Camarines Sur

The earliest settlers in Camarines Sur are the Isarog Agta people who live within the circumference of Mount Isarog and the Iraya Agta who live within the circumference of Mount Iraya. They have been in the province for thousands of years and have been one of the first settlers in the entire Philippines.

In July 1569, Luis Enríquez de Guzmán, a member of the expedition led by Maestro de Campo Mateo de Saz and Captain Martín de Goiti, led a group which 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.

In 1573, Spanish conquistador Juan de Salcedo penetrated the Bicol Peninsula from the north as made it as far south as Libon, establishing the settlement of Santiago de Libon. José María de Peñaranda, the first governor of Albay and a military engineer, was made corregidor of the province on 14 May 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 were separated.

Known centuries ago as the Tierra de Camarines, the province is distinctly Spanish-founded settlement. Its name having been derived from camaronchones or camarines, a Spanish word for kamalig referring to small nipa or bamboo-made huts by the natives.

In 1574, Governor General Guido de Lavezaris referred Camarines Sur to the King of Spain as Los Camarines, after the abundance of camarins-rice granaries – which were conspicuous features of the area.

Spanish colonizers later subjugated its people and denominated the area into two distinct aggrupations. Partido de Camarines was partitioned into Camarines Sur and Camarines Norte in 1829, and thereafter underwent fusion, annexations and re-partitions until 19 March 1919, when two provinces, jointly called Ambos Camarines, were finally separated with their present boundaries by decree of the First Philippine Legislature.

The Philippine Revolution started in Ambos Camarines when Elías Ángeles and Félix Plazo, Filipino corporals in the Spanish Army, sided with revolutionists and fought the local Spanish forces on 17 September 1898. Governor Vicente Zaidín capitulated to the revolutionists on the following day. With the arrival of General Vicente Lukbán, the revolutionary government in the Bicol Region was established.

The American forces occupied the Bicol Peninsula in January 1900. In March of the same year. General John M. Bell was made the military governor of the southeastern Luzon. Civil government was finally established in Ambos Camarines in April 1901.

During World War II, Camarines Sur came under Japanese occupation in late December 1941, following the capture of Naga City on 18 December, a few days after the Japanese invasion of Legaspi.[3] Guerrilla units were organized by Wenceslao Q. Vinzons that waged underground operations against the Japanese troops stationed in Camarines Sur. After the capture of Vinzons on 8 July 1942, the guerrilla movement was carried on by Lieutenant Francisco Boayes and by the Tangcong Vaca Guerrilla Unit organized by Elías Madrid, Juan Miranda and León Aureus. In April 1945, Camarines Sur was finally liberated from the Japanese invaders against the combined Filipino and American troops in 1945.

On 8 March 1942, the famous Tangcong Vaca Guerrilla Unit (TVGU) was organized in San Nicolás, Canaman, with Juan Miranda as the Commanding Officer, León Aureus as the Executive Officer and Elìas Madrid as the Finance Officer. Among the numerous Canamanons who joined-up soon afterwards either in the unit's intelligence or combat components were José and Antonio Madrid, Mamerto Sibulo, Andrés Fortaleza, Marcos Severo, Dámaso Avenilla, Federico Crescini, Nicolás Vargas, Venancio Begino, Eugenio Ragodón, Juan Pachica, Santiago Amaro, José Gervás, Pedro Ángeles, Aproniano López, Andrés Alzate, Modesto Sánchez, Blas Alcántara, Andrés Aguilar, Florencio Frondozo, Alfredo de la Torre, and Flaviano Estrada.

The military general headquarters and military camp bases of the Philippine Commonwealth Army were active from 3 January 1942 until 30 June 1946, and the Philippine Constabulary was active from 28 October 1944 to 30 June 1946, in the province of Camarines Sur. The Filipino soldiers of the Philippine Commonwealth Army and Philippine Constabulary were spearheading the local military special operations in Bicol Region with the Bicolano guerrilla units decisively aiding them.

In 1945, Filipino and American troops along with the Bicolano guerrillas, liberated Camarines Sur from the Japanese forces towards the end of WWII. Local Filipino troops of the 4th, 5th, 52nd, 53rd, 55th, 56th and 57th Infantry Division of the Philippine Commonwealth Army and the 5th Constabulary Regiment of the Philippine Constabulary were involved in the liberation efforts.

Naga, the former capital of Camarines Sur, was founded in 1573 as Nueva Cáceres, named after the city in Spain. It was among the original five royal cities of the colony. It was designated as the provincial capital by virtue of Philippine Legislative Act No. 2711 approved on 10 March 1917. On 6 June 1955, however, Pili, the adjoining town, was declared the provincial capital by virtue of Republic Act 1336. Pili functions as the provincial capital up to the present.[4]

Camarines Sur occupies the central section of the Bicol Peninsula. With a land area of 5,266.8 square kilometres (2,034 sq mi), it is the largest province in the Bicol Region. At the center of the province is the Bicol Plain, surrounded by mountains which include Mount Bernacci (Tangcong Vaca), Mount Isarog and Mount Iriga. The eastern portion of the province lies on the mountainous Caramoan Peninsula, which faces the island of Catanduanes to the east.

The Bicol River drains the central and southern parts of the province into the San Miguel Bay. Mount Asog is surrounded by three lakes: Buhi, Bato, and Baao.

The climate in Camarines Sur, like most of the rest of the country, is very tropical. It is dry from March to May and wet the rest of the year Annual average rainfall is 2,565 millimetres (101 in). Camarines Sur has an average temperature of 27.0 °C (80.6 °F) and a relative humidity of 25.8%, based from Aera Tranquilo.

