1.
Leyte (province)
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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 the province of Cebu, Leyte is also known as the site of the largest naval battle in modern history, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, which took place during the Second World War. The island of Leyte was once the location of Mairete, meaning land of 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. The Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, first came to the island in 1543, 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, 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, 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 province of Southern Leyte. The Battle of Leyte Gulf took place in the seas surrounding this island from 23 October to 26 October 1944, the First Battle of Leyte occurred on 20 October 1944. A successful Allied invasion of the island was the element to the eventual Filipino. Leyte covers a area of 6,313.33 square kilometres occupying the northern. The province is situated west of Samar Island, north of Southern Leyte, south of Biliran, Leyte comprises 40 municipalities and three cities, all 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 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, in 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. The population of Leyte in the 2015 census was 1,724,679 people, when Tacloban City is included for geographical purposes, the population is 1,966,768 people, with a density of 302/km2. The people of Leyte are divided into two groups, primarily by language
2.
Southeast Asia
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Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies near the intersection of geological plates, with seismic and volcanic activity. Southeast Asia consists of two regions, Mainland Southeast Asia, also known historically as Indochina, comprising Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar. Maritime Southeast Asia, comprising Indonesia, East Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, East Timor, Brunei, Cocos Islands, definitions of Southeast Asia vary, but most definitions include the area represented by the countries listed below. All of the states are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the area, together with part of South Asia, was widely known as the East Indies or simply the Indies until the 20th century. Sovereignty issues exist over some territories in the South China Sea, Papua New Guinea has stated that it might join ASEAN, and is currently an observer. Southeast Asia is geographically divided into two subregions, namely Mainland Southeast Asia and Maritime Southeast Asia, Mainland Southeast Asia includes, Maritime Southeast Asia includes, The Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India are geographically considered part of Southeast Asia. Eastern Bangladesh and the Seven Sister States of India are culturally part of Southeast Asia, the eastern half of Indonesia and East Timor are considered to be biogeographically part of Oceania. Homo sapiens reached the region by around 45,000 years ago, homo floresiensis also lived in the area up until 12,000 years ago, when they became extinct. Austronesian people, who form the majority of the population in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, East Timor. Solheim and others have shown evidence for a Nusantao maritime trading network ranging from Vietnam to the rest of the archipelago as early as 5000 BC to 1 AD. The peoples of Southeast Asia, especially those of Austronesian descent, have been seafarers for thousands of years and their vessels, such as the vinta, were ocean-worthy. Magellans voyage records how much more manoeuvrable their vessels were, as compared to the European ships, Passage through the Indian Ocean aided the colonisation of Madagascar by the Austronesian people, as well as commerce between West Asia and Southeast Asia. Gold from Sumatra is thought to have reached as far west as Rome and this was later replaced by Hinduism. Theravada Buddhism soon followed in 525, in the 15th century, Islamic influences began to enter. This forced the last Hindu court in Indonesia to retreat to Bali, in Mainland Southeast Asia, Burma, Cambodia and Thailand retained the Theravada form of Buddhism, brought to them from Sri Lanka. This type of Buddhism was fused with the Hindu-influenced Khmer culture, very little is known about Southeast Asian religious beliefs and practices before the advent of Indian merchants and religious influences from the 2nd century BCE onwards. Prior to the 13th century CE, Hinduism and Buddhism were the religions in Southeast Asia
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
Visayas
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The Visayas /vᵻˈsaɪəz/ və-SY-əz or the Visayan Islands, is one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Luzon and Mindanao. It consists of islands, primarily surrounding the Visayan Sea. Its inhabitants are predominantly the Visayan people, the major islands of the Visayas are Panay, Negros, Cebu, Bohol, Leyte and Samar. There are four regions in the Visayas, Western Visayas, Negros Island Region, Central Visayas. The term Visayas was derived from the name of the 7th-century thalassocratic Srivijaya Empire in Sumatra, in Sanskrit, sri means fortunate, prosperous, or happy and vijaya means victorious or excellence. Sulu Archipelago and the Visayas Islands were once Buddhist and Hindu and were subject states or tributaries of the empire. The early people in the Visayas region were the Austronesians and Negritos who migrated to the islands about 6,000 to 30,000 years ago and these early settlers were animist tribal groups. In the 12th century, settlers from the collapsing Hindu-Buddhist Srivijaya Empire led by Datu Putih and his retinue, settled in the island of Panay and it was also during the 12th century that Visayans are said to have made a series of raids along the coast of China. They were said to have a reputation, and the mention of their name would cause many to flee in terror. By the 14th century, Arab traders and their followers, venturing into Maritime Southeast Asia and these tribes practiced a mixture of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Animism beliefs. There is evidence of trade among other Asian people, the Visayas is subsequently home to several Prehispanic kingdoms like the Rajahnate of Cebu, the Kedatuan of Bohol and the Kedatuan of Madja-as. Among the archaeological proofs of the existence of this Hiligaynon nation are the found in pre-Hispanic tombs from many parts of the island. There are also recent discoveries of artifacts of eight-foot inhabitants of Isla de Gigantes, including extra-large Lungon. After the Magellan expedition, King Philip II of Spain sent Miguel López de Legazpi in 1543 and 1565, the Visayas region and many tribes began converting to Christianity and adopting western culture. By the 18th and 19th centuries, the effects of colonization on various ethnic groups soon turned sour, various personalities who fought against Spanish Colonial Government arose from the islands. Negros briefly had a state in the Visayas in the form of the Cantonal Republic of Negros before it was dissolved because of the American invasion of the Philippines, in 2005, Palawan Island was transferred to Region VI by Executive Order 429. However this planned reorganization was held in abeyance, hence, Palawan currently remains part of Region IV-B. The chiefs and followers were said to be the ancestors of the Visayan people, the documents were accepted by Filipino historians and found their way into the history of the Philippines
5.
Bohol Sea
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The Bohol Sea, also called the Mindanao Sea, is located between Visayas and Mindanao in the Philippines. It lies south of Bohol and Leyte and north of Mindanao, siquijor and Camiguin are its two major islands. The major cities on the sea are Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, Butuan, Dumaguete, Ozamiz, the Bohol Sea is home to a large variety of premier scuba diving locations, dive charter boats, and hotels that cater to divers. Around the area of Tagbilaran and Balicasag Island there are numerous wall dives that range from 30 to 100 feet, water temperatures are very warm and most divers use a standard 3/2 shorty wetsuit to dive the location. Sea life is abundant and includes such attractions as clownfish, lionfish, barracuda, dolphins, huge coral formations, rorquals have been confirmed to return into Bohol Sea which is a rare trend in any Asian waters, and most notably Bohol regions host even blue whales. Media related to Bohol Sea at Wikimedia Commons
6.
Camotes Sea
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The Camotes Sea is a small sea within the Philippine archipelago, situated between the Eastern Visayan and the Central Visayan regions. It is bordered by the islands of Leyte to the north and east, Bohol to the south, the sea is connected to the Visayan Sea to the northwest, and to the Bohol Sea to the south by the Canigao Channel and Cebu Strait. It contains the Camotes Islands and Mactan Island, the major cities of the area are Ormoc and Baybay in Leyte province, and Cebu City, Cebu
7.
Leyte Gulf
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Leyte Gulf is a gulf in the Eastern Visayan region in the Philippines. The bay is part of the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, on the south of the bay is Mindanao Island, separated from Leyte by the Surigao Strait. Dinagat Island partly encloses the gulf to the southeast, and the small Homonhon Island and Suluan Island and it is approximately 130 km north-south, and 60 km east-west. Several municipalities are situated on the coast of the gulf, Balangiga, Giporlos, Guiuan, Lawaan, Mercedes, Quinapondan, there are also eleven marine reserves in the gulf region. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan stirred up a surge in Leyte Gulf, resulting to massive loss of lives, agricultural land. Leyte Gulf is identified by the Leyte State University as one of the important fishing grounds of Leyte, like other rich fishing grounds such as Maqueda Bay and Carigara Bay, the gulf is known for abundant catches of anchioves, herring, shrimp and crabs. It was also one of the richest sources of mud crabs in 1985. Fish harvest has been in decline in the due to the use of dynamite fishing. Typhoon Haiyan has damaged the hard coral cover within the gulfs area, further reducing the fish harvest
8.
Samar Sea
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The Samar Sea is a small sea within the Philippine archipelago, situated between the Bicol Region of Luzon and the Eastern Visayas. It is bordered by the islands of Samar to the east, Leyte to the south, Masbate to the west and it contains Biliran Island, the islands of Almagro, Maripipi, Sto. The Samar Sea has experienced a significant degradation of marine resources, before 1981, there were 50 commercial fish species, but within 10 years, it was reduced to only 10 due to overfishing and destructive fishing methods. Average daily catch has reduced from 30 kg/day in the 1960s, to 8 kg/day in 1981, having depleted the large predatory fish, fishermen turned to smaller species, allowing jellyfish populations to explode. Deforestation of surrounding lands has led to increased silt from denuded mountains that choke coral reefs, only some 5% of reefs are considered to be in a healthy condition. Another result of the increased silt are red tides, causing paralytic shellfish poisonings, the first red tide in the Philippines occurred in the Samar Sea in 1983 and thereafter continued to occur at irregular intervals
9.
