Santo Domingo is one of fifteen (15) municipalities (along with three cities) that comprise the province of Albay in the Bicol Region. The town is politically subdivided into (23) barangays, and is a part of the 1st Congressional District of Albay.
Sto. Domingo… a quaint but picturesque town snuggly nestled on an incline at the foot of Mayon Volcano and overlooking the placid and crystal blue waters of Albay Gulf. It is strategically seated between two commercial centers: Legazpi City, 12 kilometers to the south and Tabaco City about 14 kilometers to the north. It has a total land area of 4,713 hectares with 23 barangays, seven of which are coastal barangays.
This town was originally named Libog from the corrupted Bicol word “libot” which means roundabout. Established as a separate municipality of Ibalon in 1749, it was renamed Sto. Domingo after its patron Saint Dominic of Guzman n 1959.
The builders of this town were expert planners as the poblacion was so designed that all downhill streets were parallel and the cross streets were also parallel. Provisions were made for two spacious public plazas, market site, a wide church site and a government–building compound all clustered along the main thoroughfare.
The most prominent landmark, the Catholic Church built in 1820, stands proudly at the center of poblacion. It is massively built with solid squared stone walls unsupported by pillars and has two dome-shaped belfries. As cement was not yet used during that time, a mixture of lime, egg albumin and “tangguli” (molasses) served as binder and hardener. Most significantly, the church was built through forced labor with the workers shedding not only sweat but tears and blood and some even their lives.
Another Spanish-era built structure is the Tribunal built in 1832. This was later converted into the Presidencia which served multi-purpose functions for the town until the mid sixties when it was reconstructed as the Municipal Building. Another landmark is Plaza Pugad Lawin the Fist Prize winning plaza in a national contest held among municipal plazas sometime in the 1960’s.
Among the modern residential and commercial buildings and structures that have now risen in the poblacion, the most recent is the 90 meter long pier where fishing boats and other commercial vessels from nearby islands dock to load and unload passengers and goods.
Sarung Banggi, the beloved song of Bikol was composed in 1910 by Potenciano V. Gregorio one dark night when he was awakened by the chirping of a bird and the rustling of the leaves right at the heart of the town’s poblacion where the composer once lived. It became a favorite among local serenaders and was to be among our country’s entry to the Golden Gate International Exposition in the USA in 1938. The composer, who was then a Corporal in the Philippine Constabulary Band, however never got to play it because he died of pneumonia on his way to the said International competition. But the song has since found a permanent place in our country’s musical heritage and won acclaim from audiences abroad.