From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sorsogon
—  City  —
Map of Sorsogon showing the location of Sorsogon City.
Sorsogon Location in the Philippines
Coordinates: 12°50′N 123°55′E / 12.833°N 123.917°E / 12.833; 123.917Coordinates: 12°50′N 123°55′E / 12.833°N 123.917°E / 12.833; 123.917
Country	Philippines
Region	Bicol Region (Region V)
Province	Sorsogon
District	1st district of Sorsogon
Founded
Cityhood	August 16, 2000
Barangays	64
Government
- Mayor	Hon. Leovic Dioneda
Area
- Total	338.20 km2 (130.6 sq mi)
Population (2007)
- Total	151,454
- Density	447.8/km2 (1,159.9/sq mi)
Time zone	PHT (UTC+8)
ZIP Code
Income class	3rd class city; partially urban

Sorsogon City is a 3rd class city in Sorsogon, Philippines. The city is located at southernmost tip province of Luzon. This city was formed by merging the Bacon and Sorsogon towns. The city serves a trans-shipment point from the Visayas and Mindanao provinces. The City is also dubbed as "Gateway to Southern Philippines". Sorsogon City is one of the region’s leading cities in urbanization, Bicol's largest city in terms of land area and one of its most populous cities as well.

History

Sorsogon City was created by virtue of Republic Act 8806 which was enacted on August 16, 2000 and ratified in December 2000.

Prominent politicians of the locality behind its creation were incumbent Sorsogon 1st District Representative Francis Escudero and former Bacon Municipal Mayor Leovic R. Dioneda. Former Bacon Vice-Mayor Aurelio Destacamento, joined by former Sorsogon councilors Antonio C. Detera, Azel Diesta and Telo Mella fought before the two local legislative chambers, for the approval of appropriation ordinances providing budget for the holding of its plebiscite.

Prior to its ratification, a petition to declare RA 8806 null and void was filed by lawyer Atty. Gil Gojol. Because Bacon municipality was enjoined as one of the respondents in said petition, a young practicing lawyer from Buenavista, Bacon District, in the name of Atty. Glenn Olbes, defended its constitutionality. The legal battle for its constitutionality was upheld later on by a majority decision of the Sorsoguenos who desire for the development of the newly created local government unit.

Opponents for its ratification were incumbent Governor Raul R. Lee and his wife, Sally A. Lee who became its first contested City Mayor.

According to the 2007 census, the city has a population of 151,454 people.

Economy

Aerial View of Sorsogon City

Sorsogon City is the major economic hub of the province. It host most of the banks around the province like Landbank of the Philippines, Metrobank, Allied Bank, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Development Bank of the Philippines, United Coconut Planters Bank, Philippine National Bank, Camalig Bank, BDO UniBank, Postal Bank, Producers Bank and Green Bank Inc. charting it as a 3rd class city because of its apparent financially-stabled state. Real estate and mall developer- SM Prime Holdings Corp. had already expressed its interest to put up a its next supermall in the region or perhaps a SaveMore supermarket.

Demographics^[1]

• Religion - 95% Roman Catholic
• Labor Force - 56% of the total population, 1/4 of the over-15 years old is, at least, high-school graduate, 15% of the total workforce have college-level education
• Population Growth Rate - 2.15% (1995-2000)
• Voting Age Population - 58,235
• Projected Population on 2012 - 173,878

Infrastructure

The proposed Sorsogon Business and Leisure Park is a 20 hectare reclamation area linking the 3-hectare Pinaculan Island to the Sorsogon Pier in Sorsogon Bay, forming part of the expansion area of the Sorsogon City�s central business district. The area shall have a rock causeway and seawall, complete with wide and well-paved roads, underground electrical and telephone systems and water supply. Low, medium and high density zones shall be identified for business establishments, plants and factories, including a central park.

