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Nestling between the Canumantag and Kabarasan rivers in the northern tip of Leyte province lies a town called Barugo.

According to legend, it was named by a man called Kasaduk after a big tree which grew near the bank of the brook, called "Balugu." The Spaniards later called the place "Barugo," its present name. The town was founded sometime in 1833. Earlier, it existed as a settlement before the Spaniards came. Kasaduk was the leader and founder of the early settlement near the sea and the mouth of the river. These settlers were of Malayan stock who were said to have come from Indonesia.

One of the early settlers was a certain Manuel Francisco from which the present-day Astorgas sprang, as well as Kasaduk himself whose descendants are the Afables, Arigas and Geraldos. During the Spanish occupation, a church and convent was completed and the casa municipal was built.

The town was also subjected to Moro deprivations during the Spanish period. Their early town at Nasunugan was razed to the ground during one of the numerous Moro attacks as evidenced by the present Nasunugan ruins. Other artifacts discovered in the ruins attested to the existence of these early inhabitants.

Sixteen sons of Barugo who followed the call of Christ were Pedro Peñaranda, Doroteo Ayaso, Mateo Avestruz, Federico Villasin, Alejandro Astorga, Pedro Aruta, Hilario Abarca, Trinidad Ponferrada, Felixberto Avestruz, Gerardo Apostol, Apolonio Ponferreda, Doroteo Peñaranda, Pablo Lawsin, Manuel Astorga, Rufino Peñas and Estanislao Abarca.

During the Japanese occupation, Nipponese forces visited Barugo but stayed only for a little more than a year. A guerrilla outfit operated in Barugo under the command of Capt. Pio Cruz during the period.

Barugo had its first secular priest, Fr. Ignacio Mora of Palo, with the advent of the American occupation from 1901 to 1923. He was followed by nine Filipino parish priests including Fr. Pedro Aruta. During this period also, Barugo was able to send three of its beloved sons to the legislature in the persons of Florentino Peñaranda, Segundo Apostol and Jorge Delgado.

After the war, Barugo underwent a reconstruction period which has not been fully realized. An earthquake in 1947 destroyed the Barugo Church resulting in the construction of a new belfry. Through the initiative of Atty. Francisco Astilla and Emilio Astorga, a private institution in the field of education has been founded. The Barugo Leyte Institute has helped in stamping out illiteracy in the town.