Tiwi, officially the Municipality of Tiwi is a 1st class municipality in the Province of Albay, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 56,444 people.

Etymology

Friars called the place Tigbi, which evolved into Tivi and, then, finally to its present name Tiwi.

History

Tiwi began as a barrio of Malinao before it was formally organized as a politically independent pueblo in 1696. As a pueblo, it was governed by a gobernadorcillo. As a Catholic parish, it was administered by a secular priest under the then Diocese of Nueva Caceres, now an archdiocese. In its primeval stages, it had some 1,105 houses, a parish church, a community-funded primary school, and a cemetery outside the town proper. The villagers ordinarily engaged in fishing, planting rice, corn, sugarcane, indigo, fruit-bearing trees, and vegetables. Aside from agriculture, they also busied themselves weaving cotton and abaca clothes, and in pottery. In Kagnipa, known today as Barangay Baybay, stands the dilapidated Sinimbahan. It is the remnant of the first concrete house of worship built by the Franciscans led by the pastor of Malinao, Fray Pedro de Brosas, remains to be the deaf witness of both the villagers' ready acceptance of the Christian faith and their suffering of persecution at the hands of the Moslems; Christian missionaries called them Moros. The parola by the shore of Sitio Nipa of the same barangay testifies to the people's paralyzing fear of the Moros' capricious forays. The market site of the pueblo before these raids was located in the present location of Baybay Elementary School. In order to sidetrack surprise attacks, at least temporarily, the market site was transferred to southernmost part of now Barangay Baybay; henceforth, it was called Binanwaan. The transfer, however, was useless. Finally, to have enough time to escape and keep themselves safer from their enemies' easy attacks, the inhabitants moved the market site and their settlement to the present poblacion now named as Barangay Tigbi. Before the Moro's assaults, Barangay Baybay was then the center of trade and commerce because of its easy accessibility to marine transportation of goods. The goods came from the islands of what are now known as Catanduanes, San Miguel, Rapu-Rapu, and Batan, not to mention those from adjoining pueblos in the mainland of Ibalon, now the province of Albay, and the Camarines. In the extant records of the municipality, the first chief executive of the municipal government was Don Lorenzo Mancilla installed in 1776.

Geography

Tiwi is located at °N, °W. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the municipality has a land area of 105.76 km2 constituting NaN% of the 2,575.77 km2 total area of Albay. Tiwi is 38 km from Legazpi City and 565 km from Manila.

Climate

Barangays

Tiwi is politically subdivided into 25 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios. Lourdes is another Barangay in the Municipality of Tiwi, Albay.

Demographics

In the 2020 census, Tiwi had a population of 56,444. The population density was undefined PD/km2.

Religion

Roman Catholicism remained the dominant religion since its propagation in the town 1696.

Language

Generally the town speaks Central Bikol as their first language while others speak Buhinon in the areas near Buhi, Camarines Sur. Other Bikol languages are spoken by significant minorities that are from other areas of the Bicol Region. The majority of the inhabitants also understand Tagalog (Filipino) and English as second languages.

Economy

Tourism