Early history Long before the Spaniards arrived, Albay had a thriving civilization. Formerly called
Ibat, and then
Libog, Albay was once ruled by Gat Ibal, an old chief who also founded the old
barangay of Sawangan, now part of the
City of Legazpi. Historian
William Henry Scott wrote that in the local epic called
siday entitled "Bingi of Lawan", an Albay datu by the name of Dumaraog went to Lawan (present-day
Laoang,
Northern Samar) to ask for the hands of Bingi bringing with him 100 ships. Datu Iberein came from the settlement of Lawan. He was described by Scott as a “Samar datu by the name of Iberein was rowed out to a Spanish vessel anchored in his harbor in 1543 by oarsmen collared in gold; while wearing on his own person earrings and chains.”
Spanish colonial era in Tabaco City. In July 1569,
Luis Enriquez de Guzman, a member of the expedition led by
Maestro de Campo Mateo de Saz and Captain
Martin de Goiti, led a group that crossed from
Burias and
Ticao islands and landed on a coastal settlement called
Ibalon in what is now the province of
Sorsogon. From this point, another expedition was sent to explore the interior and founded the town of
Camalig. , a preliminary excavation of the Cagsawa ruins by the Bulacan State University, show that the Spanish incorporated
Mesoamerican influences in constructing the complex. In 1573,
Juan de Salcedo penetrated the
Bicol Peninsula from the north as far south as
Libon, establishing the settlement of Santiago de Libon. Jose Maria Peñaranda, a military engineer, was made “
corregidor” of the province on May 14, 1834. He constructed public buildings and built roads and bridges. The entire Bicol peninsula was organized as one province with two divisions,
Camarines in the northwest and
Ibalon in the southeast. In 1636, the two
partidos were separated, and Ibalon became a separate province with Sorsogon as the capital. In the 17th century,
Moro slave raiders from the southern Philippines ravaged the northeastern coastal areas of the province of Albay. By the end of the 1700s, Albay had 12,339 native families and 146
Spanish Filipino families. In the 1800s, the natives numbered 103,955 whereas the mestizos numbered 2,598; this, further broken down to 579 Spanish-Mestizos and 933 Chinese-Mestizos. By year 1818, a new census which included the islands of
Masbate,
Catanduanes, and
Ticao, under the province of Albay yielded the presence 35,321 native families and 1,334 Spanish-Filipino families, all under Albay's jurisdiction. The distribution of the Spanish-Filipino families are as follows: 4 (
Manito), 45 (Bacon, now part of
Sorsogon), 52 (
Gubat), 28 (
Casiguran), 18 (
Juban), 149 (
Sorsogon), 19 (
Bulusan), 16 (
Bulan), 55 (
Quipia), 77 (
Bacacay), 53 (
Malilipot), 225 (
Tabaco, named after the Native American
Tobacco plant), 241 (
Malinao), 157 (
Tibi), 18 (
Lagonoy), and 114 (
San Jose, now part of Malilipot). During the
Philippine–American War, Brigadier General
William August Kobbé headed the expedition that landed at the ports of Sorsogon,
Bulan and
Donsol. From there, the Americans marched to Legazpi and captured it. Although a
civil government was established in Albay on April 26, 1901, Colonel
Harry Hill Bandholtz, Commanding Officer of the Constabulary in the Bicol Region, said that General
Simeon Ola, with a thousand men, continued to defy American authority after the capture of Belarmino in 1901. Ola was later captured with about six hundred of his men.
Japanese occupation Following the December 12, 1941,
Japanese invasion of Legazpi during the
Second World War, the Kimura Detachment of the
Imperial Japanese Army occupied Albay. The province was defended only by the
Philippine Constabulary unit under the command of Major Francisco Sandico. During the Japanese Occupation, the military general headquarters of the
Commonwealth Army of the Philippines remained active from January 3, 1942, to June 30, 1946, and the 5th Constabulary Regiment of the
Philippine Constabulary was established from October 28, 1944, to June 30, 1946, and stationed in Albay. Then came the clearing operations and anti-Japanese insurgency in the
Bicol Peninsula, helped by the local Bicolano resistance. Some Bicolano
guerrilla groups invaded around the province of Albay during the Japanese Insurgencies between 1942 and 1944 and were supported by local Filipino troops under the Philippine Commonwealth Army and pre-war Philippine Constabulary 5th Infantry Regiments attacking the enemy soldiers of the Japanese Imperial Army. In the aftermath of three years of siege and conflicts, many Bicolano guerrillas were forced to retreat by the Japanese around the province before liberation in 1945 by Allied forces.
Marcos dictatorship Oas, Albay, was one of the localities particularly harmed by the
Dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos; in the waning days of the dictatorship, Oas was hit by a series of
political killings targeting those who dared to speak out against the abuses of the Military and against Ferdinand Marcos. The most prominent of the victims was Clemente Ragragio, the municipal sanitation inspector of
Ligao who was later also assigned to Oas. Known for his effectiveness, he had been awarded the 1983 Best Sanitary Inspector for Albay. However, this led the dictatorship's local administrators suspecting him of being a rebel sympathizer, because his close relationship with locals in far-flung barangays allowed him to move around fearlessly, and because he expressed disagreements with the dictatorship's governance. A killer shot him three times in front of his house in the early evening of August 21, 1985, and the government did not investigate his murder. He was later honored by having his name inscribed on the wall of remembrance at the Philippines'
Bantayog ng mga Bayani (lit. Monument of Heroes), which honors the martyrs and heroes who fought to restore democracy in the wake of the Marcos dictatorship. == Geography ==