San Juanico Strait
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San Juanico Strait is a narrow strait in the Eastern Visayan region in the Philippines. It separates the islands of Samar and Leyte, and connects the Carigara Bay with the San Pedro Bay and it is about 38 kilometres long, and at its narrowest point, the strait is only 2 kilometers wide. It is crossed by the San Juanico Bridge, the HVDC Leyte–Luzon powerline crosses San Juanico Strait as overhead line at 11°23′36″N 124°59′04″E, with a tower on an uninhabited island in the strait. The Port of Tacloban City, the port of the Eastern Visayas, is on Cancabato Bay at the southern entrance of the strait. Media related to San Juanico Strait at Wikimedia Commons
10.
Sogod Bay
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Sogod Bay is a large bay in the southern part of Leyte Island in the Philippines. An extension of the Bohol Sea, the bay is surrounded by the province of Southern Leyte, panaon Island forms part of the eastern side of Sogod Bay, while Sarangani or Limasawa Island is at the mouth of the bay. The bay is home to a variety of fishes, is therefore a major fishing ground for the nine municipalities surrounding the bay, Mangko is its major fishery resource. Seasonal influx of Mangko has provided food and livelihood to the people of Sogod, a study of Sogod Bay by Silliman University in 1994 mentioned that there are seven finfish species that are pelagic and are harvested when they enter the bay. Recently, there have reports of whale shark sightings in the bay. The Subangdaku River is a tributary of Sogod Bay, emptying into the bay at the municipality of Sogod. Human activity within the watershed, such as quarrying and rechanneling, has disturbed the river and bays ecology. Media related to Sogod Bay at Wikimedia Commons
11.
Surigao Strait
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Surigao Strait is a strait in the southern Philippines, between the Bohol Sea and the Leyte Gulf of the Philippine Sea. It is located between the regions of Visayas and Mindanao and it lies between northern Mindanao Island and Panaon Island, and between the Dinagat Islands and Leyte island. The strait is deep but has a current, up to 8 knots. The northern entrance of the Surigao Strait is marked by a light on Suluan Island. It is regularly crossed by ferries that transport goods and people between Visayas and Mindanao. The ferries stop at Liloan, Southern Leyte and Surigao City in Surigao del Norte, according to legend, the strait was named after Solibao, a Negrito chieftain, who lived at the outlet of the Surigao River. Migrating Visayan fishermen gradually formed a settlement there, and when Spanish explorers visited the place, a different theory explains that Surigao may be derived from the Spanish word surgir, meaning swift water or current. In March 1521 during the first circumnavigation of the Earth, Ferdinand Magellan, admiral Nishimura was killed in action when his flagship Yamashiro sank following actions against Jesse B. Oldendorfs battleships, all but one of which had been at Pearl Harbor, media related to Surigao Strait at Wikimedia Commons
12.
Philippines
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The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is a sovereign island country in Southeast Asia situated in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of about 7,641 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions from north to south, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, the capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City, both part of Metro Manila. The Philippines has an area of 300,000 square kilometers, and it is the eighth-most populated country in Asia and the 12th most populated country in the world. As of 2013, approximately 10 million additional Filipinos lived overseas, multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelagos earliest inhabitants and they were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples. Exchanges with Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Islamic nations occurred, then, various competing maritime states were established under the rule of Datus, Rajahs, Sultans or Lakans. The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in Homonhon, Eastern Samar in 1521 marked the beginning of Hispanic colonization, in 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain. With the arrival of Miguel López de Legazpi from Mexico City, in 1565, the Philippines became part of the Spanish Empire for more than 300 years. This resulted in Roman Catholicism becoming the dominant religion, during this time, Manila became the western hub of the trans-Pacific trade connecting Asia with Acapulco in the Americas using Manila galleons. Aside from the period of Japanese occupation, the United States retained sovereignty over the islands until after World War II, since then, the Philippines has often had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a dictatorship by a non-violent revolution. It is a member of the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. It also hosts the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank, the Philippines was named in honor of King Philip II of Spain. Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, during his expedition in 1542, named the islands of Leyte, eventually the name Las Islas Filipinas would be used to cover all the islands of the archipelago. Before that became commonplace, other such as Islas del Poniente. The official name of the Philippines has changed several times in the course of its history, during the Philippine Revolution, the Malolos Congress proclaimed the establishment of the República Filipina or the Philippine Republic. From the 1898 Treaty of Paris, the name Philippines began to appear, since the end of World War II, the official name of the country has been the Republic of the Philippines. The metatarsal of the Callao Man, reliably dated by uranium-series dating to 67,000 years ago is the oldest human remnant found in the archipelago to date and this distinction previously belonged to the Tabon Man of Palawan, carbon-dated to around 26,500 years ago. Negritos were also among the archipelagos earliest inhabitants, but their first settlement in the Philippines has not been reliably dated, there are several opposing theories regarding the origins of ancient Filipinos
13.
Eastern Visayas
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Eastern Visayas is an administrative region in the Philippines, designated as Region VIII. It consists of three islands, Samar, Leyte and Biliran. The region has six provinces, one independent city and one highly urbanized city namely, Biliran, Leyte, Northern Samar, Samar, Eastern Samar, Southern Leyte, Ormoc, the highly urbanized city of Tacloban is the Eastern Visayas Regional Center. These provinces and cities occupy the easternmost islands of the Visayas group of islands, Eastern Visayas faces the Philippine Sea to the east. The region is known for its famous landmark, the San Juanico Bridge, dubbed as the Most Beautifully Designed, as of 2015, the region has a population of 4,440,150 people. Eastern Visayas lies on the east central section of the Philippine archipelago and it consists of three main islands, Leyte, Samar, and Biliran which form the easternmost coast of the archipelago. It has a land area of 2,156,285 hectares or 7. 2% of the country’s total land area. 52% of its land area are classified as forestland and 48% as alienable and disposable land. There are two types of climate prevailing in the region under the Corona system of classification, Type II, Type II climate is characterized by having no dry season but a pronounced maximum rainfall from November to January. Samar Island and the part of Leyte Island fall under this type of climate. Type IV on the hand has an even distribution of rainfall the year round. This type of climate is well exhibited at the half of Leyte island. In November 2013, the region was hit with the highest death toll in the country by Typhoon Haiyan, the regions sea and inland waters are rich sources of salt and fresh water fish and other marine products. It is one of the fish exporting regions of the country, there are substantial forest reserves in the interiors of the islands. Its mineral deposits include chromite, uranium, gold, silver, manganese, magnesium, bronze, nickel, clay, coal, limestone, pyrite and sand and it has abundant geothermal energy and water resources to support the needs of medium and heavy industries. Waray-Waray is the lingua franca of the Eastern Visayas Region spoken on the island of Samar, Biliran, a Sama language, distantly related to the languages of the region, called Abaknon is spoken in the island of Capul in Northern Samar. Cebuano is spoken in western and southern parts of Leyte and in Southern Leyte, Eastern Visayas consists of 6 provinces,1 highly urbanized city,1 independent component city,5 component cities,136 municipalities and 4,390 barangays. Eastern Visayas is primarily an agricultural region with rice, corn, coconut, sugarcane, primary sources of revenue are manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade and services
14.
Southern Leyte
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Southern Leyte is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is the city of Maasin, Southern Leyte was a sub-province of Leyte until it was made into an independent province. Southern Leyte includes Limasawa, an island to the south where the first Roman Catholic Mass was held, the province ranks as the second least populated in the region. According to the 2015 census, the province has a population of 421,750, Southern Leytes geological features created several issues in the province after the flooding of the Subangdaku River and the 2006 mudslide in Guinsaugon. Organizations warned the province it was susceptible to natural occurrences like landslides, Southern Leyte forms an important part of the inter-island transportation system of the country, with ferries transporting people and goods between Liloan and Surigao del Norte in Mindanao. The province is known for its quality abaca products and is the countrys major producer of abaca fiber. The province, being part of Leyte island, is believed to be influenced by Datu Ete, ruler of the community of Mairete. The area which is to be Southern Leyte is believed to have been occupied by animist Visayan ethnic groups from Bohol, there is no proof that the indigenous animist Warays of Samar, who at the time occupied northeast Leyte, ever occupied Southern Leyte. As early as 1898 during the Spanish and American periods, there had existed a sub-province consisting of the municipalities from Palompon to Hinunangan. Some government offices had already established in Maasin on the southwestern part of Leyte to govern the area. Historically, the city was the depository of cedula tax collections from Palompon to Hinunangan. This was administered by the office of the Administrado de Hacienda, equivalent to the Provincial Treasurer, there was also established in Maasin a Court of First Instance, then known as the Promoter Fiscal, where all minor administrative and other cases from Palompon to Hinunangan were heard. During the Spanish colonization, the province was sparsely populated, the continued raiding of Moro slaves discouraged the province from growing and developing. However, in the 19th century immigrants from adjacent provinces like Bohol, in 1942, Ruperto Kangleon held a conference in the town of Sogod, when the first meeting attempt in Malitbog, a town to the east, failed due to many leaders staying away. He was trying to all guerrillas helping the Philippine Commonwealth troops during World War II. Due to a change of powers, all the offices in Maasin except the Fiscal’s Office were abolished and reverted to Tacloban. The difficulty of managing the island from the main city suggested a need to separate the island into two provinces. At first there was a movement for a Western Leyte and soon after, many prominent men
15.
