Oas, officially the Municipality of Oas (; ), is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Albay Albay (IPA: ), officially the Province of Albay (; ; Baybayin, ᜎᜎᜏᜒᜄᜈ᜔ ᜈᜅ᜔ ᜀᜎ᜔ᜊᜌ᜔), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Bicol Region of the Philippines, mostly on the southeastern part of the isla ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 66,084 people.

Etymology

There are two stories that purport to tell the origin of the name of Oas: a) There is a dam across the narrowest portion of a local river. This dam solely irrigates the vast fields of the place including those of the nearby town of Libon and results in a good harvest. People are wary of any cracks or leaks on the dam walls during months of heavy rains. A crier would shout ''nawaswas'', giving the call to the people (in times of this kind of emergency) for immediate action in groups. From then on, the natives coined this name for the place and later shortened it to present form. b) Early Spanish colonizers reaching this particular section of the Bicol Peninsula asked the name of the place from the about 600 natives living there, ''"Como se llama este sitio?"'' The natives mistakenly thought the question to be ''"Onan kading lugar kadi, maiwas?"'' (''"What place is this, it's very big?"'') in their native language. In response, the natives answered, ''"Si, señores. Labi nikading iwas. Labi nikading iwas."'' (''"Yes, sirs, this is grand and spacious"''.) From then on the early Spanish colonizers adopted in their official census the existence of "a rich fertile valley with verdant fields of grain" which is the little town of Oas in Bicol.

History

Foundation

Oas was founded during the early Spanish colonization of the

Bicol Peninsula The Bicol Region, designated as Region V, is an administrative region of the Philippines. It comprises six provinces, four on the Bicol Peninsula (the southeastern end of Luzon): Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, and Sorsogon, and two ...

. In 1605, Father Baltazar de los Reyes converted 12 leading natives of the area to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

in one day, forming the foundation of the community now known as Oas.

During the Marcos dictatorship

The town was one of the localities particularly harmed by the Dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos; in the waning days of the dictatorship, Oas was hit by a series of political killings targeting those who dared to speak out against the abuses of the Military and against Ferdinand Marcos. The most prominent of the victims was Clemente Ragragio, the municipal sanitation inspector of Ligao who was later also assigned to Oas. Known for his effectiveness, he had been awarded the 1983 Best Sanitary Inspector for Albay. However, this led the dictatorship's local administrators suspecting him of being a rebel sympathizer, because his close relationship with locals in far-flung barangays allowed him to move around fearlessly, and because he expressed disagreements with the dictatorship's governance. A killer shot him three times in front of his house in the early evening of August 21, 1985, and the government did not investigate his murder. He was later honored by having his name inscribed on the wall of remembrance at the Philippines'

Bantayog ng mga Bayani The Bantayog ng mga Bayani (), sometimes simply referred to as the Bantayog, is a monument, museum, and historical research center in Quezon City, Philippines, which honors the martyrs and heroes of the struggle against the Martial law under F ...

(lit. Monument of Heroes), which honors the martyrs and heroes who fought to restore democracy in the wake of the Marcos dictatorship.

Recent history

Oas has been in the news several times in recent years due to the achievements of its outstanding citizens, notably chess prodigy Bince Rafael Operiano who topped the under-10 age category at the 6th Eastern Asia Youth Chess Championship in Bangkok in 2022, and Miss Universe 2018

Catriona Gray Catriona Elisa Magnayon Gray ( ; ; born January 6, 1994) is a Filipino beauty queen and media personality best known for winning the title of Miss Universe 2018. The fourth Filipina to win Miss Universe, Gray was previously crowned Miss Worl ...

whose maternal lineage has its roots in Oas.

Geography

Oas is located at . According to the

Philippine Statistics Authority The Philippine Statistics Authority (; PSA) is the central statistical authority of the Philippine government that collects, compiles, analyzes, and publishes statistical information on economic, social, demographic, political affairs, and gene ...

, the municipality has a land area of constituting of the total area of Albay. Oas is from

Legazpi City Legazpi (, American Spanish: , European Spanish: ), officially the City of Legazpi (; ), is a Component City, component city and capital of the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Albay, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a ...

and from

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

Barangays

Oas is politically subdivided into 53

barangay The barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as ''barrio'', is the smallest Administrative divisions of the Philippines, administrative division in the Philippines. Named after the Precolonial barangay, precolonial po ...

s. Each barangay consists of

purok A ''purok'' () is an informal division within a barangay in the Philippines. While not officially considered a local government unit (LGU), a ''purok'' often serves as a unit for delivering services and administration within a barangay. ''Pur ...

s and some have

sitios A ''sitio'' (Spanish language, Spanish for "site") in the Philippines is a territorial enclave that forms part of a barangay. Typically rural, a ''sitios location is usually far from the center of the barangay itself and could be its own bar ...

Climate

Demographics

In the 2020 census, Oas had a population of 66,084. The population density was .

Economy

Government

Elected officials

: Legend :# A indicates that the official is elected for the first term :# A indicates that the official is re-elected to a higher position :# A indicates that the official is re-elected to the same position

Past Municipal Administrators

Notable personalities

* David Nepomuceno - 1924 Olympian, first Filipino to compete in the Olympics *

- Miss Universe 2018

References

External links

* Philippine Standard Geographic Codebr>Municipality of Oas
{{Authority control Municipalities of Albay