The Municipality of Sogod (pronounced ˈsuɡud; Cebuano: Lungsod sa Sogod, Tagalog: Bayan ng Sogod, Waray: Bungto han Sogod) is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Southern Leyte, Philippines. Sogod is connected in the Maharlika Highway that links Luzon to Mindanao, one of the most important highways in the Philippines. It is located seventy-two (72) kilometers northeast of Maasin City, the capital city of the province, one hundred twenty-six (126) kilometers south of Tacloban City, the regional center of Eastern Visayas, twenty-four (24) kilometers north of Liloan, a major port town that connects Surigao City, and thirty-six (36) kilometers east of Hilongos, another major port town that connects Cebu City.
It is the largest municipality in the province encompassing a total land area of 23,690 hectares or about 236.9 square kilometers followed by the City of Maasin having a total area of 21,165.8 hectares or 211.7 square kilometers. The name of the municipality means "to start", from the Cebuano word, sogod, a fitting name for the municipality as it is experiencing a massive economic growth since the establishment of many industries. According to the 2007 National Statistics Office (NSO) census, it has a population of 39,864 inhabitants.
Its varied landscape is composed of rugged mountain ranges in the northern portion and a flat-plained terrain in the center and southern areas of the municipality. The town has numerous river and creek systems suitable for agriculture it produces rice, corn, copra, tobacco, abaca and root crops. The mining and quarrying business in the Subangdaku River provides the town with an efficient supply of gravel and sand, which are either exported domestically to other neighboring provinces.
The municipality is home to Southern Leyte State University (SLSU) Main Campus, a premier and foremost state university in the province of Southern Leyte, the Saint Thomas Aquinas College (STAC), one of the oldest and leading catholic institutions in the province and in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Maasin that served the community since January 6, 1946.
It houses the Agas-Agas Bridge, the country's tallest bridge. It measures thirty (30) stories high or two hundred ninety-two (292) feet above ground. The bridge houses the longest and only zipline in Eastern Visayas in the length of eight hundred eighty (880) meters, established by the province as a tourist attraction. This bridge is by far the tallest pier or column that involves the construction of a three hundred fifty (350) linear meter bridge, with a mix of steel and concrete, supported by two (2) piers from the ground.
Within the bay, the town is the center for trade, commerce and industry.
The municipality of Sogod covers 23,690 hectares or about 236.9 square kilometers in land area. It is situated in the northern portion of the province of Southern Leyte and in the south-central side of Leyte Island, facing the Sogod Bay. It is located 10°23’10 North Longitude and 124°58’48 East Latitude. The town belongs to the province of Southern Leyte. It is approximately seventy-two kilometers (72) from the City of Maasin, the provincial capital of Southern Leyte; one hundred twenty-seven (127) kilometers from Tacloban City, the regional centre of Eastern Visayas and the provincial capital of Leyte; one hundred six kilometers (106) from Ormoc City, the major entry of point of Leyte.
The town is bounded on the north by the municipality of Mahaplag, Leyte, approximately thirty-eight (38) kilometers northbound via the Maharlika Highway; in the east are the municipalities of Silago, Hinunangan, and some portion of the municipality Saint Bernard; in the southeast is the municipality of Libagon, about twenty-two (22) kilometers eastbound via the national highway; facing to the south is Sogod Bay, the only water form that divides the province from west to east; monitoring six kilometers southwest bound lies the municipality of Bontoc; in the west are the towns of Hindang, Hilongos, and several portion of the municipalities of Bato and Inopacan.
It is either bounded by mountain ranges, rivers, creeks, and irrigation canals that run thru the municipality. In the north, the Mahaplag-Sogod boundary line is the provincial boundary line that separates the two provinces: Leyte and Southern Leyte, wherein the mountain slopes serves as a line. In Barangay Kahupian (particularly at Sitio Balintulay), passing by the Agas-Agas Bridge, are two bridges that links Sogod and Mahaplag, Leyte. Beneath these bridges are deep ravenous ridges that are made as a boundary for the two provinces and its people. In the east and west sides of the municipality are much similar to the north side, the mountain slopes serves also barricades from the other municipalities. However, some mountain roads are passable and people from these hinterlands are using these pivotal roads in order to bargain and trade their produce. In the southern part is bounded by rivers and creeks, wherein Santa Cruz creek serves as demarcation line bounded by the municipality of Bontoc and Gakat creek on the southeastern side of the town.
Topography
Rice paddies in Barangay Salvacion with the Abuyog-Liloan Cordillera in the background.