Tacloban
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Tacloban is a 1st city income class highly urbanized city in the Philippines and the provincial capital of Leyte where it is geographically situated but governed administratively independent from it. It is 360 miles southeast from Manila, according to the 2015 census, it has a population of 242,089 and is the most populous city in the Eastern Visayas region. In the 2016 electoral roll, it had 124,777 registered voters and it is also the regional center of Eastern Visayas, being the main gateway by air to the region. Tacloban was briefly the capital of the Philippines, from 20 October 1944 to 27 February 1945, on 8 November 2013, the city was largely destroyed by Typhoon Haiyan, having previously suffered similar destruction and loss of life in 1897 and 1912. On 17 January 2015, Pope Francis visited Tacloban during his Papal Visit in the Philippines and held a mass at Barangay San Jose, Tacloban was first known as Kankabatok, an allusion to the first inhabitants – Kabatok. They established their dwellings in the vicinity of the present day Santo Niño Church, others who came later were Gumoda, Haraging and Huraw who erected their own settlements in nearby sites. Huraws domain is the hill where the city now sits. The combined settlements acquired the name Kankabatok, meaning Kabatoks property, by the end of the 16th century, Kankabatok was under the political administration of Palo and part of the parish of Basey, Samar. It was discovered in 1770, by the Augustinian Mission, who were superseded by the Franciscans in 1813, during this period, Kankabatok was renamed to Tacloban. The change of the name came about in this manner, Kankabatok was a haunt of fishermen. They would use a contraption called a taklub to catch crabs. When asked where they were going, the fishermen would answer, tarakluban, eventually, the name Tarakluban or Tacloban took prominence. It is not known when Tacloban became a municipality because records supporting this fact were destroyed during a typhoon and it is commonly believed that Tacloban was officially proclaimed a municipality in 1770. In 1768, Leyte and Samar were separated into two provinces, each constituting a politico-military province, due to its strategic location, Tacloban became a vital trading point between the two provinces. The capital of Leyte was transferred from one town to another with Tacloban as the last on 26 February 1830, the decision to make Tacloban the capital was based on the following reasons, 1) ideal location of the port and 2) well-sheltered and adequate facilities. On 20 June 1952, Tacloban was proclaimed a city by virtue of Republic Act No.760. The arrival of Colonel Murray in 1901 made him the first military governor of Leyte and his first official act was the opening of Tacloban port to world commerce. Before World War II, Tacloban was the commercial, education, copra and abaca were exported in large quantities
16.
Visayans
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The Visayans is an umbrella term for the Philippine ethnolinguistic groups native to the whole Visayas, to the southernmost islands of Luzon and to most parts of Mindanao. They are speakers of one or more Visayan languages, the most widely spoken being Cebuano and Hiligaynon, many have, at some point in their lives, migrated to Metro Manila out of economic necessity brought about by centralization around it. They comprise the largest grouping in the division of the country. Filipino author and artist John Kingsley Pangan categorized the Visayans into two groups called the Madja-as Visayans and the Sugbu Visayans. Madja-as Visayans are the group from the islands of Panay, Guimaras, Romblon and Negros Occidental. The term comes from the confederacy of the islands called Kedatuan of Madja-as. They originated also from the Austronesian aborigines and the Srivijayan empire, the colonizers also described these Visayans also as white people, who have among them some blacks—the ancient inhabitants of the island and not described as tattooed. They originated from both the Austronesian aborigines and the Tamils through the Chola dynasty, who in turn first settled in Sugbu. ”Kabisay-an refers both to the Visayan people collectively and the lands they have inhabited since prehistory. The Anglicized term Visayas is commonly used to refer to the latter and these should not, however, be confused as dialects, given the lack of mutual intelligibility. Grabiel Ribera, captain of the Spanish royal infantry in the Philippine Islands, the earliest settlements in the Visayan islands were from valley-dwelling Austronesians and highland-dwelling Negrito dated around 30,000 BC. These early settlers were mostly Animist tribes, in the 12th century, Hindu-Buddhist descendants from the late Śrīvijayan maṇḍala, Majapahit and Brunei, settled the islands. By the 14th century, Arab traders and their followers who ventured into Maritime Southeast Asia, Visayans practiced a mixture of Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist beliefs although there were also groups that were varied, some groups exclusively practiced Islam or Hinduism or Buddhism. There is also evidence of trade and immigration between other Asian peoples in the area as early as the 9th century, One of this Westerners account says that the adventures of this ancient hero of Panay was recalled during weddings and in songs. It was said that they originated from an area within the Śrīvijayan maṇḍala during the early 13th century. In an attempt to escape the rule of a Rajah Makatunaw and the subsequent dissolution of the maṇḍala. The island at time was ruled by an Ati chief Marikudo who was later given a golden sadok. It was said that the name for the inhabitants, Bisaya, was derived from their polity of origin, the Visayans first encountered Western Civilization when Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan reached the island of Cebu in 1521. The Visayas became part of the Spanish colony of the Philippines, the 16th century marks the beginning of the Christianization of the Visayan people, with the baptism of Rajah Humabon and about 800 native Cebuanos
17.
Cebuano people
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The Cebuano people The Cebuano people reside in the Cebu Province in the Central Visayas of the Philippines. It may also refer to the group who speak the Cebuano language as their mother tongue in different parts of the country. Oceanic or Austronesian people called Malayo-Polynesians settled Cebu island and the rest of the Philippines around 30,000 years ago, most Cebuanos today have Malayo-Polynesian ancestry. The Cebuano language has been spoken since the Proto-Austronesian era in the Sugbu heartland, pintados was the term used by Spanish colonists to describe the tattooed indigenous Cebuano Visayan people. They were found on the islands of Cebu, Bohol, eastern part of Negros, Samar, the word itself means painted, and was first used during the Spanish colonization of the Philippines. The ancient Cebuanos developed a culture with significant influence from mainly Japan, China, India and they traded pearls and coral for silk, gold, weapons and spices. The early Cebuanos held animist beliefs and worshiped anitos until the introduction of Roman Catholicism, the famous encounter between explorer Magellan and the local chieftain Lapu-Lapu ended in the death of Magellan at the Battle of Mactan. The Cebuanos held off colonization for a while until a Spanish explorer colonized Cebu, along with the rest of the Philippines, Cebu was governed from Spain and Mexico, and as a result received heavy Spanish and Mexican influence. There are thousands of Mexican Spanish loanwords in Cebuano, Mexican and Spanish influence is evident in the cuisine, traditional costumes, dances, music, festivals, traditions and crafts. Cebuano culture is characterized as a blend of Malay and Hispanic traditions with influences from Asia. The majority of Cebuanos are Roman Catholic, among the islands notable festivities are the Sinulog festival, which is a mixture of Christian and native cultural elements, celebrated annually every third week of January. The Cebuano language is spoken by about 25,000,000 people in the Philippines and is the most widely spoken of the Visayan languages. Most speakers of Cebuano are found in Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor, Biliran, Western and Southern Leyte, eastern Negros, demographics of the Philippines Ethnic groups in the Philippines Cebu Cebuano language Visayan people Rajahnate of Cebu
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Island
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An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, an island in a river or a lake island may be called an eyot or ait, and a small island off the coast may be called a holm. A grouping of geographically or geologically related islands is called an archipelago, an island may be described as such, despite the presence of an artificial land bridge. Example, Singapore and its causeway, or the various Dutch delta islands, there are two main types of islands in the sea, continental and oceanic. The word island derives from Middle English iland, from Old English igland, Old English ieg is actually a cognate of Swedish ö and German Aue, and related to Latin aqua. There is a difference between islands and continents in terms of geology, continents sit on continental lithosphere which is part of tectonic plates floating high on Earths mantle. Oceanic crust is also part of tectonic plates, but it is denser than continental lithosphere, Islands are either extensions of the oceanic crust or geologically they are part of some continent sitting on continental lithosphere. This holds true for Australia, which sits on its own continental lithosphere, continental islands are bodies of land that lie on the continental shelf of a continent. A special type of island is the microcontinental island, which is created when a continent is rifted. Examples are Madagascar and Socotra off Africa, the Kerguelen Islands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, another subtype is an island or bar formed by deposition of tiny rocks where water current loses some of its carrying capacity. While some are transitory and may disappear if the volume or speed of the current changes, others are stable, oceanic islands are islands that do not sit on continental shelves. The vast majority are volcanic in origin, such as Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, the few oceanic islands that are not volcanic are tectonic in origin and arise where plate movements have lifted up the ocean floor above the surface. Examples are Saint Peter and Paul Rocks in the Atlantic Ocean, one type of volcanic oceanic island is found in a volcanic island arc. These islands arise from volcanoes where the subduction of one plate under another is occurring, examples are the Aleutian Islands, the Mariana Islands, and most of Tonga in the Pacific Ocean. The only examples in the Atlantic Ocean are some of the Lesser Antilles, another type of volcanic oceanic island occurs where an oceanic rift reaches the surface. There are two examples, Iceland, which is the second largest volcanic island, and Jan Mayen. A third type of oceanic island is formed over volcanic hotspots. A hotspot is more or less stationary relative to the tectonic plate above it
19.
