Sogod, Southern Leyte
The name of the municipality originated from the Cebuano word, "sogod", meaning ""to start."" Founded as a Catholic mission station by the Society of Jesus in 1601, Sogod became a regular municipality on June 10, 1853.
Sogod, Southern Leyte
A narrative shows the 1886 construction of the church of Libagon:“As commonly practiced in the past, the construction of the church,… convent and the town hall was made possible through "bayanihan", a spirit of communal unity or effort to do a particular goal. A resident of proper age can volunteer, at least a day in a week to a month. to help and work in the [community]. [Every] Saturday, the volunteers, or the loggers, would trek the mountains, scouting for timber which will be used for the church pillars, walls... The rainforest mountains of Libagon were then abundant with "Narra (pterocarpus)", "Molave (vitex parviflora)", White "Lauan (shorea contorta)" trees... After which, the volunteers would fasten every end of the logs with ropes and drag them down to the town center. In like manner, another group of volunteers were in charge of guiding the frequency and synchronicity of all those volunteers hauling timber and howled, "“Hiboy!..."" Each of them brought with them their own food and coconut wine known as "tuba" stored in a "baler" shell or bamboo container... Aside from timber, the church’s foundation were made of crushed rocks, stones and sand that were hauled and made into huge bricks framed as walls. The stone walls stood nearly at five (5) to six (6) feet tall and laid on top with lumber that continued up to the ceiling. The groundwork for every column was deep and durable. As cement, the workers used stones and sand daubed with whipped egg whites mixed with lime to reinforce the pillars. The floor tiles were imported from Barcelona, Spain. The belfry stood high with three large church bells. Each piece, when rang, upended and plunged causing a loud sound that can be heard as far as San Isidro, Banday, and the entire Sogod Bay."
From 1889 to 1891, "Don" Cipriano Lebiste (now spelled as "Leviste") became the "gobernadorcillo" of Sogod. The members of the municipal council under Lebiste's administration were Eugenio Destrisa (some families spelled it as "Destreza" or "Destriza"), Felix Entino, Magdaleno Dagaas, Catalina Idjao, Pedro Bellesa, Patricio Tubia, Victoriano Godes, Lucio Dagas and Agustin Ballina.