This is located in Barangay Bucal-Bucalan along the national highway, about 15–20 minutes away by car from the center of the City. Already in place is a small rest area for travelers, complete with a mini-park and a small canteen with a view deck. The proposed development of the area involves the construction of a seafood trading and rest facility, complete with seafood stalls, bayside restaurants and cafes, and adequate parking space. The food stalls and restaurants will specialize in fresh blue crabs which Sorsogon is known for. Customers can have their pick of crabs and other seafood from the stalls and have them cooked at the adjacent restaurants or open air grill shops.^[2]

Education

Elementary^[3]:

• All barangays are served by public elementary schools (some private elementary schools are located in poblacion)
• School Year 2002-2003 enrollment was 23,823
• Number of schools - 72

Secondary^[4]:

• 11 private, 9 public high schools
• School Year 2002-2003 enrollment was 11,570

Here is the list of tertiary schools in the city:

• AMA Computer Learning Center
• Sorsogon State College
• Bicol Merchant Marine College
• Computer Communication Development Institute - the pilot college of the Ladderized Education Program in the province of Sorsogon
• Annunciation College of Sorsogon
• Our Lady of Penafrancia Major Seminary
• Saint Louise de Marillac College of Sorsogon (formerly Colegio de la Milagrosa)
• Saint Peter & Paul Technical Institute
• Sorsogon College of Criminology,Inc
• Sorsogon Community College School of Midwifery
• The Lewis College
• Aemilianum Institute
• Sorsogon Chiang Kai Shek School
• WRI Computer College, Inc.
• Asian College of Science and Technology (ACSAT)-Sorsogon Campus

Places of Interest

• Bucalbucalan Spring - Natural cold spring

Sorsogon Provincial Museum and Heritage Center

• Tolongapo Beach - located in Bacon district
• Danao Lake
• Paroja Hill and Grotto - across Pepita Park
• Pepita Park - traveler's area, approx. 10km north of city proper
• Sorsogon Bay Walk
• Sorsogon Provincial Capitol and Rizal Park
• Sorsogon Provincial Museum and Heritage Center^[5] - located in the old Sorsogon Provincial Hospital. It has 3 galleries, with a library, containing large collection of old Mr & Ms magazines.

Public Safety^[6]

• 88 PNP personnel
• 20 traffic aides and barangay traffic aides
• Minimum 8 inmates a month
• 19 firefighters
• 2 fire trucks and equipments
• 1 Fil-Chi fire truck and 20 fire volunteers
• Disaster preparedness - CDCC, BDCC, Sorsogon Emergency Rescue Team

Barangays

Sorsogon City is politically subdivided into 64 barangays.

36 barangays were in the former municipality of Sorsogon:

28 barangays were in the former municipality of Bacon:

Notable People From Sorsogon City

• Asisclo Jimenez - Great Zarzuelista
• Eddie Garcia - Film actor and director
• Eugenia Apostol (sister of former Sorsogon Mayor Duran) - one of the founders of Philippine Daily Inquirer
• Harry Reed - Thomasite assigned in Brgy. Guingalon (now Guinlajon) ^[7]
• Jorge Barlin - First Filipino and Bikolano Bishop and was assigned parish priest and Vicar Forane of Sorsogon from 1887 to 1906^[8]
• Loida Nicolas-Lewis - Born and raised in Sorsogon. Lewis is the Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer of TLC Beatrice, LLC, the Lewis Family investment firm and is also Chairman and CEO of TLC Beatrice (China), Limited, a Cayman company which operates retail convenience stores in five major cities in China and TLC Beatrice Foods (Philippines) which operates a fresh meat processing plant.
• Sally Lee (Bibincahan, Sorsogon City) - first Mayor of the city and incumbent Governor of the province of Sorsogon

References

External links

• Philippine Standard Geographic Code
• 2000 Philippine Census Information
• Brief History of Bacon

Sister cities

2006		Sterling Heights,Michigan
2006		Zamboanga City,Philippines