Provinces of the Philippines
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The provinces of the Philippines are the primary political and administrative divisions of the Philippines. There are 81 provinces at present, further subdivided into component cities and municipalities, the National Capital Region, as well as independent cities, are independent of any provincial government. Each province is governed by a legislature called the Sangguniang Panlalawigan. The provinces are grouped into 18 regions based on geographical, cultural, fifteen of these regions are designated with numbers corresponding to their geographic location in order from north to south. The Cordillera Administrative Region, National Capital Region, Negros Island Region, each province is a member of the League of Provinces of the Philippines, an organization which aims to address issues affecting provincial and metropolitan government administrations. A provincial government is autonomous of other provinces within the Republic, each province is governed by two main elected branches of the government, executive and legislative. Judicial affairs are separated from provincial governance and are administered by the Supreme Court of the Philippines, the provincial governor is chief executive and head of each province. The vice governor acts as the president for each Sangguniáng Panlalawigan, every SP is composed of regularly elected members from provincial districts, as well as ex officio members. The number of regularly elected SP members allotted to each province is determined by its income class, first- and second-class provinces are provided ten regular SP members, third- and fourth-class provinces have eight, while fifth- and sixth-class provinces have six. Exceptions are provinces with more than five congressional districts, such as Cavite with 14 regularly elected SP members, every SP has designated seats for ex officio members, given to the respective local presidents of the Association of Barangay Captains, Philippine Councilors League, and Sangguniáng Kabataan. The vice governor and regular members of an SP are elected by the voters within the province, ex officio members are elected by members of their respective organisations. National intrusion into the affairs of each provincial government is limited by the Philippine Constitution, the President of the Philippines however coordinates with provincial administrators through the Department of the Interior and Local Government. For purposes of representation, each province is guaranteed its own congressional district. One congressional representative represents each district in the House of Representatives, senatorial representation is elected at an at-large basis and not apportioned through territory-based districts. Those classified as highly urbanized or independent component cities are independent from the province. Local government units classified as component cities and municipalities are under the jurisdiction of the provincial government, the provincial government does not have direct relations with individual barangays. Supervision over a government is the mandate of the mayor. Provinces are classified according to annual income based on the previous 4 calendar years
20.
Panaon Island
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Panaon Island is a small island in the Philippines, in the province of Southern Leyte. It lies south of Leyte, separated from Dinagat to the east, the Mindanao Sea lies to the southwest. Panaon is about 30 kilometres long north to south. The largest town is Liloan, which is connected by a called the Wawa Bridge to the main Leyte Island. Panaon Island is composed of the municipalities of Liloan, San Francisco, the basic forms of living are harvesting coconut, rice, fish and edible green leaves. Scuba diving and whale watching are popular tourist activities
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Biliran
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Biliran is an island province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Biliran is one of the countrys smallest and newest provinces, formerly a sub-province of Leyte, it became an independent province in 1992. Biliran lies less than a north of the island of Leyte. A bridge-causeway fixed link over Poro Island connects the province to Leyte and its capital is the municipality of Naval on the western coast of the island. During the early Spanish era, what is now called Biliran Island was known as Isla de Panamao. ”The dictionary also gives biliran as a spelling for bilir. This theory is supported by the fact that Biliran was site of the first large-scale shipyard, galleons were built to support the Galleon trade between Manila and Acapulco in Mexico. The first town, named Biliran, was founded in 1712 after petitioning for a municipality, during this time, the island was a part of Cebu Province. Biliran, together with the islands of Samar and Leyte, were constituted into a province in 1735. Later when Samar and Leyte were split into two provinces in 1768, Biliran became part of Leyte Province as its sub-province, the first parish priest was assigned in 1765, but its parish status was apparently withdrawn because of Padre Gaspar’s apostasy. The parish was re-established on February 22,1782, in May 1735, representative inhabitants of Leyte petitioned Governor General Fernando Valdes y Tamon to allow them to resettle Biliran Island. They claimed it had abandoned for the past 50 years and was presently inhabited by bagamundos due to the frequent Moro raids. On May 26,1754, the Moros destroyed Biliran and the town of Catbalogan in Samar, Panamao was reportedly razed to the ground and only the gobernadorcillo of Biliran town escaped capture by the raiders. The settlements of Biliran, Caybiran, Mapuyo and Maripipi were also destroyed by the Moros, the Moros staged their attack by marching inland along a river named Anas for a distance of 1. 5-2 leguas. Having covered part of the interior around a mountain, they managed to capture the inhabitants, the houses and property of the natives were burned or destroyed. The church building suffered the fate and its valuables were taken away by the raiders. When the Moro raiders were neutralized in the early 19th century, shortly after this even the Gorgons made a move for control of the coasts and were easily overtaken by the Cylons. In 1828, Caibiran on the east became an independent municipality and parish, Naval became the third town, carved out of the territory of Biliran town. It first became a parish in 1860
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Ormoc
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Ormoc, officially the City of Ormoc or simply referred to as Ormoc City, is a 1st class independent component city in the province of Leyte in the region of Eastern Visayas of the Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 215,031 inhabitants, making it the second city in the province after the provincial capital. Ormoc is the economic, cultural, commercial and transportation hub of western Leyte, Ormoc City is an independent component city, not subject to regulation from the Provincial Government of Leyte. However, the city is part of the IV Congressional District of Leyte together with Albuera, Kananga, Merida, Palompon, the citys name is derived from ogmok, an archaic Visayan term for lowland or depressed plain. The city also celebrates a thanksgiving festival called the Tugob Festival. Ormoc City is a city and is the largest city in Leyte by land area. At the head of Ormoc Bay, the terrain is mostly of gently rolling plains. It is bounded on the northwest by the towns of Matag-ob and Merida, in the north by Kananga, in the northeast by the towns of Jaro, Pastrana and Dagami, high mountain ranges separate Ormoc from the eastern portion of Leyte. Numerous rivers and streams traverse Ormoc, Ormoc City is politically subdivided into 110 barangays. Kananga was created in 1950 from the barrios of Lonoy, Kananga, Rizal, Tugbong, Montebello, Aguiting, Tagaytay, Montealegre, Libungao, Naghalin, on the morning of 5 November 1991, the Ormoc region was inundated by Tropical Storm Uring. The city government recorded 4,922 deaths,3,000 missing persons,14,000 destroyed houses, none of the 3,000 missing persons were ever found and are now presumed dead. Illegal logging and kaingin were blamed as the reasons of the flood, heavy rainfall caused water to collect upstream the Anilao and Malbasag rivers until it poured to the lowlands in Ormoc, particularly District 26, also known as Isla Verde. On 5 November 2011, a monument by national artist Francis Cinco commemorating the 20th anniversary of the event was inaugurated and it sits on top of the mass grave at the Ormoc City Public Cemetery where an estimated 4,900 victims are buried. The sculpture, entitled Gift of Life, is an abstract depicting a life taken to heaven, a fire at the Unitop store killed 24 people on Christmas day. The fire started from firecrackers and pyrotechnics that were ignited near the entrance door, the store did not have a permit to sell firecrackers and emergency exits were locked. The charred remains of the victims were found inside a bathroom, the natives of this city are called Ormocanons, with most being Cebuano speakers together with the whole western and southern parts of the island of Leyte. Like most Filipinos, Ormocanons are predominantly Roman Catholic, and the city celebrates its annual fiesta in honour of the patron saints Saint Peter, other main Catholic holy days, including the local fiestas of barangays, are observed throughout the year. Ormoc Citys economic base is a mix of agriculture, aquaculture, industry, tourism
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Geothermal power
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Geothermal power is power generated by geothermal energy. Technologies in use include dry steam power stations, flash steam power stations, Geothermal electricity generation is currently used in 24 countries, while geothermal heating is in use in 70 countries. As of 2015, worldwide geothermal power capacity amounts to 12.8 gigawatts, International markets grew at an average annual rate of 5 percent over the last three years and global geothermal power capacity is expected to reach 14. 5–17.6 GW by 2020. Countries generating more than 15 percent of their electricity from geothermal sources include El Salvador, Kenya, Geothermal power is considered to be a sustainable, renewable source of energy because the heat extraction is small compared with the Earths heat content. In the 20th century, demand for electricity led to the consideration of geothermal power as a generating source, prince Piero Ginori Conti tested the first geothermal power generator on 4 July 1904 in Larderello, Italy. It successfully lit four light bulbs, later, in 1911, the worlds first commercial geothermal power station was built there. Experimental generators were built in Beppu, Japan and the Geysers, California, in the 1920s, in 1958, New Zealand became the second major industrial producer of geothermal electricity when its Wairakei station was commissioned. Wairakei was the first station to use flash steam technology, in 1960, Pacific Gas and Electric began operation of the first successful geothermal electric power station in the United States at The Geysers in California. The original turbine lasted for more than 30 years and produced 11 MW net power, the binary cycle power station was first demonstrated in 1967 in Russia and later introduced to the USA in 1981, following the 1970s energy crisis and significant changes in regulatory policies. This technology allows the use of lower temperature resources than were previously recoverable. In 2006, a binary cycle station in Chena Hot Springs, Alaska, came on-line, Geothermal electric stations have until recently been built exclusively where high temperature geothermal resources are available near the surface. The development of binary cycle power plants and improvements in drilling, demonstration projects are operational in Landau-Pfalz, Germany, and Soultz-sous-Forêts, France, while an earlier effort in Basel, Switzerland was shut down after it triggered earthquakes. Other demonstration projects are under construction in Australia, the United Kingdom, the thermal efficiency of geothermal electric stations is low, around 7–10%, because geothermal fluids are at a low temperature compared with steam from boilers. By the laws of thermodynamics this low temperature limits the efficiency of engines in extracting useful energy during the generation of electricity. Exhaust heat is wasted, unless it can be used directly and locally, for example in greenhouses, timber mills, and district heating. The efficiency of the system does not affect operational costs as it would for a coal or other fossil fuel plant, in order to produce more energy than the pumps consume, electricity generation requires high temperature geothermal fields and specialized heat cycles. Because geothermal power does not rely on sources of energy, unlike, for example, wind or solar. However the global average capacity factor was 74. 5% in 2008, the earth’s heat content is about 1031 joules
