Sogod, Southern Leyte

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.

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?]

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).

With Pagali, his high priest, Bancao solicited the assistance of other chieftains of the neighboring settlements of Baibai, Panaon, and Sogod and easily won his way across the island to the very capital in the north which was Carigara.

The rebels, as they were divided all over the settlements that revolted, were not equal, however, to the force of fifty (50) Spaniards and one thousand (1,000) Cebuanos that Don Juan de Alcarazo, the alcalde mayor [equivalent to a governor] of Cebu, quickly mustered to suppress the rebellion.

However, owing to the 1754 raid, Sogod was not included on the census conducted by Padre Agustin Maria de Castro, which reports the condition of churches and fortifications in the towns administered by the Augustinians.

These educational institutions flourished in the towns of Abuyog, Alangalang, Barugo, Baybay, Burauen, Dagami, Dulag, Hilongos, Jaro, Cabalian, Maasin, Ormoc, Palo, San Miguel, Sogod, Tacloban, and Tanauan.

While the Franciscans evangelized the northern towns, the diocesan priests from Cebu took the Cebuano-speaking areas of the province as their parochial assignments – Albuera, Baybay, Cabalian, Hilongos, Maasin, Macrohon, Malitbog, Ormoc, Palompon, Quiot, Sogod and Villaba – in the middle of the 19th century.

[11] The resolution was received by Don Jose Torres Busquet, the Alcalde Mayor [equivalent to a present-day provincial governor] of Leyte, who endorsed it for approval to Gobernador-General Antonio Urbiztondo y Villasis on April 30, 1853.

The new parochial district was placed under the intercession of the La Purisima Concepcion de Maria with Padre Don Tomas Logroño, a native of Inabanga, Bohol, as the town’s first parish priest.

Eleuterio Faelnar became the teniente del barrio of Sogod Viejo and Hipgasan with Mauro Catajoy and Potenciano Espina as juezes, and Jose Singson and Ariston Meole (now spelled as Miole) as police officers.

The town of Malitbog in the south-west is two-to-three-hour crossing through the said inlet… The old [site] of Sogod [barangay Zone III]… was situated at the end of a great inlet where the ruins of the walls of coral stone and lime mortar masonry of the iglesia [church] during the Jesuit period, are still preserved.

The rainforest mountains of Libagon were then abundant with Narra (pterocarpus), Molave (vitex parviflora), White Lauan (shorea contorta) trees... After which, the volunteers would fasten every end of the logs with ropes and drag them down to the town center.

The members of the municipal council under Lebiste's administration were Eugenio Destrisa (some families spelled it as Destreza or Destriza), Felix Entino, Magdaleno Dagaas, Catalina Idjao, Pedro Bellesa, Patricio Tubia, Victoriano Godes, Lucio Dagas and Agustin Ballina.

In Buntuk, Felipe Aguilar and Felix Entino assumed the position of tenientes 1 and 2 while Graciano Samaño and Antonio Arguelles were designated as juezes and Leoncio Resma as police officer.

Don Ladislao Decenteceo, who has already pledged his allegiance to the Insular Government of the Philippine Islands, won against the reelection bid of Faelnar during the 1904 elections and transferred again the town center to barrio Consolacion, his residence.

Education was the main concern of this period and that the municipal government sent Sotero Toting, Ignacio Chavarria and a person named Sumaya to Tacloban to urge teachers from the capital to teach in Sogod.

The situation made the guerillas more organized compared to other municipalities in Leyte which were led by the former United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) members Lieutenant Sergio Nuqui and Captain Francisco, both under the leadership of Colonel Ruperto Kangleon.

This situation gave the guerillas the opportunity to gather in November 1942 in Inopacan convened by the American officer Chester Peter, which led to a bloody encounter between the troops of Blas Miranda and Ruperto Kangleon due to their personal grudges.

After the war, Central Intelligence Command (CIC) investigations pointed out in their interview with Geronimo Ruiz, a municipal councilor of Sogod, that Labata was indeed a rascal who only finished third or fourth grade education.

Labata gained again the post of mayor but he had numerous enemies in Sogod who attempted to kill him due to his cruelty such as ordering the public execution of Volunteer Guards in June 1944.

Shemberg-Rockland Marketing Corporation was granted an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) by the Regional Department of Environment of Natural Resources (DENR-8), through the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB-8), to conduct quarrying operations in the river.

The company reports that the total concession area of Shemberg is only 19 hectares which occupies about 2 kilometers of the river and that its “upstream boundary is located near the concrete structure, at the bend of San Miguel and is approximately 300 meters downstream of the newly collapsed road pavement.” The Save Subangdaku Movement (SSDM) requested for assistance from the people hearing mass at the Immaculate Conception of Mary Parish during the celebration of the patronal fiesta on December 15, 2001.

At a meeting on March 18, 2002, a government agency alleged that the reason of the incidents of flood and other environmental problems in the river was due to the Philippine Fault System which caused rocks to rumble down.

Much worse when the municipio (town hall) in Sogod began exacting taxation and jurisdiction from the barangays mentioned in the Republic Act 522 in which falls under the area of the local government unit (LGU) of Bontoc.

