The new government delegated "Don" Benito Faelnar as "presidente municipal" after the mayoral position of Sogod was vacant from 1897 to 1903. During his administration, Faelnar reinstated the "poblacion" to Sogod. By this year, Sogod had a total population of 4,055 inhabitants, 1,011 of whom were registered voters while Libagon had 4,642 inhabitants with an electorate of 1,073 voters. Protestantism came to Leyte in 1903 when Reverend Doctor Charles Rath and a group of American missionaries belonging to the Presbyterian Church acquired a church lot in Tacloban. They began a massive campaign in the island, having a stronghold over the towns of Baybay, Maasin, Padre Burgos, Cabalian and Hinunangan. By the mid-1930s, Reverend Rath and a number of newly-baptized Leyteño Presbyterians made a number of converts from Buntuk, Sogod, Consolacion and from the "sitios" of Libagon. These believers would lay the very foundation of the present-day United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), the first Protestant church to be established in the municipality, and would attract more Protestant sects and denominations to the towns of Sogod bay region. Don" Ladislao Decenteceo, who has already pledged his allegiance to the Insular Government of the Philippine Islands, won against the reelection bid of Faelnar during the 1904 elections and transferred again the town center to "barrio" Consolacion, his residence. The voting process was done by whispering the name of a candidate of the voter's choice to the municipal secretary. While Don" Dionisio Labata became the first municipal mayor who won the first election thru balloting in 1905. During the mayoral administration of "Don" Gregorio Leviste (1908–1912), the municipal territory of Sogod comprises the "barrios" of Bontoc, Buac, Concepcion, Consolacion, Gakat, Hipgasan, Libagon, Libas, Maak, Mayuga, Kawayan, Nahulid, Pandan, San Isidro (Malupao), San Miguel (Batang), Sogod "poblacion", Santa Cruz and Union, which were grouped into seven (7) districts. Each district, with its respective "barrios" were under the care of a municipal councilor.