About

The municipality of Panganiban (formerly Payo) is a fifth class municipality in the province of Catanduanes, the Philippines. According to the 2010 Census, the municipal has a population of 9,738 people.

Although the original name was Payo, this town has changed name from Panganiban to Payo and back again. During the last term of the late assemblyman Francisco Perfecto, Panganiban became Payo again on April 20, 1957 under Republic Act No. 1654. Congressman Jose M. Alberto (through Republic Act 2122 enacted without executive approval April 15, 1959) changed the name to Panganiban again by which it is officially known at present.

Legend has it that a boatload of seafarers from some village in the southeastern mainland of Luzon was shipwrecked onto the shore of what is now Panganiban. The village headman, or “Payo” as he was called by the villagers, was among the shipwrecked and no one was able to return to the home village. Migrating villagers, years later, were able to ascertain the fate of their lost kinsmen when they came upon the remains of the wrecked sailboat. They settled in the place and called it “Payo” in memory of their ill-fated headman.