According to the old inhabitants of the place, the name Aguada was derived from a Latin word “Agua” which means water. Aguada is geographically situated southeast of Magallanes. It is composed of two political barangays, the North and the South Aguada. Way back in 1939, Aguada was called a barrio headed by a Teniente. The first Teniente of the two villages were the late Mr. Santiago Oliva in the south and Mr. Felix Honrubia in the north.
Barangay Aguada was inhabited with more than 2,059 families. The total land area us 677 hectares. The school site was purchased by Mr. Santiago Oliva who was then the Teniente del Barrio. The said land was purchased from the late Mr. Aviso in the amount of P 300.00 in year 1939. Most of the residents in Aguada were engaged in fishing and farming and some are laborers.
From 1968 to 1965, Barangay Captain and Councilors were elected by the people. In the southern part, Mr. Timoteo de los Santos was the Teniente Del Barrio, followed by Juan Dipon, Paciano Hachero, Nesario de Hitta, Nicasio Antiado, and from 1989 up to present, the Barangay Captain is Mr. Raul P. de Hitta Jr., an alumnus of the first school in Aguada.
Barangay Aguada is an abundant source of clean and fresh water from the spring known as Bucal-bucalan. The CAANAS Water System was constructed and operated serving Barangays Aguada Norte, Aguada Sur and Caditaan. An additional swimming pool was constructed and was being enjoyed by the public and local tourist.
Barangay Aguada Sur is one of the urban barangay in the municipality of Magallanes, province of Sorsogon. It is bounded on the north by Barangay Aguada Norte, on the south by Barangay Caditaan, by Barangay Siuton on the east and Ticao Pass on the west. It has a total land area of 220.1544 hectares divided into seven (7) puroks.
It has a total population of 1,095 individuals composed of 577 males and 518 females and a total household of 252 with an average household size of 5 individuals based on Rapid Community Based Monitoring System Census of 2014.
Barangay Aguada Sur has 32 children under 1 year old and 150 children 0-5 years old. Children 6-12 years old is composed of 193, these are the children in elementary years while there are only 112 members 13-16 years old in high school years. There are 305 members of the labor force.
The Barangay Health Center of Aguada Sur is the primary health care provider in the barangay administered by the Barangay Health Worker and assisted by Midwife from the Municipal Health Office. There is also a Barangay Nutrition Scholar who organizes nutrition-related programs, projects and activities in the barangay. Based on the result of the 2016 Operation Timbang, there are 17 malnourished children in the barangay and there is one (1) child under 5 years old who died but no record of women who died due to pregnancy related causes.
Barangay Aguada Sur has a Day Care Center which accommodates children ages 3-5 and an elementary school from Grade 1 to Grade 6. The nearest secondary and tertiary school is located in the adjacent barangay, Aguada Norte which is Magallanes National High School and Sorsogon State College Magallanes Campus.
The barangay is accessible through public tricycles, motorcycles, other private vehicles. There are no credit institutions in the barangay however it is only a minute away from the Central Business District of the municipality of Magallanes where lending institutions are present.
The barangay’s source of water came from its own water source wherein all households have access to potable water supply.
Electricity in the barangay is accessed only by 133 households through the Sorsogon Electric Cooperative I (SORECO I), the local electric cooperative servicing the southern part of Sorsogon province. However, at present, the barangay had availed of the program for indigent household electrification which will be implemented this year, 2015.
Sixty three percent of the households’ garbage are being dumped to closed pit, 27% are burning their garbage, and 5% are being collected, while other are composted, recycle, segregated, dumped in an open pit and thrown in river and other bodies of water.
Barangay Aguada Sur has a total population of 1,095 and a total household of 252 with an average household size of 5 individuals based on Rapid Community Based Monitoring System Census of 2014. Among puroks, the most populated is Purok 7 with 219 individuals and the least populated is Purok 2 with 80 individuals.
There are 577 males and 518 females in the barangay based on the Rapid Community Based Monitoring System (RCBMS) Survey of 2014. The age – group population structure (Figure 1) shows that the barangay has a dominant young population consisting of age groups 1 to 19 years old. The broad – based pyramid resulted from a high fertility and mortality in the past.
Based on the figure below, the barangay has 32 children under 1 year old and 150 children 0-5 years old. Children 6-12 years old is composed of 193, these are the children in elementary years while there are only 112 members 13-16 years old in high school years. There are 305 members of the labor force.
The result of the 2016 Operation Timbang conducted by the Municipal Nutrition Council showed that in Aguada Sur there are 17 malnourished children in the Barangay which is higher in proportion compared to the benchmark. Despite intensive monitoring and campaign in terms of proper nutrition as well as implementation of supplemental feeding, malnutrition is still present due to inadequate food intake in the household level. There is a case of child deaths below 5 but no cases of women who died due to pregnancy-related causes in the past twelve months. This can be attributed from the regular programs conducted by the Municipal Health Office such as regular check-up and immunization of pregnant women and monitoring of the health condition of children.
The water need of the locality is sourced mainly from Municipal Waterworks System through CAANAS which serves all of the households in the barangay wherein 54% are accessing Level III potable water supply, 30% are accessing Level II potable water supply and 16% are accessing from protected spring water. There are 38 households in the barangay without access to sanitary toilet facility which constitutes 15% of the total household.
In the barangay, all children aged 6-12 and 13-16 are attending elementary and secondary with all children age 6-16 years old attending school. The accessible school facilities is one of the factors that encouraged children to attend school and despite financially difficulty, children are willing to attend school since the parents are also determined to send their children to school.
In Barangay Aguada Sur, there are 305 members of the labor force, 251 males and 54 females. Among the labor force, 26 members are unemployed during the survey. Although majority are employed, there’s still 70 members of the labor force who are underemployed. The primary source of employment and livelihood in the barangay is farming and fishing. Since, it is also near the central business district, some residents are engaged in buying and selling of products and employment in various establishments.
Using the poverty threshold released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) with income of 17,535 for poverty threshold and 12, 224 for food threshold, result showed that there are 149 households in the barangay living below poverty threshold and 114 households living below food threshold. There are also 24 households who reported experiencing food shortage in the past three months from the conduct of the survey.
As discussed during validation, the result is acceptable due to the presence of 70 members of the labor force who are underemployed. And majority of the employed members relied mainly on the seasonal farming and fishing activities.