Leyte (province)

For the island, see Leyte. For the municipality, see Leyte, Leyte.

Leyte
Province
Province of Leyte Lalawigan sa Leyte Lalawigan han Leyte
Flag Official seal of Leyte Seal
Location in the Philippines
Coordinates:
Country	Philippines
Region	Eastern Visayas (Region VIII)
Founded	1735
Capital	Tacloban City
Government
• Governor	Dominico Petilla (LP)
• Vice Governor	Carlo Loreto (LP)
Area
• Total	6,313.33 km2 (2,437.59 sq mi)
Area rank	14th out of 80
	Excludes Tacloban City
Population (2010)
• Total	1,567,984
• Rank	15th out of 80
• Density	250/km2 (640/sq mi)
• Density rank	31st out of 80
	Excludes Tacloban City
Divisions
• Independent cities	2
• Component cities	1
• Municipalities	40
• Barangays	1,393 including independent cities: 1,641
• Districts	1st to 5th districts of Leyte (shared with Ormoc and Tacloban cities)
Time zone	PHT (UTC+8)
ZIP Code	6500 - 6542
Dialing code	53
Spoken languages	Waray-Waray, Cebuano, Tagalog, English
Website	www.leyte.org.ph

Leyte (also Northern Leyte; Filipino: Hilagang Leyte; Cebuano: Amihanang Leyte; Waray-Waray: Norte san Leyte) is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region, occupying the northern three-quarters of Leyte Island. Its capital is the city of Tacloban. Leyte is situated west of Samar Island, north of Southern Leyte and south of Biliran. To the west of Leyte across the Camotes Sea is Cebu Province.

The historical name of the Philippines, "Las Islas Felipenas", named by Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos in honor of Prince Philip of Spain, used to refer to the islands of Leyte and Samar, until it was adopted to refer to the entire archipelago.

Leyte is also known as the site of the the largest naval battle in modern history, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, which took place during the Second World War.

On 8 November 2013, the province was largely destroyed by Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), killing a reported 10,000 people, having previously suffered similar destruction and loss of life in 1991 during Tropical Storm Thelma.

History

Pre-colonial period

The island of Leyte was once the location of Mairete, meaning land of Ete, a historic community which was ruled by Datu Ete. Before being colonized by Spain, the island was once home to indigenous animist Warays to the East and other indigenous animist Visayan groups to the west.

Spanish period

The Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, first came to the island in 1543 and named it Las Islas Felipinas. When the Spanish government established government in Cebu, Leyte and Samar became part of the province of Cebu. In 1595, the religious Jesuits established mission in Carigara which preceded the mission established in Palo in 1596 and Ormoc and Alangalang missions in 1597. In 1735, Leyte and Samar were separated from Cebu to be established as a single provincial government with Carigara as the first provincial capital. In 1768, Leyte and Samar were split into two separate provinces.

American period

Division of Leyte

On March 27, 1923, Act No. 3117 was proposed to divide Leyte into Occidental Leyte and Oriental Leyte but was not proclaimed by the Governor-General of the Philippines. On May 22, 1959, Republic Act No. 2227 was passed into law that separated the third Congressional District of Leyte into a separate province of Southern Leyte.

Battle of Leyte Gulf

Main article: Battle of Leyte Gulf

The Battle of Leyte Gulf took place in the seas surrounding this island from 23 October to 26 October 1944. It was the largest naval battle in modern history, when at least 212 Allied ships clashed with the remnants of the Imperial Japanese Navy, some 60 ships, including the super battleships Yamato and Musashi.

The First Battle of Leyte occurred on 20 October 1944. A successful Allied invasion of the island was the crucial element to the eventual Filipino and American victory in the Philippines.

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Leyte in 1918, before its division into two provinces

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Leyte Provincial Capitol - briefly became the seat of Philippine Commonwealth Government during the World War II era

Invasion of Leyte, 20 October 1944

When Americans stormed ashore at Leyte, it fulfilled the promise to return made by Gen. Douglas MacArthur in the days following the fall of the Philippines to the Japanese in 1942.

Geography

Administrative divisions

Leyte is subdivided into 40 municipalities and three cities. The municipalities are clustered into 5 congressional districts.

