Tiwi, officially the Municipality of Tiwi (; ), is a municipality in the Province of Albay, Philippines. According to the , it has a population of people.
It is notable for its geothermal energy facilities and traditional pottery craft. It became the first water-based geothermal system in the world to generate more than 160 megawatts of power and now has an installed capacity of 289 MW. The town is also known for its coron, handcrafted pottery made in different shapes and sizes. Visitors can see the Tiwi Geothermal Power Plant from Naglagbong Geothermal PeopleâÂÂs Park, often called Nag Park.
Friars called the place Tigbi, which evolved into Tivi and, then, finally to its present name Tiwi.
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.
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.
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.
Tiwi is located at .
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the municipality has a land area of constituting of the total area of Albay. Tiwi is from Legazpi City and from Manila.
Tiwi is politically subdivided into 25 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.
Lourdes is another Barangay in the Municipality of Tiwi, Albay.
In the 2024 census, Tiwi had a population of 56,871 people. The population density was .
Roman Catholicism remained the dominant religion since its propagation in the town 1696.
Generally the town speaks Central Bikol as their first language while others speak Buhinon in the areas near Buhi, Camarines Sur. Other Bikol languages are spoken by significant minorities that are from other areas of the Bicol Region.
The majority of the inhabitants also understand Tagalog (Filipino) and English as second languages.
The town celebrates every year in August since 2006, the Coron Festival, where spectators enjoy a civic and float parade that showcase the townâÂÂs cultural heritage and its well-known pottery industry.
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.