,382 inhabitants, Zone V is the most populous barangay in Sogod, followed by Zone III and Maac with the population of 1,934 inhabitants and 1,869 inhabitants, respectively. But the barangay with the lowest population is Lum an, having a population of only 90 individuals; followed by Hindangan and Buac Daku with the population of 116 and 119. Pandan, Rizal, San Jose, San Miguel, San Pedro, San Roque, Tampoong and Casao and Santa Cruz in Bontoc are the immigration barangays within the poblacion. Mountain barangays such as Benit, Lum an, Hindangan, Hipantag, Maria Plana and Santa Maria are experiencing a decline in population. Employment and livelihood lead the people from these villages to settle in the poblacion and in other urban centers in the province. The lack of road systems and infrastructures linking these villages to the town proper is one of the factors that attribute to this problem. This migratory pattern is called Rural Exodus. It is exacerbated when the population decline leads to the loss of rural services such as business enterprises and schools, which leads to greater loss of population as people leave to seek those features.

The local populace of Sogod is of Boholano and Cebuano descent with Cebuano as the major language spoken in the municipality. But most native speakers have Boholano (Bol anon) intonation because of its proximity to Bohol province. Waray Waray and Surigaonon are regarded as secondary languages. However, Tagalog is still the lingua franca when conversing to other ethnic groups. Natives also understood foreign languages such as English and Spanish.

Name of bankAddressCantilan Bank, Inc. Osmeña Street, Barangay Zone IILandbankDoctor Gonzalo Yong Bus Terminal, Barangay Zone IIIMetrobankRizal Street, Barangay Zone IVPhilippine National BankOsmeña Street, Barangay Zone IIRural Bank of Hindang, Inc. RIzal Street, Barangay Zone IVUnited Coconut Planters BankOsmeña Street, Barangay Zone IV

Sogod is politically subdivided into forty five barangays; ten (10) of which compose the poblacion (town proper): Rizal, San Jose, San Pedro, San Roque, Tampoong, Zone I, Zone II, Zone III, Zone IV and Zone V.

Kahupian is the largest barangay in the municipality, in terms of land area. Other large villages such as San Francisco Mabuhay, Hipantag, Kauswagan, Javier, Hindangan and Magatas are only accessible by habal habal via feeder roads (with the exception of barangay Javier, which is reachable by jeepney and motorcab plying for Libagon town). Most of the smaller barangays are found in densely populated areas in the municipality, particularly in the poblacion. These barangays are Zone I, Zone II, Zone III, Zone IV and Zone V, San Jose, Rizal, Mabicay and Consolacion.

Telecommunication facilities, broadband and wireless internet connections are provided by Globe Telecoms, Smart Communications and Sun Cellular.

The main attraction of the town is the Agas Agas Bridge, the country’s tallest viaduct. Other sites found in the municipality are the Banat e Spring of barangay San Pedro, the CTL Farms in barangay Concepcion, Dagsa Pasanon Falls in barangay Dagsa, the Lanao Spring in barangay San Juan, the Calvary Trail of barangays San Roque and Milagroso, the mighty Subangdaku River in the barangays of Suba and San Miguel, the Buac Malinao Reservoir of barangay Malinao, La Caridad Farms in barangay Buac Gamay, Labong Cave in barangay Javier, the Magapso Fish and Marine Sanctuary of barangay Maac, the Manubsuab Falls in barangay Kanangkaan, the Bagacay Beach of barangay Consolacion and the Prima, Cabadoy and Palanca Pebble Beaches in barangay San Jose. Inns and hotel accommodations are concentrated in the poblacion.

The Agas Agas Bridge zipline or what they call "Zipline Leyte" is a twin zip line and one of the longest in the country gliding diagonally above the bridge and the riverine below it.

Cainting Cave and Falls has been discovered in 2003 by foreign visitors trailing in the northern mountainous area of the town. Undisturbed by human activities, the cave matched with a cascading falls has not yet been fully explored. This site, which forms part of the lush Sogod Rainforest served as meeting point of three (3) rivers which offers a scenic junction of a natural pool. The presence of leeches locally known as “limatok” thrive on its waters. The area can be reached after a five kilometer walk from the road proper in barangay Pancho Villa to the barrio of San Francisco Mabuhay. Pancho Villa is a 20 minute habal habal ride from Doctor Gonzalo Yong Bus Terminal in the poblacion. It is also accessible via a feeder road in barangay Kahupian which connects it from the sitios of Lubong Sapa, Silao Bato, Kabernal and Hagna. The latter, which is the farthest of the sitios and under the territorial jurisdiction of barangay San Francisco Mabuhay, is the location of the cave and falls.

The 500 hectare forested Magsuhot National Park, located three (3) kilometers from barangay Mahayahay, has a four 20 meter high waterfalls falling into a common basin. It is located in the barangay of Maria Plana.