Ormoc City is an independent component city, while the capital Tacloban was declared a highly urbanized city in 2008. Both cities govern themselves independently of the province and their residents do not vote for elective provincial officials.

Baybay attained cityhood in 2007 but reverted to its municipal status when the Supreme Court declared its city charter unconstitutional in 2008. It regained its city status following the reversal of the Supreme Court decision dated December 22, 2009. On August 2010, however, a resolution had been passed reverting 16 cities, one of which was Baybay, to municipal status. It was on February 15, 2011 that the Supreme Court reversed its decision once again, allowing Baybay, along with the other 16 cities, to retain their cityhood status.

City or municipality District Area (km²) Population (2010) Density (per km²) No. of barangays ZIP code Income class (DOF) Coordinates Abuyog 5th 688.25 57,146 83 63 6510 1st Alangalang 1st 150.54 46,411 308.3 54 6517 2nd Albuera 4th 303.35 40,553 133.7 16 6542 3rd Babatngon 1st 115.18 25,575 222 25 6520 4th Barugo 2nd 84.62 30,092 355.6 37 6519 4th Bato 5th 72.45 35,610 491.5 32 6525 4th Baybay 5th 459.34 102,841 223.9 92 6521 — Burauen 2nd 265.33 48,853 184.1 77 6516 1st Calubian 3rd 100.95 29,619 293.4 53 6534 4th Capoocan 2nd 185.4 29,834 160.9 21 6530 4th Carigara 2nd 117.86 47,444 402.5 49 6529 2nd Dagami 2nd 161.65 31,490 194.8 65 6515 3rd Dulag 2nd 110.7 41,757 377.2 45 6505 3rd Hilongos 5th 192.92 56,803 294.4 51 6524 2nd Hindang 5th 50.04 20,179 403.3 20 6523 5th Inopacan 5th 94.62 19,904 210.4 20 6522 4th Isabel 4th 64.01 43,593 681 24 6539 1st Jaro 2nd 207.19 39,577 191 46 6527 3rd Javier (Bugho) 5th 152.7 23,878 156.4 28 6511 4th Julita 2nd 53.3 13,307 249.7 26 6506 5th Kananga 4th 144.2 48,027 333.1 23 6531 1st La Paz 2nd 72.7 19,133 263.2 35 6508 5th Leyte 3rd 181.26 37,505 206.9 30 6533 4th MacArthur 2nd 57.57 18,724 325.2 31 6509 — Mahaplag 5th 104.79 26,599 253.8 28 6512 4th Matag-ob 4th 104.4 17,089 163.7 21 6532 4th Matalom 5th 132 31,097 235.6 30 6526 3rd Mayorga 2nd 42.17 14,694 348.4 16 6507 5th Merida 4th 95.21 27,224 285.9 22 6540 5th Ormoc 4th 613.6 191,200 311.6 110 6541 1st Palo 1st 221.27 62,727 283.5 33 6501 3rd Palompon 4th 126.07 54,163 429.6 50 6538 2nd Pastrana 2nd 86.35 16,649 192.8 29 6514 5th San Isidro 3rd 122.5 28,554 233.1 19 6535 4th San Miguel 1st 145.11 17,561 121 21 6518 4th Santa Fe 1st 53.97 17,427 322.9 20 6513 5th Tabango 3rd 96.62 31,932 330.5 13 6536 4th Tabontabon 2nd 24.18 9,838 406.9 16 6504 5th Tacloban † 1st 201.72 221,174 1096.4 138 6500 1st Tanauan 1st 78.41 50,119 639.2 54 6502 2nd Tolosa 1st 22.54 17,921 795.1 15 6503 5th Tunga 2nd 7.7 6,516 846.2 8 6528 6th Villaba 3rd 150.31 38,819 258.3 35 6537 3rd  †  Provincial capital and highly urbanized city      Independent component city      Component city      Municipality Coordinates mark the vicinity of the city/town center, and are sorted according to latitude. Italicized names are former names. Income classifications for cities are italicized. Dashes (—) in cells indicate unavailable information.

