Legazpi City
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Template:Infobox Philippine city Legazpi City is a first class city in the province of Albay, Philippines. It is the capital city of Albay, and the regional center of Bicol Region. It is nicknamed the "Queen City of Southern Luzon".
Positioned in the geographical center of the peninsula and the between the two island provinces of Catanduanes and Masbate, Legazpi has the strategic advantages of being a commercial, institutional, and transportation hub. Legazpi City is the southernmost terminus of the Philippine National Railways Main Line South. It also has a national port handling export.
According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 157,010 people in 30,612 households.
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Culture
The Ibalong Festival is the grandmother of all festivals in Bicol. It was begun in the early 1990s and is held every October to coincide with Legazpi Port District fiesta. Legazpi is also home to Albay's Magayon Festival held the whole month of May.
Religion
The city is the ecclesiatical seat of the Diocese of Legazpi, and almost all practice the Roman Catholic religion.
Tourism
Legazpi City is the top tourist destination in Bicol as it lies 15 kilometers southeast of Mayon Volcano, the Philippines' most famous volcano. It is also the convenient jumpoff point to other tourist destinations in the region because it has the only trunkline airport in Bicol, Legazpi Airport. Legazpi Airport can accommodate medium haul jets as big as the Airbus A320, Boeing 737-400, and Boeing 727. In fact, tourists visiting Donsol, Bicol's emerging eco-tourism destination, have to make the obligatory stop by Legazpi Airport.
Other places to go to and sights to visit include:
- The Albay Park and Wildlife - This is a picnic grove and a park combined. It also serves as the home to 347 animals of 75 species.
- Liberty Bell - Installed in 1945 by the American liberation forces. It is made from bronze.
- Japanese Tunnel - Used as an arsenal during the second World War, it measures 40 meters long and around 7 feet deep.
- Magayon Art Gallery - Found at the lobby of the Albay Provincial Capitol and serves as the avenue for artists to show off their visual creations.
- Legazpi City Museum - Showcases the heritage and culture of the city.
Transportation
Legazpi Airport, with a runway of 2,280 meters, is the region's gateway and trunk line airport. Philippine Airlines flies daily to and from Manila. South East Asian Airlines flies to and from Cebu City on Mondays and Fridays; also Air Philippines has a direct flight to/from Manila during Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and to/from Cebu (Mactan International Airport) during Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. Alternate sites for relocation of the airport and upgrading into international are Bariis (farther from ash fall) and Alobo (15 kilometers from Mayon's crater).
Commerce
The largest mall in Bicol is Pacific Mall/Gaisano Metro Legazpi Department Store and Supermarket, serving as the centerpiece of Landco Business Park. Prior to the opening of Landco Business Park, homegrown Liberty Commercial Center (LCC) Legazpi was the region's largest retailer. It has expanded to Naga City (LCC Central Mall). A. Bichara Silverscreen and Entertainment Center is a multi-story haven of shops, bistros, and cinemas.
The seat of city and provincial offices and lately blooming into a new downtown, Albay District (also Old Albay or simply Albay as the district was the capital town of the Province before merging with Legazpi) has bistros that remain open till late at night; some shops and restos are open 24/7. Legazpi has three Jollibee stores: two in Port District (LCC and Pacific Mall), and one drive-thru in Albay, beside Mercury Drug/GTS and in front of Quick and Hearty. There is one McDonald's store, two Chowking stalls, and one Greenwich branch in the city.
Legazpi City is connected nationwide and the rest of the world through up-to-date communication system. The City is host to two cable TV operators, DCTV and ESTV. The City also hosts cellular and landline phone operators, Digitel/Sun Cellular, Globe, PLDT/Smart; and local MATELCO, offering mobilephone, fax, data, and DSL Internet services. A number of AM, FM, and TV stations including GMA (TV 12 and Campus Radio), ABC through its affiliate station TV 6 (ABC/PBN), and ABS-CBN TV 4 and MOR FM broadcast local, national, and international news and shows. GMA TV 12 (10 kW), ABS-CBN TV 4 (10 kW), and MOR FM (5 kW) set up their transmission towers on top of Mt. Bariw, virtually expanding their broadcast reach not only province wide; these stations could be seen and heard deep into Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Sorsogon, and Masbate, and even outside the Region: they have tuners as far as Northern Samar.
Legazpi City has two air-conditioned arenas: The Albay Astrodome (although it isn't "domed" like the the Astrodome in Texas, USA) in Albay District and Ibalong Centrum for Recreation (ICR) near Landco Business Park. For a number of times, these arenas served as venues of PBA games. In the past few years, only Legazpi could host PBA games because other cities in the region do not have air conditioned arenas.
A magnet of students, the city hosts two universities: Catholic-run Aquinas University (AUL), and state-run Bicol University (BU), one of the country's biggest. Manila-based educational/training centers have put up shop: AMA Computer University is currently constructing its building along busy Rizal Street, and STI College is a stone-throw away. The first school of medicine in Bicolandia is AMEC-BCCM in Albay District. Singapore-based Informatics is located at the second floor of GTS Building, Rizal Street. A US-based company, MBS Tek, has put up an extension of their office in this city. This company provides call center jobs, as well as other positions like computer programmers, researchers, and writers. Innodata, a New York-based company, tapped this city's young and dynamic population, putting up a data conversion center operating in three shifts.
As a financial center, Legazpi City has more than 20+ ATM's for 24-hour banking convenience. Its revenue collection for CY 2001 is Php862.97M versus Naga's Php437.66M, and for CY2002, Legazpi collected Php1,016.84M versus Naga's Php453.07M. The City's hardworking mayor Noel E. Rosal is into widening main thoroughfares, building seawall/promenade, and expanding the seaport.
The Miss Asia-Pacific pageant was held in the ICR in 2001. AUL has a brand-new gym with PBA/NBA sized courts and ring/boards. It only needs air conditioning and it could host regional and national games, amateur and professional; ditto Divine Word College gym. The city's hotels and convention halls regularly host regional and national conventions and seminars; In 2002, Albay Astrodome even hosted an international convention of the Free Masons; on November 27, 2003, about 4,000 members of the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) attended its 57th annual national convention.
Barangays
Legazpi City is politically subdivided into 70 barangays.
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History
Legazpi was named after Miguel López de Legazpi, the Spanish conquistador who conquered the Philippine islands in 1565, and whose family name came from Legazpia, a town in Guipuzcoa, Spain.
Legazpi was founded by the ancient settlers of the old barangay of Sawangan in the domain of Gat Ibal, a chief who ruled Albay. Spread in small groups of huts made of nipa and rattan, the small settlement occupied a conscription of low and swampy land known as Banuang-gurang or Binanuahan, which means old town or place in which a town was built. The indigenous name Sawangan was a corruption of Sabang, signifying natural wharf formed by the waters of the sea.
External links
- Official website
- Profile of Legazpi City on the Albay official website
- Philippine Standard Geographic Code
- 2000 Philippine Census Information
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