Camarines Sur comprises into 2 cities and 35 municipalities.

The religion of the province is predominantly Roman Catholicism followed by 93% of the population. Other religions professed by the people include the Iglesia Filipina Independiente or Aglipayan Church, Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC), Baptist, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Jehovah's Witnesses, Methodists and other smaller Christian groups. Islam is also present in the province with their mosques stood in large population areas. Sikhism and Taoism is present in the province as well. Some do not practice religion or identify as Agnostic.

Prior to colonization, the region had a complex religious system which involved various deities. Among these deities include:

• Gugurang, the supreme god who dwells inside of Mount Mayon where he guards and protects the sacred fire in which Asuang, his brother was trying to steal. Whenever people disobey his orders or commit numerous sins, he would cause Mount Mayon to burst lava as a sign of warning for people to mend their crooked ways. Ancient Bikolanos had a rite performed for him called Atang.[9][10]
• Asuang, the evil god who always tries to steal the sacred fire of Mount Mayón from his brother, Gugurang. Addressed sometimes as Aswang, he dwells mainly inside Mount Malinao. As an evil god, he would cause the people to suffer misfortunes and commit sins.[9][10] Enemy of Gugurang and a friend of Bulan, the god of the moon.
• Haliya, the masked goddess of the moonlight and protector of Bulan and the arch-enemy of Bakunawa. Her cult is composed primarily of women. There is also a ritual dance named after her as it is performed to be a counter-measure against Bakunawa.[11]
• Bulan, the god of the pale moon, he is depicted as a pubescent boy with uncommon comeliness that made savage beast and the vicious mermaids (Magindara) tame. He has deep affection towards the sea god Magindang, but plays with him by running away so that Magindang would never catch him. The reason for this is because he is shy to the man that he loves. If Magindang manages to catch Bulan, Haliya always comes to free him from Magindang's grip.
• Magindang, the god of the sea and all its creatures. He has deep affection to the lunar god Bulan and pursues him despite never catching him. Due to this, the Bicolanos reasoned that it is to why the waves rise to reach the moon when seen from the distant horizon. Whenever he does catch up to Bulan, Haliya comes to rescue Bulan and free him immediately.
• Bakunawa, a gigantic sea serpent deity who is often considered as the cause of eclipses, the devourer of the sun and the moon, and an adversary of Haliya as Bakunawa's main aim is to swallow Bulan, who Haliya swore to protect for all of eternity.[12]
• Okot, god of forest and hunting.

The main languages spoken in Camarines Sur are the Coastal Bikol (especially Central Bikol) and Inland Bikol group of languages. The latter is a group of languages that includes Albay Bikol group and Rinconada Bikol, while the former just consists dialects.

A dialect of Coastal Bikol, called Coastal Bikol-Partido is used in the eastern portion of the province around Lagonoy Gulf, and another dialect called Coastal Bikol-Central is spoken around Naga City.

The Canaman dialect of Central Bikol variant of Coastal Bikol spoken in Canaman, Camarines Sur is said to be the "purest" form of Bikol (according to Jesuit anthropologist Frank Lynch, S.J.), though most linguists just consider it as the standard form of Central Bikol language since other Coastal Bikol languages, Rinconada Bikol and Buhinon (both Inland Bikol) are separate languages.

The Rinconada Bikol also known as Riŋkonāda (under the umbrella of Inland Bikol group of languages), is used by most people in the Rinconada area or district of the province especially in Nabua, Iriga City and by people of Rinconada in diaspora. Buhinon (one of the languages of Albay Bikol group, another member of Inland Bikol), is a minority language spoken in the town of Buhi and around Lake Buhi. Most inhabitants of Camarines Sur understand Tagalog and English.

In 2010, UNESCO released its 3rd world volume of Endangered Languages in the World, where 3 critically endangered languages were in the Philippines. One of these languages in the Isarog Agta language which has an estimated 5 speakers in the year 2000. The language was classified as Critically Endangered, meaning the youngest speakers are grandparents and older, and they speak the language partially and infrequently and hardly pass the language to their children and grandchildren anymore. If the remaining 150 people do not pass their native language to the next generation of Isarog Agta people, their indigenous language will be extinct within a period of 1 to 2 decades.

The Isarog Agta people live within the circumference of Mount Isarog, though only 5 of them still know their indigenous language. They are one of the original Negrito settlers in the entire Philippines. They belong to the Aeta people classification, but have distinct language and belief systems unique to their own culture and heritage.

The Pan-Philippine Highway (N1/AH26), is the highway backbone network, and the secondary and tertiary roads interconnect most cities and municipalities in Sipocot, Libmanan, Pamplona, San Fernando, Milaor, Naga City, Pili, Bula, Baao, Nabua before ending at Bato.

In order to spur development in the province, There will be two expressways in Camarines Sur that will be proposed:

• The Toll Regulatory Board declared Toll Road 5 the extension of South Luzon Expressway.[20] A 420-kilometer, four lane expressway starting from the terminal point of the now under construction SLEX Toll Road 4 at Barangay Mayao, Lucena City in Quezon to Matnog, Sorsogon, near the Matnog Ferry Terminal. On August 25, 2020, San Miguel Corporation announced that they will invest the project which will reduce travel time from Lucena to Matnog from 9 hours to 5.5 hours.[21]
• The other expressway to serve Camarines Sur is the Quezon-Bicol Expressway which will link between Lucena and San Fernando, Camarines Sur.[22]