Another legend states that a Spaniard asked a settler woman the name of the settlement, and she replied "Bato".

Many of these Muslim settlers were traders and carried their names like "Bato" who started their settlements in the area and later spread to the other regions of Visayas, Mindanao, and Luzon.

At early morning on November 1, 2020, Super Typhoon Goni, locally known as Super Typhoon Rolly and the current record holder for the most intense landfalling tropical cyclone in terms of 1-minute maximum sustained winds, made landfall in the municipality and left widespread damage.

Bato is located at the south-eastern portion of Catanduanes and is bounded on the north by the municipality of San Miguel; on the north-east by the municipality of Baras; on the east by the Philippine Sea; on the south by Cabugao Bay and on the west of Virac, the capital town of Catanduanes which is just 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from Bato.

Stability and permeability of basic rock formation could be seen in the geologic map the existence of fault line along barangays Oguis, Sipi, Binanuahan, Cabugao and San Andres.

Like other municipalities in the province of Catanduanes, Bato has many mineral deposits like gold, manganese, coal and copper.

Once it was abundant in marine life but due to erosion and consistent flooding, the riverbed has been dumped with soil and this caused the river to get shallow and dry up.

This can happen up to 20 times per year, with some typhoons developing into really devastating calamities that can level entire towns.