However, on July 14, 1960, then Executive Secretary Castillo sent a telegram to the Provincial Board of Southern Leyte which states as follows: BY DIRECTION OF PRESIDENT PLEASE SUSPEND IMPLEMENTATION OF EXECUTIVE ORDER 368 SERIES 1959 RECONSTITUTION (sic) BARRIOS AND SITIOS TO COMPOSE MUNICIPALITIES OF SOGOD AND BONTOC AND READJUSTING TERRITORIES SAID MUNICIPALITIES UNTIL FURTHER ADVISE STOP TO DETERMINE TRUE WISHES OF INHABITANTS PLEASE SUPERVISE HOLDING OF PLEBISCITE IN BARRIO AND SITIOS AFFECTED ADVISING THIS OFFICE IMMEDIATELY OF RESULT.

At present, the parish has maintained a number of mandated religious organizations which are active in the various fields of church apostolates, namely: Catholic Women's League, Legion of Mary, Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement, and cofradias (confraternities) like the Birhen sa Lourdes (Our Lady of Lourdes), Sagrada Corazon (Sacred Heart), Inahan sa Kanunayng Panabang (Our Lady of Perpetual Help), San Jose (Saint Joseph) and San Antonio (Saint Anthony of Padua).

Sogod is a three-to-six-hour-ride from Cebu City via sea travel (ships dock at the ports of Bato and Hilongos, in the province of Leyte) and a three-day drive from Manila through the Pan-Philippine Highway.

Created under Presidential Decree 269 as a non-stock and non-profit, service oriented cooperative for the purpose of supplying electricity in an area coverage basis, the SOLECO began its operation on December 1, 1975.

Electrification efforts in the province was first launched in the towns of Macrohon and Padre Burgos (February 15, 1976), Malitbog (August 2, 1976), Tomas Oppus (January 11, 1977), Bontoc (May 10, 1977) and Sogod (December 26, 1977).

The old ruins of the Baluarte used to safeguard the village of then Sugut from Moro pirates during the 1700s.
In this clipped 1899 map of Leyte surveyed by the Observatorio de Manila and later published by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, the town is located east of the Subangdaku river in what is now barangay Consolacion. These labels in geographic features are still in used as names of the present villages, rivers and mountains in the towns of Sogod, Bontoc and Libagon.
The annual Sogod Founding Day Celebration Agro-Fair held every June 10, display and sell some of the town’s agricultural produce.
Rice paddies in barangay Salvacion with the Abuyog-Liloan Cordillera in the background. Wide plains characterize much of the south-eastern terrain of the town.
The view of Subangdaku River, as seen from the Subangdaku I Bridge in barangay Suba.
Mounds of gravel deposits are dumped beside the banks of Subangdaku River for the strengthening of the river control in barangay San Miguel. Farmers along the river banks complained on the soil erosion caused by the rechannelization project. Environmentalists in the province also claim that the sand and gravel quarrying in barangay Immaculada Concepcion was not a re-channeling project but a large-scale mining which exports these mineral deposits to Cebu and abroad.
A map showing the Subangdaku River, as part of a position paper presented at the Ateneo de Naga University, dated March 21, 2002.
A portion of the national highway in barangay San Miguel taken during the 2002 overflowing of the river.
An aerial view of Sogod Bay from Milagroso hill. Every Lenten season, Catholics flock at the summit of the hill for the reenactment of the passion and death of Christ. The trail, leading to the summit of the hill, which starts from the national high school in barangay San Roque, is complete with life-size statues depicting the stations of the cross.
Gaisano Capital Sogod is the largest department store in the province.
The port of Sogod
The newly-constructed Sogod Municipal Hall replaced the old town hall built during the Marcos regime.
Sogod Municipal Trial Court alongside the municipal jail.
The Most Reverend Precioso D. Cantillas, SDB, DD (left) , bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Maasin , and Monsignor Nestor Astillo, PC (right) , parish priest of the Immaculate Conception Parish Church of Sogod, presided the Pontifical Mass for the annual town fiesta last December 15, 2013.
The Holy Child Parish Church in barangay Consolacion.
The newly-renovated facade of the Immaculate Conception Parish Church.
The Immaculate Conception Shrine, which stood beside the parish rectory, was recently demolished to give way for the construction of a multi-purpose covered court that would house civil and religious activities in the town. It was a project earmarked by the former parish priest, now deceased Monsignor Felix Paloma, PC
The statue of the revered patroness of the town, the Immaculate Conception, is displayed in the church sanctuary during the town fiesta, which falls every December 14 and 15.
Formerly known as the Southern Leyte State College of Science and Technology [SLCST], the Southern Leyte State University [SLSU] was converted through the passage of Republic Act No. 9261 on March 7, 2004. The institution is the only state university in the province of Southern Leyte, located at barangay San Roque.
The Sogod District Hospital is the oldest health care institution in the municipality. The construction of the hospital was envisioned through the provisions stated by the Republic Act No. 2693 dated June 18, 1960.
Provincial buses, PUV's and jeepneys picks up and drops off passengers at the Sogod Bus Terminal in barangay Zone III
Blue Potpots thrive at Osmeña street in barangay Zone II.
The pebble beaches in barangay San Jose.
The Gerona Farm in barangay Buac Gamay owned by the Gerona Family.
A stalagmite adorned the entrance of a cavern in Magsuhot Park in barangay Mahayahay.