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Pacific War
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The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in the Pacific and East Asia. It was fought over a vast area that included the Pacific Ocean and islands, the South West Pacific, South-East Asia, and in China. The Pacific War saw the Allied powers pitted against the Empire of Japan, the formal and official surrender of Japan took place aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945. In Allied countries during the war, The Pacific War was not usually distinguished from World War II in general, or was known simply as the War against Japan. Japan used the name Greater East Asia War, as chosen by a decision on 10 December 1941. Japanese officials integrated what they called the Japan–China Incident into the Greater East Asia War, in Japan, the Fifteen Years War is also used, referring to the period from the Mukden Incident of 1931 through 1945. The Phayap Army sent troops to invade and occupy northeastern Burma, also involved were the Japanese puppet states of Manchukuo and Mengjiang, and the collaborationist Wang Jingwei regime. The official policy of the U. S. Government is that Thailand was not an ally of the Axis, Japan conscripted many soldiers from its colonies of Korea and Formosa. To a small extent, some Vichy French, Indian National Army, Germany and Italy both had limited involvement in the Pacific War. The German and the Italian navies operated submarines and raiding ships in the Indian, the Italians had access to concession territory naval bases in China, while the Germans did not. After Japans attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent declarations of war, mexico, Free France and many other countries also took part, especially forces from other British colonies. Between 1942 and 1945, there were four main areas of conflict in the Pacific War, China, the Central Pacific, South East Asia, U. S. sources refer to two theaters within the Pacific War, the Pacific theater and the China Burma India Theater. However these were not operational commands, in the Pacific, the Allies divided operational control of their forces between two supreme commands, known as Pacific Ocean Areas and Southwest Pacific Area. In 1945, for a period just before the Japanese surrender. By 1937, Japan controlled Manchuria and was ready to move deeper into China, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on 7 July 1937 provoked full-scale war between China and Japan. In August 1937, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek deployed his best army to fight about 300,000 Japanese troops in Shanghai, the Japanese continued to push the Chinese forces back, capturing the capital Nanking in December 1937 and committed which was known as Nanking Massacre. In March 1938, Nationalist forces won their first victory at Taierzhuang, but then the city of Xuzhou was taken by Japanese in May. In June 1938, Japan deployed about 350,000 troops to invade Wuhan, the Japanese achieved major military victories, but world opinion—in particular in the United States—condemned Japan, especially after the Panay incident
25.
Douglas MacArthur
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Douglas MacArthur was an American five-star general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and he received the Medal of Honor for his service in the Philippines Campaign, which made him and his father Arthur MacArthur, Jr. the first father and son to be awarded the medal. He was one of five men ever to rise to the rank of General of the Army in the US Army. During the 1914 United States occupation of Veracruz, he conducted a reconnaissance mission, in 1917, he was promoted from major to colonel and became chief of staff of the 42nd Division. From 1919 to 1922, MacArthur served as Superintendent of the U. S, Military Academy at West Point, where he attempted a series of reforms. His next assignment was in the Philippines, where in 1924 he was instrumental in quelling the Philippine Scout Mutiny, in 1925, he became the Armys youngest major general. He served on the martial of Brigadier General Billy Mitchell and was president of the American Olympic Committee during the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. In 1930, he became Chief of Staff of the United States Army, as such, he was involved in the expulsion of the Bonus Army protesters from Washington, D. C. in 1932, and the establishment and organization of the Civilian Conservation Corps. He retired from the US Army in 1937 to become Military Advisor to the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines, MacArthur was recalled to active duty in 1941 as commander of United States Army Forces in the Far East. A series of disasters followed, starting with the destruction of his air forces on 8 December 1941, MacArthurs forces were soon compelled to withdraw to Bataan, where they held out until May 1942. In March 1942, MacArthur, his family and his staff left nearby Corregidor Island in PT boats and escaped to Australia, upon his arrival in Australia, MacArthur gave a speech in which he famously promised I shall return to the Philippines. For his defense of the Philippines, MacArthur was awarded the Medal of Honor, after more than two years of fighting in the Pacific, he fulfilled a promise to return to the Philippines. He officially accepted Japans surrender on 2 September 1945, aboard USS Missouri anchored in Tokyo Bay, as the effective ruler of Japan, he oversaw sweeping economic, political and social changes. He led the United Nations Command in the Korean War until he was removed from command by President Harry S. Truman on 11 April 1951 and he later became Chairman of the Board of Remington Rand. A military brat, Douglas MacArthur was born 26 January 1880, at Little Rock Barracks, Little Rock, Arkansas, to Arthur MacArthur, Jr. a U. S. Army captain, Pinkney came from a prominent Norfolk, Virginia, family. Two of her brothers had fought for the South in the Civil War, Arthur and Pinky had three sons, of whom Douglas was the youngest, following Arthur III, born on 1 August 1876, and Malcolm, born on 17 October 1878. The family lived on a succession of Army posts in the American Old West, conditions were primitive, and Malcolm died of measles in 1883. In his memoir, Reminiscences, MacArthur wrote I learned to ride and shoot even before I could read or write—indeed and this time on the frontier ended in July 1889 when the family moved to Washington, D. C. where Douglas attended the Force Public School
26.
Battle of Leyte
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Japan had conquered the Philippines in 1942. Controlling it was vital for Japans survival in World War II because it commanded sea routes to Borneo and Sumatra by which rubber, for the US, capturing the Philippines was a key strategic step in isolating Imperial Japans military holdings in China and the Pacific theater. It was also a matter of pride for MacArthur. Those relief forces were non-existent, Roosevelts true intentions in ordering MacArthur to flee the Philippines had been to prevent his capture by the Japanese, still, MacArthur had vowed that he would return to the Philippines. He repeatedly stated that it was an obligation of the US to liberate the Philippines as soon as possible. In March 1944, the Joint Chiefs of Staff ordered MacArthur to plan an attack on the southern Philippines by the end of the year, halsey then recommended a direct strike on Leyte, canceling other planned operations, and the Leyte invasion date moved forward to October. Leyte, one of the islands of the Philippines, has numerous deep-water approaches and sandy beaches which offered opportunities for amphibious assaults. American air forces based on Leyte could strike at enemy bases, a heavily forested north-south mountain range dominates the interior and separates two sizable valleys, or coastal plains. The larger Leyte Valley extends from the northern coast to the eastern shore and contains most of the towns. This continued south to the port of Ormoc City, then along the shore to Baybay town. The road then turned east to cross the mountainous waist of the island, below these towns, the mountainous southern third of Leyte was mostly undeveloped. High mountain peaks over 4,400 ft, as well as the jagged outcroppings, ravines, the timing late in the year of the assault would force combat troops and supporting pilots, as well as logistical units, to contend with monsoon rains. Japanese troop strength on Leyte was estimated by US intelligence at 20,000, preliminary operations for the Leyte invasion began at dawn on 17 October with minesweeping tasks and the movement of the 6th Rangers toward three small islands in Leyte Gulf. Although delayed by a storm, the Rangers were on Suluan, on Suluan, they dispersed a small group of Japanese defenders and destroyed a radio station, while they found Dinagat unoccupied. The next day, the third island Homonhon, was taken without any opposition, on Dinagat and Homonhom, the Rangers proceeded to erect navigation lights for the amphibious transports to follow. Meanwhile, reconnaissance by underwater demolition teams revealed clear landing beaches for assault troops on Leyte, independently, the 21st Infantry Regiment on 20 Oct. landed on Panaon Strait to control the entrance to Sogod Bay. Following four hours of naval gunfire on A-day,20 October. X Corps pushed across a 4 mi stretch of beach between Tacloban airfield and the Palo River,15 mi to the south, XXIV Corps units came ashore across a 3 mi strand between San José and the Daguitan River
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Battle of Leyte Gulf