Sogod has mostly plains in the southern portion, making the land suitable for agriculture with rivers abound in the municipality. The most prominent ones are the Subangdaku River, which is situated in the central portion and considered as hazardous, and the other one is the San Francisco River, the river that is the major channel for the Subangdaku River’s sustenance. Its source is found somewhere in the municipalities of Abuyog, Leyte and Mahaplag, Leyte where it is an extension of the Layug River that leads to Mahaplag town and the Cadac-an River of Abuyog town, where is it the mouth of these rivers in the north. Eventually, hard rains contribute to the connection of Subangdaku River and Maag River in the municipality of Silago, Southern Leyte.
While rivers are abundant in the municipality, springs or tubod are literally found in the municipality. Mostly it is found on the barrios, which supplies the water they need for household purposes. The Magaupas Spring in Barangay Pandan and the Banat-e Spring in Barangay San Pedro are the sources of freshwater of the Sogod Water District (SWD), the local distributor of freshwater in Sogod Town Proper.
In the northern part are mountain slopes that are dotted with thick rain forests and serves as a habitat for rare species of flora and fauna.There are three mountain ranges that separates the municipality from the other towns, these are: Baybay to Maasin Cordillera, the Abuyog to Liloan Cordillera and Mahaplag Mountain range. The Baybay to Maasin Cordillera are relatively scattered hills with high mountains situated on the Baybay-Hindang portion and it has varied upland plains, which is inhabited by the locals.
The Abuyog to Liloan Cordillera is somehow different and remote. It is mountainous and somehow regarded as the bounty for endangered animals such as the tarsiers, eagles, deers, monkeys, and others. The mountain range has an altitude of about 2,000 above sea level. It houses the Sogod rainforest, a vast area that is being exploited by loggers because of lumber. Due to massive timber cutting, it caused severe flowing of the Subangdaku River and mudslides to the nearby communities that surrounds the mountainous joint of the municipality. In mid-1980s.
The Philippine Government issued the banning of timber cutting in the entire country, leading to the massive restoration of the forests in the country including Eastern Visayas. Now, the mountains and its environs are slowly restoring its virgin forest by reforestation projects headed by the Local Government Units (LGU) and non-government organizations (NGO). The Mahaplag Cordillera is an arm of the Abuyog to Liloan Mountain Range and has the same characteristics with the other mountain ranges.
Because of the dense forest and isolated by human activities, it is also home to other species of flora and fauna. But, however, the New People’s Army, a communist separatist group that is reckoning havoc since the Marcos era, is actively operating and took camp in the vast hinterlands of the area.
The coastline of Sogod is characterized by black sands on the southeastern portion and in the southwestern side are pebbles and rocks that cover the entire poblacion. However, the length of the coastline of Sogod is small, the bay that surrounds the province is named after the municipality because the town is centrally located at the heart of the bay.
Subangdaku River
Main article: Subangdaku River
Subang Daku River
It is the town’s biggest river lying on the central part of the area that drains to the Sogod Bay. It is considered as the major drainage of the bay together with Divisoria River found in Barangay Divisoria, Bontoc town.
For years, following the floodings of the river, it created an issue over the province. It has been quarried and rechanneled which caused the incidents. After many attempts, the issue remained unsolved.
By description, it can be considered a braided river composed of several channels from near areas that divide and reunite forming an alluvial fan with very wide floodplain. As such, the river usually became hazardous during typhoon after a heavy rain. The river sometime overflows spilling its waters on the low-lying barangays of San Juan and San Vicente and destroyed an ongoing flood control project worth millions of pesos.The river has been known to meander along its course, ever changing its way over time.
During the time it’s flooding, it destructs every side of its course. In 2001, portion of the road and banks in Barangay San Miguel along the river have been destroyed. It hampered the economic activities of the local residents as well as national because the destroyed portion is part of the Philippine National Road.
The local officials blamed the rechannelization and uncontrolled quarrying of gravel and sand at the side of river as the cause of the flood. At a meeting on March 18, 2002, one of the representatives of a government agency alleged that the reason of the incidents of flood and other environmental problems in the river was due to the Philippine Fault System which caused rocks to rumble down. However, the reason was contended because the fault is a geological feature and environmental problems in the province just occurred that time.
In 2007, Governor Damian Mercado and Congressman Roger Mercado, together with Mayor Sheffered Tan, order the complete rechannelization of the river with dikes to protect the barangays that touches the river namely: Suba, San Isidro, San Miguel and Concepcion, following to the plans of former Governor Rossette Yniguez-Lerias to rehabilitate the said river.
Today, the dike is not strong enough to maintain the wild rage of the course of the river, although it stands but the foundation of the dike is weak and it is made of rocks that are concreted and formed into a barricade against the river (grouted riffraff).
An irrigation dam was constructed beneath the mighty Subangdaku River, to control the flow of the current to the farmlands in the southeastern portion of the municipality. It was destroyed during hard rains occurred last January 2011.
see more: Agas-Agas Zipline
