Sorsogon City

Sorsogon City
—  Component city  —
City of Sorsogon
Aerial View of Sorsogon City
Seal
Map of Sorsogon showing the location of Sorsogon City
Sorsogon City Location within the Philippines
Coordinates: 12°50′N 123°55′E
Country	Philippines
Region	Bicol (Region V)
Province	Sorsogon
Legislative district	1st district of Sorsogon
Founded	February 28, 1895
Cityhood	August 16, 2000
Barangays	64
Government
• Mayor	Leovic R. Dioneda
Area
• Total	276.11 km2 (106.61 sq mi)
Population (2010)
• Total	155,144
• Density	Bad rounding here560/km2 (Bad rounding here1,500/sq mi)
Time zone	PHT (UTC+8)
ZIP Code	4700
Dialing code	56
Income class	3rd class city; partially urban

Sorsogon City is a third class city in Sorsogon, Philippines. It is the capital city of the province of Sorsogon, located on the Bicol Peninsula at southern tip 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.

According to the 2010 census, the city has a population of 155,144 people, spread across 64 barangays.

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 former Sorsogon 1st District Representative and now Senator 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.

The merged municipalities of Bacon and Sorsogon which created the city have their own long histories from Pre-Hispanic Era to present.

Barangays

Main article: List of barangays in Sorsogon City

Economy

The Bay City Sorsogon, that is currently being built at the coast of Barangay Balogo will definitely have a huge impact on the economic growth of the city. It is a priority project of LKY Development Corporation, a privately owned real estate company. The Bay City Sorsogon includes a Commercial Complex, Five Star Hotel, Coliseum, Outdoor Dining Area, a Central Bus Terminal and a lot more. The excavation of this 16-hectare property just started during the last quarter of 2010 and the completion is expected by the 3rd quarter of 2011.

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, Chinabank, Philippine National Bank, Camalig Bank, BDO UniBank, Postal Bank, Producers Bank and Green Bank Inc.

Demographics

Population census of Sorsogon City
Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1995	121,615	—
2000	134,678	2.06%
2007	151,454	1.69%
2010	155,144	0.81%
Source: National Statistics Office

Demographic statistics:

• 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 in 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.

Media

Online News Service:

• BICOL TODAY - Bicolandia's Leading Online News Network

Television:

• DWCB-TV: Channel 11
• DZSC-TV ABS-CBN : Channel 7
• DWAI-TV Aemillianum TV: Channel 5
• ABC (TV5): Channel 11

AM Stations:

• DZMS – 1251 Sorsogon (PBN Broadcasting Network)
• DZZH – 1287 Sorsogon (Manila Broadcasting Company)
• DZRS – 1263 Sorsogon (Radio Mindanao Network)

FM Stations:

• DZGN – 102.3 Spirit FM Sorsogon
• DWSN – 91.9 Sorsogon
• DWOL – 103.9 Padaba
• DWLH – 101.5 The Wave

Education

Elementary:

• 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
• Sorsogon East Central School (SECS) – founded in 1917 during the early American occupation – formerly known as Sorsogon Central School. The pilot school in Bicol Region of the DepED's Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) project and a recipient of the DepEd's Special Science Elementary Schools (SSES) Project. This Central School is now APPES Level 1 Accredited by the DepEd and got a Standard Level 1(100%) Rating (the only elementary school in Sorsogon City) during the Regional Evaluation on SBM Practices.
• Sorsogon Pilot Elementary School (SPES)
• First Baptist Christian Academy (FBCA)

Secondary:

• 11 private, 9 public high schools
• School Year 2002–2003 enrollment was 11,570
• Sorsogon National High School
• First Baptist Christian Academy

Tertiary schools:

• 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 College Inc.
• Sorsogon Chiang Kai Shek School
• WRI Computer College, Inc.
• Asian College of Science and Technology (ACSAT)-Sorsogon Campus

Places of interest

• Bato Limestone Cave
• Bucalbucalan Spring – Natural cold spring located in Brgy. Bucalbucalan, a coastal barangay near Pepita Park and Rest Area.

Sorsogon Provincial Museum and Heritage Center

• Tolongapo Beach – located in Bacon district

One of the cottages in Tolongapo Beach, overlooking Pacific Ocean.

• Danao Lake – this is located in Bacon District, near Brgy. San Juan. However, it's also accessible by foot from the side of Brgy. Guinlajon.
• Paroja Hill and Grotto – across Pepita Park
• Pepita Park and Rest Area – traveler's area, approx. 10 km north of city proper
• Sorsogon Bay Walk (also known as Rempeolas)
• Beaches of Bacon
• Sorsogon Provincial Capitol and Rizal Park – located in city proper. The provincial capitol dated back during the American occupation.
• Sorsogon Provincial Museum and Heritage Center – located in the old Sorsogon Provincial Hospital. It has 3 galleries, with a library, containing large collection of old Mr & Ms magazines.
• Rimpulas

Public safety

Public safety statistics:

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

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
• Francis "Chiz" G. Escudero – former congressman, and now senator of the 15th Congress
• Harry Reed – Thomasite assigned in Brgy. Guingalon (now Guinlajon)
• Jorge Barlin – First Filipino and Bikolano Bishop and was assigned parish priest and Vicar Forane of Sorsogon from 1887 to 1906
• 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.
• Mary Walter – actress, whose career spanned through several decades. She was born in Bacon.
• Sally Lee (Bibincahan, Sorsogon City) – first Mayor of the city of Sorsogon and former Governor of the province of Sorsogon

• Gerry Barba aka DJ Bazura is born and raised in Bibincahan Sorsogon- amateur philosopher and independent short video specialist. He was the official announcer in the first ever Sorsogon extreme games competition specifically in the skim board category.

• Salvador Escudero Sr. – former Provincial Governor of Sorsogon and was a guerilla leader during the Japanese occupation. He was fondly called Gurang (old man in Bikol) by the local folks.Sorsogon's PNP Provincial Office along Magsaysay St., Sorsogon City, is named after him.

• Salvador Escudero III – Former Minister of Ministry of Agriculture during the time of late President Marcos. He is also the father of Senator Chiz Escudero. Finally, he's the incumbent Congressman for the 1st district of province of Sorsogon.
• Vicente L. Peralta – late congressman of Sorsogon City. A hospital in Castilla was named after him.

Gallery

• 

  Several kiosks were built in Rempeolas for the public.

• 

  Bacon Beach, facing North. The mountains in the background divide Sorsogon and Albay provinces.

• 

  Bacon Church, located on the former poblacion of the old Bacon town (now Bacon district of Sorsogon City).

• 

  Rempeolas, where people enjoy the morning sun.

• 

  Pepita Park and Recreation Center

• 

  Main department store in the city located on the corner of streets of Magsaysay and Rizal.

Sister cities

2006		Sterling Heights, Michigan
2006		Zamboanga City, Philippines

External links

• Philippine Standard Geographic Code
• Philippine Census Information
• Local Governance Performance Management System
• DILG Regional Office No. 5 (Bicol Region)
• Region V Local Government Units
• DILG Region V's list of provincial offices
• Sorsogon Tourism