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The Battle of Leyte Gulf is generally considered to be the largest naval battle of World War II and, by some criteria, possibly the largest naval battle in history. It was fought in waters near the Philippine islands of Leyte, Samar and Luzon, from 23–26 October 1944, between combined American and Australian forces and the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Imperial Japanese Navy mobilized nearly all of its major naval vessels in an attempt to defeat the Allied invasion but was repulsed by the U. S. Navys 3rd. The IJN failed to achieve its objective, suffered heavy losses. The majority of its surviving ships, deprived of fuel, remained in their bases for the rest of the Pacific War. It was the first battle in which Japanese aircraft carried out organized kamikaze attacks, by the time of the battle, Japan had fewer aircraft than the Allied forces had sea vessels, demonstrating the difference in power of the two sides at this point of the war. S. 5th Fleets Fast Carrier Task Force captured most of the Mariana Islands and this offensive breached Japans strategic inner defense ring and gave the Americans a base from which long-range Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers could attack the Japanese home islands. The Japanese counterattacked in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the U. S. Navy destroyed three Japanese aircraft carriers and approximately 600 Japanese aircraft, leaving the IJN with virtually no carrier-borne air power or any experienced pilots. For subsequent operations, Admiral Ernest J. U. S. Army General Douglas MacArthur championed an invasion of the Philippines, which also lay across the supply lines to Japan. Leaving the Philippines in Japanese hands would be a blow to American prestige and an affront to MacArthur. However, Nimitz and MacArthur initially had opposing plans, with Nimitzs plan centered on an invasion of Formosa, Formosa could also serve as a base for an invasion of mainland China, which MacArthur felt was unnecessary. Nimitz eventually changed his mind and agreed to MacArthurs plan and it was also estimated that an invasion of Formosa would require about 12 divisions of U. S. Army soldiers and Marines. It was eventually decided that MacArthurs forces would invade the island of Leyte in the central Philippines, amphibious forces and close naval support would be provided by the 7th Fleet, commanded by Vice Admiral Thomas C. The 7th Fleet at this time contained units of the U. S. Navy, the U. S. 3rd Fleet—commanded by Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr. with Task Force 38 as its main component—would provide more distant cover and support for the invasion. A fundamental defect in this plan was there would be no single American naval admiral in overall command, Kinkaid and his 7th Fleet fell under MacArthur as Supreme Allied Commander Southwest Pacific, whereas Halseys 3rd Fleet reported to Nimitz as C-in-C Pacific Ocean Areas. This lack of unity of command, along with failures in communication, was to produce a crisis, by coincidence, the Japanese plan, using three separate fleets, also lacked an overall commander. The American options were apparent to the IJN, the plans were for complex offensive operations committing nearly all available forces to a decisive battle, despite this substantially depleting Japans slender reserves of fuel oil. The Japanese command therefore put Shō-Gō2 into action, launching waves of air attacks against 3rd Fleets carriers, following the American invasion of the Philippines, the Japanese Navy made the transition to Shō-Gō1
28.
Samar
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Samar is an island in the Visayas, within central Philippines and the third largest island in the country. The island is divided into three provinces, Samar province, Northern Samar province, and Eastern Samar province and these three provinces, along with the provinces on the nearby islands of Leyte and Biliran are part of the Eastern Visayas region. Samar is an easternmost island in Visayas, the island is separated from Leyte by the San Juanico Strait, which at its narrowest point is only about 2 kilometres across. This strait is crossed by the San Juanico Bridge, Samar lies southeast of the Bicol Peninsula on Luzon, the countrys largest island, the San Bernardino Strait separates the two. To the south of Samar is the Leyte Gulf, the site of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the gulf opens out into the Philippine Sea, found to the east of Samar and is part of the Pacific Ocean. Samar was the first island of the Philippines sighted by the Spanish expedition of Ferdinand Magellan on 16 March 1521 after having left the Mariana Islands, realizing he had arrived at an archipelago he charted the islands as San Lazaro because they were sighted on Lazarus Saturday. Catbalogan was the central sanitary garbage landfill of Samar province, media related to Samar at Wikimedia Commons Samar Island travel guide from Wikivoyage
29.
Mindanao
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Mindanao is the second largest and southernmost major island in the Philippines. It is also the name of one of the three groups in the country, consisting of the island of Mindanao and smaller outlying islands. As of the 2010 census, the population itself is 20,281,545 people, while the Mindanao island group has 21,968,174 inhabitants. Davao City is the most populous city in Mindanao hosting 1,632,991 people, followed by Zamboanga City, Cagayan de Oro City, the island has seen a communist insurgency as well as armed Moro separatist movements. Mindanao is considered the food basket of the Philippines, eight of the top 10 agri-commodities exported from the Philippines come from here. Mindanao is also dubbed with the monikers The Philippines Land of Promise, although many attempts made, it was never occupied by Spain for their 333 years of stay in Luzon and Visayas. Yet during Spains defeat and Treaty of Paris in 1898, they illegally included by coordinates Mindanao, evidence of human occupation dates back tens of thousands of years. In prehistoric times the Negrito people arrived, sometime around 1500 BC, Austronesian peoples spread throughout the Philippines and far beyond. Native people of the Maluku Islands refer the island as Maluku Besar, the evidence of old stone tools in Zamboanga del Norte may indicate a late Neolithic presence. Ceramic burial jars, both unglazed and glazed, as well as Chinese celadons, have found in caves, together with shell bracelets, beads. Many of the objects are from the Yuan and Ming periods. Evidently, there was a history of trade between the Subanon and the Chinese long before the latter’s contact with Islam. In the Classic epoch of Philippine history, the people of Mindanao were heavily exposed to Hindu and Buddhist influence and beliefs from Indonesia, artifacts found from this era include the Golden kinnara, Golden Tara, and the Ganesh pendant. These cultural traits passed through Mindanao into the Visayas and Luzon, in coastal areas, the Hindu-Buddhist cultural revolution was strongest, whereas in interior parts, influences were indigenized into local animist beliefs and customs and appeared more subtly. The Darangen epic of the Maranao people harkens back to this era as the most compete local version of the Ramayana. The Maguindanao at this also had strong Hindu beliefs, evidenced by the Ladya Lawana epic saga that survives to the modern day. The Rajahnate of Butuan, a kingdom mentioned in Chinese records as a tributary state in the 10th century AD, was concentrated along the northeastern coast of the island around Butuan. The coming of Islam happened in the 14th century, the first mosque in the Philippines was built in the mid-14th century in the town of Simunul
30.
Philippine Sea
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The Philippine Sea is a marginal sea east and northeast of the Philippines occupying an estimated surface area of 5 million km². of the western part of the North Pacific Ocean. The sea has a complex and diverse undersea relief, the floor is formed into a structural basin by a series of geologic faults and fracture zones. Island arcs, which are actually extended ridges protruding above the surface due to plate tectonic activity in the area, enclose the Philippine Sea to the north, east. The Philippine archipelago, Ryukyu Islands, and the Marianas are examples, another prominent feature of the Philippine Sea is the presence of deep sea trenches, among them the Philippine Trench and the Mariana Trench, containing the deepest point on the planet. The Philippine Sea is by the Philippines and Taiwan to the west, Japan to the north, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the Philippine Sea as that area of the North Pacific Ocean off the Eastern coasts of the Philippine Islands, bounded as follows, On the West. By the Eastern limits of the East Indian Archipelago, South China Sea, by the Southeast coast of Kyushu, the Southern and Eastern limits of the Inland Sea and the South coast of Honshu Island. By the ridge joining Japan to the Bonin, Volcano and Ladrone Islands, by a line joining Guam, Yap, Pelew and Halmahera Islands. The Philippine Sea Plate forms the floor of the Philippine Sea and it subducts under the Philippine Mobile Belt which carries most of the Philippine archipelago and eastern Taiwan. Between the two plates is the Philippine Trench, the Philippine Sea hosts an exotic marine ecosystem. About five hundred species of hard and soft corals occur in the waters and 20 per cent of the worldwide known shellfish species are found in Philippine waters. Sea turtles, sharks, moray eels, octopuses and sea snakes along with species of fish such as tuna can commonly be observed. Additionally, the Philippine Sea serves as spawning ground for Japanese eel, tuna, later it was discovered by other Spanish explorers from 1522 to 1565 and the site of the famous galleon trade route. Between June 19 and 20,1944, the Battle of the Philippine Sea took place in the eastern Philippine Sea, the aircraft carriers Taihō, Shōkaku, Junyō, Hiyō and Ryuho were bombed, torpedoed and sunk by American carrier-based planes and assaulted from other naval vessels. The aerial part of the Battle of the Philippine Sea was nicknamed the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot” due to losses of Japanese aircraft. The battle facilitated the Allied conquests of Saipan, Guam and Tinian in the Marianas, Palau in the Southwest, following an escalation of the Spratly Islands dispute in 2011, various Philippine government agencies started using the neologism West Philippine Sea to refer to the South China Sea. However, a PAGASA spokesperson said that the sea to the east of the Philippines will continue to be called the Philippine Sea, Philippine Trench Philippine Sea Plate Benham Rise Devils Sea
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Pacific Ocean