File:Ph fil leyte.png Political map of Leyte

Demographics

Population census of Leyte
Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1990	1,230,925	—
1995	1,343,941	+1.66%
2000	1,413,697	+1.09%
2007	1,506,096	+0.88%
2010	1,567,984	+1.48%
Excluding Tacloban City Source: National Statistics Office

The people of Leyte are divided into two main groups, primarily by language. In the west and south are the Cebuanos, while in the north and east is the Waray-Waray (Leyte dialect).

But Waray-Waray is considered as the lingua franca of the province especially in the metropolitan area of Tacloban between the Cebuano speaking Leyteños or locally known as Kana and the Waraynons. This is also used as a lingua franca between Leyteños and other Filipinos of other ethnolinguistic backgrounds.

There are also some Spanish mestizos and some natives of the province who can understand and speak Spanish due to the province's colonial history.

Most Leyteños also can also speak and understand Filipino language (Tagalog), the national language of the Philippines and English although it is just their second and third languages respectively.

Leyte is predominantly Roman Catholic Christian province. According to the Year 2000 census, 97% of Leyte's population is Roman Catholic Christians, one of the highest percentage in the Visayas. While the remaining 3% are adherents of other different Christian sects, denominations and churches such as the indigenous Iglesia ni Cristo, Kingdom of Jesus Christ and Members Church of God International or popularly known as Ang Dating Daan and the foreign religious groups like Mormons, Baptists, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, and Seventh-Day Adventists (Sabadistas) and other Protestant groups.

Islam is also present in the province and concentrated in the metropolitan Tacloban area. It comprised 0.3% of Tacloban City's population and all adherents are Maranao and other Moro migrants from the Mindanao region who work mostly as traders.

Official provincial seal

File:Leyte Logo.png

The Official Seal of the Province of Leyte

The upper portion is a perspective of the national Freedom Park commemorating the landing of General Douglas MacArthur and the American Liberation Forces in Leyte during World War II. The white cross represents the 2nd phase of Leyte's development when Magellan stopped here on his way to Cebu. The alphabet on the cross argent is the ancient Visayan paleographic syllabary of the letter L which stands for Leyte. The stars around the inner circle symbolize the forty-one (41) towns of Leyte and the everlasting flame symbolizes the soldiers who died during World War II.

Economy

The economy of Leyte is a mixed agriculture, fishing, industrial, energy and mining. Rice is farmed in the lowland plains areas specifically those around Tacloban, while coconut farming, is the main cash crop in upland and mountainous areas. Sugarcane plantation is no. 1 produce in Ormoc City. Since Leyte is an island province, fishing is a major source of livelihood among coastal residents.

The province is the site of the largest geothermal plant in Asia, making it one of the resource-rich provinces of the Philippines. Excess energy of the numerous powerplants in the geothermal valley that generate electricity is supplied to the national grid that adds to the energy demand in Luzon and Mindanao. Mining industry has started to pick up in the province with the exploration in MacArthur. The iron smelting in Isabel has been operational for more than 20 years since its inception.

Leyte ICT Park

The Leyte Information Communications Technology (ICT) Park is one of the economic zones approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA). Located at Pawing, Palo, Leyte, the 6.8 facility hosts two (2) business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, namely, the Expert Global Solutions (EGS) Company (formerly APAC Customer Services, Inc.) and ACUDATA, Inc. (a financial and data services BPO).

Leyte is emerging to be an ICT-BPO Hub for Eastern Visayas.

Transportation

Leyte is connected by air, with only one commercial airport located in Tacloban City. Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport, which is one of the busiest airports in the Philippines, has two major airlines; Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific. Tacloban's airport primarily serves connecting flights from major Philippine cities (Manila and Cebu).

Philtranco, which has a bus stop in Tacloban and Ormoc, operates a route along Manila-Maharlika highway, passing through Allen, Northern Samar in Samar Island (via ferry boat) from Matnog, Sorsogon in Bicol region.

Commercial seaport is of vital importance. Major ports of the province are located at Ormoc City,in the south and Tacloban City, in the north. Small ports are also located in Palompon, San Isidro, Bato, Hilongos and Baybay City.

See also

• Battle of Leyte Gulf
• Manuel Artigas
• Ruy López de Villalobos
• Southern Leyte

External links

• Geographic data related to Leyte (province) at OpenStreetMap
• Official Website of Leyte Province
• 2007 Philippine Census Information
• Local Governance Performance Management System

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