Tiwi, Albay

Friars called the place Tigbi, which evolved into Tivi and, then, finally to its present name Tiwi.^[7][8]

Tiwi began as a barrio of Malinao before it was formally organized as a politically independent pueblo in 1696. As a pueblo, it was governed by a gobernadorcillo. As a Catholic parish, it was administered by a secular priest under the then Diocese of Nueva Caceres, now an archdiocese. In its primeval stages, it had some 1,105 houses, a parish church, a community-funded primary school, and a cemetery outside the town proper. The villagers ordinarily engaged in fishing, planting rice, corn, sugarcane, indigo, fruit-bearing trees, and vegetables. Aside from agriculture, they also busied themselves weaving cotton and abaca clothes, and in pottery.^[9]

In Kagnipa, known today as Barangay Baybay, stands the dilapidated Sinimbahan. It is the remnant of the first concrete house of worship built by the Franciscans led by the pastor of Malinao, Fray Pedro de Brosas, remains to be the deaf witness of both the villagers' ready acceptance of the Christian faith and their suffering of persecution at the hands of the Moslems; Christian missionaries called them Moros. The parola by the shore of Sitio Nipa of the same barangay testifies to the people's paralyzing fear of the Moros' capricious forays. The market site of the pueblo before these raids was located in the present location of Baybay Elementary School. In order to sidetrack surprise attacks, at least temporarily, the market site was transferred to southernmost part of now Barangay Baybay; henceforth, it was called Binanwaan. The transfer, however, was useless. Finally, to have enough time to escape and keep themselves safer from their enemies' easy attacks, the inhabitants moved the market site and their settlement to the present poblacion now named as Barangay Tigbi. Before the Moro's assaults, Barangay Baybay was then the center of trade and commerce because of its easy accessibility to marine transportation of goods. The goods came from the islands of what are now known as Catanduanes, San Miguel, Rapu-Rapu, and Batan, not to mention those from adjoining pueblos in the mainland of Ibalon, now the province of Albay, and the Camarines.^[9]

In the extant records of the municipality, the first chief executive of the municipal government was Don Lorenzo Mancilla installed in 1776. The 1818 census showed 2,669 native families paying tribute and they were coexisting with 157 Spanish-Filipino families.^[10]: 603

Tiwi is located at 13°27′31″N 123°40′50″E.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the municipality has a land area of 105.76 square kilometres (40.83 sq mi) ^[11] constituting 4.11% of the 2,575.77-square-kilometre- (994.51 sq mi) total area of Albay. Tiwi is 38 kilometres (24 mi) from Legazpi City and 565 kilometres (351 mi) from Manila.

In the 2024 census, Tiwi had a population of 56,871 people.^[20] The population density was 540 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,400/sq mi).

Poverty incidence of Tiwi

Source: Philippine Statistics Authority^{[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]}

The Tiwi Schools District Office governs all educational institutions within the municipality. It oversees the management and operations of all private and public, from primary to secondary schools.^[32]

• Aida Cirujales (born 1952), retired Bicolana public school teacher, writer and songwriter
• Zeus Salazar (born 1932), Filipino historian, anthropologist, and writer

• 
  Corangon shoal, made up of mainly crushed corals and white sand, is about 15 minutes boat ride from the shore of barangay Baybay. Mounts Mayon (left), Masaraga (center) and Malinao (right) serve as the background.
• 
  Tiwi Geothermal Plant
• 
  Joroan Beach

• Tiwi Geothermal Power Plant