It was declared as a municipality on May 24, 1959, and started functioning as a Local Government Unit (LGU) on January 29, 1961, by virtue of Executive Order No.

[5] Its name was coined from the minute leech generally known as “tungaw” of the Hirudo family.

Tungawan's economy is primarily based on agriculture, producing rubber, coconut, corn, rice, and seaweeds.

It is home to the 880 hectares Bangaan Marine Sanctuary at Barangays Linguisan and Tigbucay.

Poverty incidence of Tungawan Source: Philippine Statistics Authority[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]