Municipality of PoLANGUI
THE MUNICIPALITY OF POLANGUI was one of the villages at the foot of Mount Masaraga which grounds became very fertile when the mountain was a volcano that spewed ashes and sulphur. It used to be thickly forested. Many of its present barangays were named after native trees, such at Amugis, Lanigay, Cotmon, Anopol, Buyo, Maynaga, and Giho. There are many legends about the ancients who ruled the vilages, but none of this had historical bases and many are simple folktales. . There are three persistent origins of the name Polangui, one of which was a now extinct tree named “Oyanggui”. The other name source is a questionable “Pulang Angui” supposedly the name of a maiden named Maria who was fond of wearing red (pula), thus named Pulang Angui. But according to the story, the complete name of Angui was Maria—which was not native and brought here by the Spaniards. In fact it was the name of the mother of Jesus Christ. The most plausible source of the name was a red guijo tree, or Pulang guijo—a large Philippine timber tree (Shorea guiso) of the family Dipterocarpaceae having strong heavy hard wood with a striking figure and moderately fine texture. . There are no records about the pre-colonial town of Polangui. Around 1584 Fray Baltazar de Magdalena, wandering around the Masaraga mountain stumbled on some settlements with few inhabitants among the thick an lush forests. A rancheria was set up in the area, which initially was called Binanuaan. Later, settlements were set up in the areas of Ponso, Banilad and Lanigay. The areas were surprisingly spared from destruction caused by the occasional eruptions of Mayon Volcano. Thus, Lanigay was chosen to be center and where a church was erected. Around the church were almost 300 houses made of bamboo and hardwood. Thus, Fray Magdalena is considered the founder of the town. There is an unfounded claim that the town of Polangui was a visita of Villa Santiago de Libong which was set up by Juan de Salcedo in 1573. The seat of cabecera of the Catholic evangelization was Camalig in 1578, not Santiago de Libong. In 1654 Fray Alonso de San Juan was assigned to the area. When Fray Juan Bautista Marza was assigned in the area, he proceeded to build a sturdier church made of bricks and stones around 1664. . Being far from Legazpi and the seat of the provincial government, Polangui was spared from political upheavals such as the revolt against Spain, and the radical transformations brought about by economic progress as a result of the boom in trades of abaka and copra. Being landlocked, Polangui was also spared the adverse effects of the Moro piratical raids. Thus, even the end of the Spanish colonization seemed to have little effects in the political and economic condition of Polangui. There was only one significant event when Polangui entered into the annals of the provincial history: this happened during the Philippine-American War when Polangui became the seat of the Provincial Government for a very brief period as the local fighting forces were retreating from the heavily armed American forces and the then newly elected Albay Governor Domingo Samson took refuge in Polangui. But it reverted to a sleepy town as soon as the American soldiers overwhelmed the Filipino forces. By the second year of the war, the seat of the Albay Provincial Government under the rule of the Americans returned to Legazpi and the Albay District. . Today, the municipality of Polangui has a population of 89,176 (as of 2020 census) spread over a territory of 145.3 square kilometers or a population density of 610 per square kilometers. There are 20,382 households in 44 barangays. Polangui is one of the most progressive municipalities of Albay and could have easily elected to become a city, like Ligao. But there seems to be a growing reluctance among the citizens as they fear that cityhood would result to inflation, increase taxes and raise prices of real properties beyond comfortable levels.
