Catanduanes 4.56

Catanduanes is an island province located in the Bicol Region of Luzon in the Philippines. It is the 12th-largest Island in the Philippines. Its capital is Virac and the province lies to the east of Camarines Sur across Maqueda Channel. It had a population of people as registered in the.The province comprises Catanduanes Island (also called Virac Island), the Panay Island, Lete Island, Palumbanes group of islands (Porongpong, Tignob and Calabagio) and a few other minor surrounding islets and rocks.Catanduanes was a former sub-province of Ambos Camarines in the early 1900s and later of Albay. It gained provincial autonomy when Congressman Francisco Perfecto filled House Bill No. 301 which separated the province from Albay. It was approved on September 26, 1945 and subsequently signed into law by President Sergio Osmeña on October 24, 1945. Remigio Socito, the last Lieutenant Governor, was appointed as the first Provincial Governor. When elections were held in 1947, Alfonso V. Usero became the first elected Governor.EtymologyIsla de Cobos was Catanduanes' first name, given by Spanish conquistadores during the early part of 1573 when came upon several tribes living in the thatched huts called cobos.