[5] Civilization first touched the island province of Catanduanes in the thirteenth century, with the arrival of the scions of ten Bornean datus who were then traversing through the islets of the Philippine Archipelago.

By the middle of the fourteenth century, organized communities could be seen throughout Catanduanes – a consequence of the rapid development of Southeastern Luzon initiated by the Malay settlers.

Virac, the capital town of the island province of Catanduanes, started its primitive annals in pre-Spanish times when tribal chieftain Lumibao, scion of Datu Dumaguil who came to the Philippines with the 10 Bornean datus and his wife Milbigan settled near Vidak spring and founded the first civilized settlement with a score of servant followers and their wives.

His purpose then was to capture and punish pirates who carried on their nefarious trade in Camarines Sur, Sorsogon and Western Catanduanes.

Soon after the first encounters, the Spaniards started giving the natives provisions not found in the chieftain's hut, such as more sugar and clothing.

On the eastern end of Virac, the Moros succeeded in gaining a beach-head in Catanduanes and from there, attacked the town from the east.

The Cabeza de Barangay of Francia, Don Pedro Tolentino alias Pantino, lost no time in giving their all against the enemy.

A few months after Emilio Aguinaldo, the first president of the First Philippine Republic took his oath of allegiance to America after losing in the Philippine–American War, a battleship dropped anchor in Virac.

Not eager to relinquish their hard-fought freedom, the Katipuneros refused to recognize the sovereignty of the United States and fled to the mountains.

In the later part of 1898, when Don Leon Reyes was the incumbent Capitan Municipal [town mayor] of Virac, the revolutionary troops who refused American Administration, came down from the mountains to rally for the common cause.

Airborne planes were cited at the southern portion of Virac in the morning of December 12, 1941, while vessels dropped anchor near Nagngangang Buaya Point, Cabugao Bay.

4 at Barangay Calatagan at about 12 noon, and ended with the Filipino guerrillas of the Catanduanes Liberation Force taking full control of the Japanese barracks.

On April 20, 1945, Florencio Tacorda, the only three-term municipal president, some two and a half decades before the war, was designated mayor of Virac.

From 1958 to 1970, Salvador Surtida took over followed by Jorge Arcilla from 1970 to 1986, two of the longest reigning local executives in the history of Virac.

This period witnessed the ascendancy to national prominence of the Alberto brothers, Juan, Jose and Vicente, who brought progress and influenced the massive physical transformation of the municipality when Salvador Surtida and Jorge Arcilla were mayors.

The EDSA Revolution in 1986 that toppled down the more than two decades of Marcos regime had a domino effect on the political structure of Virac.

Almost half of the area is rugged and mountainous, with hills and plains dotted with marshy land, rocky jutting cliffs and crags.

This capital town has a total land area of 0.30 hectares devoted to industrial undertakings with the exception of the unused 11.2 hectares in Palnab classified as industrial area in the 1978 Official Land Use Plan and the 20-hectare declared site of the proposed Provincial Agro-Industrial Center at Casoocan.

Of the existing industries, furniture making, being primarily wood-based, faces the gravest threat of extinction due to global concern for forest protection and conservation.

Provincial buses coming from Metro Manila often board ferries bound for Catanduanes, either going directly to Virac or passing through neighboring San Andres.