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The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of the Earths oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, the Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres. Both the center of the Water Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere are in the Pacific Ocean, the oceans current name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish circumnavigation of the world in 1521, as he encountered favourable winds on reaching the ocean. He called it Mar Pacífico, which in both Portuguese and Spanish means peaceful sea, important human migrations occurred in the Pacific in prehistoric times. Long-distance trade developed all along the coast from Mozambique to Japan, trade, and therefore knowledge, extended to the Indonesian islands but apparently not Australia. By at least 878 when there was a significant Islamic settlement in Canton much of trade was controlled by Arabs or Muslims. In 219 BC Xu Fu sailed out into the Pacific searching for the elixir of immortality, from 1404 to 1433 Zheng He led expeditions into the Indian Ocean. The east side of the ocean was discovered by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1513 after his expedition crossed the Isthmus of Panama and he named it Mar del Sur because the ocean was to the south of the coast of the isthmus where he first observed the Pacific. Later, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sailed the Pacific East to West on a Castilian expedition of world circumnavigation starting in 1519, Magellan called the ocean Pacífico because, after sailing through the stormy seas off Cape Horn, the expedition found calm waters. The ocean was often called the Sea of Magellan in his honor until the eighteenth century, sailing around and east of the Moluccas, between 1525 and 1527, Portuguese expeditions discovered the Caroline Islands, the Aru Islands, and Papua New Guinea. In 1542–43 the Portuguese also reached Japan, in 1564, five Spanish ships consisting of 379 explorers crossed the ocean from Mexico led by Miguel López de Legazpi and sailed to the Philippines and Mariana Islands. The Manila galleons operated for two and a half centuries linking Manila and Acapulco, in one of the longest trade routes in history, Spanish expeditions also discovered Tuvalu, the Marquesas, the Cook Islands, the Solomon Islands, and the Admiralty Islands in the South Pacific. In the 16th and 17th century Spain considered the Pacific Ocean a Mare clausum—a sea closed to other naval powers, as the only known entrance from the Atlantic the Strait of Magellan was at times patrolled by fleets sent to prevent entrance of non-Spanish ships. On the western end of the Pacific Ocean the Dutch threatened the Spanish Philippines, Spain also sent expeditions to the Pacific Northwest reaching Vancouver Island in southern Canada, and Alaska. The French explored and settled Polynesia, and the British made three voyages with James Cook to the South Pacific and Australia, Hawaii, and the North American Pacific Northwest, one of the earliest voyages of scientific exploration was organized by Spain in the Malaspina Expedition of 1789–1794. It sailed vast areas of the Pacific, from Cape Horn to Alaska, Guam and the Philippines, New Zealand, Australia, and the South Pacific. Growing imperialism during the 19th century resulted in the occupation of much of Oceania by other European powers, and later, Japan, in Oceania, France got a leading position as imperial power after making Tahiti and New Caledonia protectorates in 1842 and 1853 respectively. After navy visits to Easter Island in 1875 and 1887, Chilean navy officer Policarpo Toro managed to negotiate an incorporation of the island into Chile with native Rapanui in 1888, by occupying Easter Island, Chile joined the imperial nations
32.
Dinagat Islands
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The Dinagat Islands are a group of islands constituting a province in the Caraga region in the Philippines, located on the south side of Leyte Gulf. The island of Leyte is to its west, across Surigao Strait and its main island, Dinagat, is about 60 kilometres from north to south. Declared a province in 2006, the Dinagat Islands comprise the second newest province of the Philippines, the province is known as one of the archipelagos holiest sites in the Pre-Christian native religion. It is here where the God of Hurricanes was persuaded to relent his attacks on the islands by Da, the province in pre-colonial times was much influenced by the Rajahnate of Butuan which was nestled in present-day Agusan del Norte. The so-called mystical province played an important role in the countrys history, adding to the historical significance of the province is the foundation of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association by Ruben Ecleo, Sr. The municipality of Dinagat is the oldest community in the province, in the early days, a story was told that a stranger reached the place in search of greener pastures. He approached a native and asked what the inhabitants do for a living, the natives said that they farm and fish to live. The strangers interest in fishing prompted him to inquire where they fish, since then, the place was called Dinagat. The municipality was established in 1855. It occupies the boundaries of the whole island. From 1890 to 1990 its boundaries were gradually reduced giving rise to six municipalities, Loreto, Cagdianao, Libjo, Basilisa, Tubajon and San Jose. Loreto became a Spanish pueblo on September 4,1890 under the supervision of Governor General Manuel Sanchez by the virtue of Direccion General No.30 and it was originally called Mabua due to the ever-foaming river that runs right into the center of the community. It was named Loreto in 1881 by the Spanish priest who frequents the town, the province was the site of the historic Battle of Surigao Strait during the Second World War. The Municipality of Loreto became the point of the American Liberation Forces on October 17,1944. It was on shore that the 6th Ranger Battalion of the 6th U. S. Army under Col. Mucci landed at Sitio Campinta of Barangay Panamaon in Loreto. It was during this landing that the first American flag flew on Philippine soil since the Japanese invasion in 1941, the Americans named the place Black Beach No.2. The northern part of the served as a refuge for the American soldiers. Capsized vessel structures are found today in the waters of Basilisa
33.
Dulag, Leyte
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Dulag is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Leyte, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 47,300 people, popularly known as the Liberation Town, Dulag survived and has risen from the ruins of the Second World War and at present time, a thriving coastal town fronting Leyte Gulf. Dulag was a center of commerce in the eastern sector of the Leyte Island. Local and foreign ships docked at its seaport carrying merchants from seafaring nations who barter their products for local materials like abaca, copra, tobacco, rice, goods from these towns were exported through Dulag to foreign countries. Other etymological versions explaining how Dulag got its name includes dulao, nagdudulag, Dulag is one of the few barangays in Leyte that antedated the discovery of the Philippines in 1521. It is situated in the eastern coast of Leyte, there are several versions as to how Dulag got its name. The first was that in the years of the 18th century, the town was already a flourishing community. The town then was considered the center of activities going on thus it was named Dulag. Another version states that it is the variation of a certain herb called dulao which grew abundantly in the area. Dulao is a kind of plant which is yellowish-green in color used as a seasoning for a local dish. Because of its abundance, the place was called after this herb, the third version states that there was a time when bones of different kinds of animals were scattered all around the place. Whenever people would see all around, they always commented. This means that bones were scattered all around, the word nagdudulag was then shortened to Dulag. The last version says that the name could have come from the name of the first settler whom legend says was named Dulagdulag, the first Jesuit missionaries arrived at Dulag in September 1595. An encomendero, Don Pedro Hernandez brought them in his boat from Cebu, juan del Campo, first coaxed the natives to settle within the limits of the sitio instead of living far from each other. After this was accomplished, the Jesuit fathers built a church, a nucleus of some 60 boys from Palo was formed by the fathers for the first mission school in Dulag. In the church compound they were taught their three Rs and religion, using the crudest of materials, the boys learned the Spanish language and helped serve as interpreters to the missionaries on their missions. The burden of supporting the boys began to tell on the resources of the padres, the school was patterned after a Jesuit school in Antipolo in Luzon, which the Jesuits had founded earlier
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First Mass in the Philippines
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The first Catholic Mass in the Philippines was held on March 31,1521, Easter Sunday. It was said by Father Pedro de Valderrama along the shores of Limasawa at the tip of Southern Leyte, Limasawa is this popularly known as the birthplace of the Church in the Philippines. On March 28,1521, while at sea, they saw a bonfire which turned out to be Limasawa where they anchored, the islands sovereign ruler was Rajah Siaiu. When Magellan and comrades set foot on the grounds of Limasawa, in those days, it was customary among the indigenous—and in most of southeast Asia—to seal friendship with a blood compact. On instigation of Magellan who had heard the Malayan term for it, casi casi and this was the first recorded blood compact between Filipinos and Spaniards. Gifts were exchanged by the two parties when the celebration had ended, on March 31,1521, an Easter Sunday, Magellan ordered a mass to be celebrated which was officiated by Father Pedro Valderrama, the Andalusion chaplain of the fleet, the only priest then. Conducted near the shores of the island, the Holy First Mass marked the birth of Roman Catholicism in the Philippines, in the afternoon of the same day, Magellan instructed his comrades to plant a large wooden cross on the top of the hill overlooking the sea. On June 19,1960, Republic Act No,2733, called the Limasawa Law, was enacted without being signed by the President of the Philippines. Magallanes is east of the island of Limasawa, a super typhoon completely wiped this out just a few months later. Another shrine was inaugurated in 2005, Limasawa celebrates the historic and religious coming of the Spaniards every March 31 with a cultural presentation and anniversary program dubbed as Sinugdan, meaning beginning. Yet this has no reference at all to a Catholic mass being held on March 31,1521, other Filipino historians has long contested the idea of Limasawa as the site of the first Catholic mass in the country. Historian Sonia Zaide identified Masao in Butuan as the location of the first Christian mass, basis of Zaides claim is the diary of Antonio Pigafetta, chronicler of Magellans voyage. In 1995 then Congresswoman Ching Plaza of Agusan del Norte-Butuan City filed a bill in Congress contesting the Limasawa hypothesis, the Philippine Congress referred the matter to the National Historical Institute for it to study the issue and recommend a historical finding. Then NHI chair Dr. Samuel K, tan reaffirmed Limasawa as the site of the first mass. A marker in front of Bolinao Church states that the first Mass on Philippine soil was celebrated in Bolinao Bay in 1324 by a Franciscan missionary, Blessed Odorico. However, the National Historical Institute led by its chair Ambeth Ocampo recognized the historical records of Limasawa in Southern Leyte as the venue of the first Mass, held on March 31,1521
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Limasawa
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Limasawa is a 6th class island municipality in the province of Southern Leyte, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 6,061 people and it is the smallest municipality in the province, both in population and area. Located at an island of the name, it lies south of Leyte. The island, also known as Sarangani Island, is about 10 kilometres long north to south. This is most famous for the first mass in the Philippines officiated on Easter Sunday of March 31,1521 by Father Pedro de Valderrama under the fleet of Ferdinand Magellan, limasawa is politically subdivided into 6 barangays
36.
