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1st Mass

“Dagos tabi!” – a warm and friendly Bikol greeting, meaning, “Please come in, you are most welcome!”

Warm and straight from the heart, Sorsogon beckons and welcomes you.

Sorsogon, one of the six Bikol provinces, and located at the southernmost tip of Luzon – the gateway to the South of the Philippines – offers the jaded visitor a new experience . . . unexplored and undiscovered, pristine and green vistas, Mother Nature at its best.

The entire province is one big eco-tour package. With Sorsogon City – the capital and seat of government – as jump-off point, all the eco-tour destinations within the province are easily accessible, including the singularly exciting, high adventure Whale Shark or Butanding Interaction activity off the waters of Donsol, Pilar, Castilla, Magallanes, and Bacon District of Sorsogon City; a rare nature-commune at the Mt. Bulusan Natural Park and its mystical Bulusan Mountain Lake Resort, with its exotic flora and fauna; the province’s magnificently colorful dive sites and marine sanctuaries; mysterious caves with interesting folk legends to explore; hot springs and healing mineral water spas to soak in, relax and unwind; the picturesque little islands within Sorsogon Bay and off Matnog, offering fine white, black or pink sand beaches; the historical landmarks, including old churches, ancient houses and monuments, historic ruins of baluartes, murallas, and astilleros or ancient shipyards; and local arts and crafts.

Sorsogon offers the visitor a wide variety of diversions, including SCUBA diving, snorkeling, sport fishing, swimming, boating, island-hopping, sunbathing, beachcombing, mountain climbing, biking, hiking, spelunking, or just simply touching base with nature at its pristine best. Or revel in the pageantry, celebration and merrymaking during its numerous festivals and barrio fiestas, and imbibe and experience its rich cultural heritage.

In Sorsogon, you will never run out of things to do, sights to see, places to go to, folk celebrations to join and enjoy.

This is Sorsogon, the Land of Kasanggayahan – a land of peace, serenity, lush scenery all around, and happy and hospitable people. Sorsogon – one big eco-tour package!

Welcome to Sorsogon. Dagos tabi...

There are, at present, a total of twenty (20) banks scattered in different parts of the province, with majority concentrated within Sorsogon City, offering various financial transactions.

HISTORY... (From Gibalong to Ibalon: The First Mass in Luzon Island)

When the Spanish conquistador, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, who was then based in Panay Island in the Visayas, dispatched, sometime between 1565 to 1570, to this part of the islands an expeditionary force headed by Capitan Luis Enriquez de Guzman, together with their chaplain, the Augustinian friar, Fray Alonso Jimenez, primarily to gather provisions for the starving Spanish force in Panay, and at the same time, evangelize whatever native villages they might come upon in the course of their foray, the group stumbled upon a small fishing village at the mouth of the Ginangra River, in what is now the Municipality of Magallanes.

This was the village of Gibalong, the very first Christian settlement in the island of Luzon. It was here where the first mass in Luzon was celebrated by the Augustinian friar, Fray Alonso Jimenez.

Thus, the name Ibalong, to refer to the whole of Bikol Region, really came from this small fishing village, Gibalong, which is now a mere sitio of Barangay Siuton, in Magallanes town, where the local parish constructed sometime in the 1970s a small wooden chapel and a concrete historical marker on the site. In some old Spanish maps, the Spanish cartographers even retained the original spelling by identifying, either the whole Bikol Region or parts of it – Tierra de Gibalong. In his book, From Ibalon to Sorsogon: A Historical Survey of Sorsogon Province to 1905 (New Day Pub. QC, Philippines, 1991), Dr. Luis C. Dery writes, “Historical records showed that the Spaniards started using the name Ibalon as early as 1567 to refer variously to a pre-Spanish native settlement in Sorsogon Gulf, to the entire Bicol Region, and sometimes to the entire island of Luzon. The Spaniards’ indiscriminate use of this name was due to their inadequate knowledge of Bicol geography at the outset of their exploration and conquest of the region. Gradually, they were able to delimit Ibalon and the rest of Kabikolan’s territory.”

Sorsogon became a province, separate from the Province of Albay to which it was formerly attached, in 1894. This is the reason why, in 1994 the centennial foundation anniversary of the Province started to be commemorated and celebrated with a festival – the Kasanggayahan Festival – every October of each year.

 How Sorsogon got to be Sorsogon . . .

                 The name Sorsogon was originally spelled “solsogon” in most old Spanish maps. Solsogon is an old Bikol word, meaning, “to trace a river going upstream”. The rootword “solsog” is Bikol for “going against the current”. It is also variously pronounced and spelled as “sogsogon” or “sosogon”, which all really mean the same thing – “to trace a river, a trail, or a pathway”.

                 As the old folks story goes, after establishing a settlement in Gibalong, in what is now the town of Magallanes, the Spaniards fanned out to explore the area and one group soon came upon a small river emptying itself into what is now Sorsogon Bay. Tired and lost and not knowing where they were, the Spaniards asked a native about the name of the place. Ignorant of the Iberian tongue, and fearful of the white men with the funny hats and bushy countenances, the native, thinking that the strangers were asking for directions, simply pointed at the river and said, “Solsogon”, meaning, trace the river upstream to a native village beyond. And the name stuck.

                 From Solsogon to Sorsogon. The people of Sorsogon invites everyone, from whichever corner of the world they are, to trace the path towards the beautiful and most hospitable Province of Sorsogon.

Text by: Mr. Reynaldo T.  Jamoralin.
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