MacArthur Landing Memorial National Park
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This event led to the largest naval battle of World War II and Japans eventual defeat and surrender after almost three years. The war memorial is located in the municipality of Palo on Leyte island in Eastern Visayas and is one of the major tourist attractions. It was declared a park on 12 July 1977 through Letter of Instructions No.572 signed by President Ferdinand Marcos. The MacArthur Landing site sits on a 6.78 hectares coastal plain in the barangay of Candahug and it was formerly named Imelda Park after former First Lady Imelda Marcos who hails from Leyte Province. In front of the statues, two markers in English and Filipino can be found explaining the significance of the scene being depicted. A museum stands adjacent to the site contains historic photographs and other memorabilia of General MacArthur including a copy of his speech upon landing. Palos regional government center is located right across from the memorial, the park is accessible via the Pan-Philippine Highway from Tacloban and the Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport. The park is the site of the memorial rites and reenactment of the historic landing attended by local and foreign dignitaries together with war veterans. In November 2013, the memorial was damaged by Typhoon Haiyan with one of its seven statues knocked from its base and it was immediately repaired by the government and the statue of Carlos P. Romulo was restored within twenty days with assistance from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority
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Palo, Leyte
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Palo is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Leyte, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 70,052 people, the municipality is the seat of most government departments, bureaus and regional offices of Region VIII, although some are situated at the neighboring city of Tacloban. The municipality is located in the part of the province of Leyte,8 miles from the capital city of Tacloban. Palo is politically subdivided into 33 barangays, the discovery of the advancing communities of Palo dates back to the early 16th century A. D. along the banks of Bangon River. However, local historians believe that the settlement of Palo started as early as the 10th to 13th century A. D. The first known settlement were the kingdom of Takuranga, first name of Palo under King Guban, and the Kingdom of Kaluugan, the other settlements were Kasangitan, Binangalan, Kasuguran, Bunga, Bangon and Guindapunan. The settlers of Bunga played a role in the history of Palo. Palo formally became a town in 1768 with Kapitan Balasabas as its first administration, accordingly, the early settlers of Palo were the clans of Panganuron, Kadampog, Manlangit, Kumago, Kawaring, Kabalhin, Kumagong, Maglain, Bilyu and Dilyu. Palo is considered to be one of the most historical towns of Leyte and it is well known as the site of Gen. Douglas MacArthurs return to the Philippines together with Philippine and American military forces after a period of exile in 1944. Hill 522, a located near the town center, was the site of fierce fighting between Allied and Japanese forces during the Second World War. The metropolitan cathedral of the archdiocese, located right across Palos municipal hall, was used as a hospital for wounded Filipino, a memorial now stands at the beach site where MacArthur and his troops landed, locally known as the MacArthurs Park. The first Gabaldon Building is also situated in Brgy and it was inaugurated by President Sergio Osmeña. Palo was also once the capital of Leyte, the towns Purissima Bridge was the first steel bridge built in the province. In 1957, sitio Campitic was converted into a barrio, while barrio Baras-Candahug was divided two, Baras and Candahug. Barrio Malirong was renamed as Libertad, on November 8,2013, Palo was severely struck by Typhoon Haiyan, which destroyed a large portion of Eastern Visayas and killed a number of residents in the town. On January 17,2015, Pope Francis visited the town as part of his visit to the Philippines to meet with the surviving victims of the typhoon. He also blessed the Pope Francis Center for the Poor and met with priests, seminarians, other religious figures, literacy rate in Palo is 99. 5%. The towns native language is Waray-Waray, the language and lingua franca in the Eastern Visayas region
38.
Lake Danao (Leyte)
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Lake Danao is a guitar-shaped lake on the island of Leyte in the Philippines. The lake is covering an area of 148 hectares and it is situated in the 2,193 hectares Lake Danao Natural Park, which also includes the Amandiwin mountain range. The lake is 18 kilometres northeast of Ormoc City, half an hour drive along the San Pablo - Tongonan and it was originally named Lake Imelda and was declared a national park on June 2,1972 by virtue of presidential memorandum issued by then President Ferdinand Marcos. At 650 metres above sea level, Lake Danao lies on a similar to Tagaytay. The lake is volcanic in origin and is probably a graben or depression produced by the Philippine Fault, there are wetlands found near the lake. The present lake could be the deepest portion of a larger lake in the past. It was probably much larger in the geologic past and could have included the large wetlands, sedimentation has probably transformed this portion of the lake into what it is today. Various sectors of the community had been studying the lake. The major threat of species in Lake Danao Natural Park is hunting. Key informants revealed that hunters are not only the local residents, birds that are mostly hunted are hornbills, doves, and pigeons. Slash-and-burn of forest for cultivation and illegal logging also has contributed to the degradation of some parts of the protected area. Establishment of human settlements within the park is also a serious threat, there have been recorded illegal settlements within the vicinity of the lake that could greatly affect its ecosystem. List of protected areas of the Philippines Geographic data related to Lake Danao at OpenStreetMap
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Palompon, Leyte
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Palompon is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Leyte, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 58,108 people, the terrain of Palompon, which is generally sloping, limits the agricultural potential of the municipality. Palompon has a young population with 43. 5% total population are less than 20 years old. The population is equally balanced between females and males, Palompon is composed of 50 barangays,10 of which is located in the poblacion while the remaining 40 are located along the coastal and interior parts of the municipality. Some 26% of the population resides in the poblacion barangays while the remaining 74% are found in rural areas, Palompon is densely populated, with 3.92 persons per hectare. This is much higher than the density of Region VIII. However, population density is not evenly distributed among the barangays, the poblacion barangays are the most densely populated while the hinterland barangays are the most sparsely-populated. Palompon had a rate of 91. 30% as per 1990 census. The lack of well-paying job opportunities in Palompon encourage many skilled people to leave the town, the education programs offered by the PIT, which focus on marine transportation and engineering, are also in favor of this trend. A second form of out-migration occurs within Palompon itself where residents from the hinterland barangays migrate to the poblacion barangays, many of these migrants join the rank of subsistence fisher folk while others become tricycle drivers. The in-migration of these upland dwellers has given rise to slum communities, particularly in the barangays of Ipil—I, Ipil-II. The community is known to be very peaceful, the crime rate in Palompon is very low compared to other towns in the Province and, so far, most are not considered serious. About 54% of the population of Palompon belongs to the labor force. Of these,13,963 are males while 13,413 are females, the remaining 95% of the labor force are employed in agriculture, fishing and the growing service sector within the poblacion of the town. Some 15,096 residents of Palompon have been identified as living below the poverty line, the poverty line in Palompon has been set at a monthly income of ₱2,699.00 for a family with six members. Palompon has substantial food consumption requirements in cereals, meat, eggs, milk and products, fish, sugar, vegetables, root crops, despite the LGU’s plans to stimulate agricultural production to meet the above demand, Palompon must import many of the above commodities in near future. Palompon is mainly a coconut producing area with 1,640 hectares devoted to coconut cultivation, in contrast, rice is grown on only 794 hectares. Corn production is low because farmers prefer to plant the traditional varieties that taste although these have lower yields, farm sizes in the upland barangays tend to be small, ranging from one-fourth to two hectares
40.
San Juanico Bridge
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San Juanico Bridge is part of the Pan-Philippine Highway and stretches from Samar to Leyte across the San Juanico Strait in the Philippines. Its longest length is a steel girder viaduct built on reinforced concrete piers, with a total length of 2.16 kilometers, it is the longest bridge in the Philippines spanning a body of seawater. The bridge was dedicated to Ferdinand Marcos wife, Imelda Marcos, the bridge was slightly damaged by Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013 but was quickly repaired. The Philippine governments project of the $21, construction commenced in 1969 over San Juanico Strait from Cabalawan, Tacloban City to the municipality of Santa Rita, Samar, and was completed in 1973. It is approximately 10 minutes from downtown Tacloban City and is accessible by passenger jeepney, bus, the bridge has 43 spans and medium-size boats can pass beneath its large main arch, the top of which rises 41 meters above the sea
41.
Tinikling
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Tinikling is a traditional Philippine folk dance which originated during the Spanish colonial era. It is traditionally danced to music, a sort of serenade played by an ensemble of stringed instruments which originated in Spain during the Middle Ages. The term tinikling literally means to perform it tikling-like, the dance originated in Leyte, an island in the Visayas in the central Philippines. It imitates the movement of the birds as they walk between grass stems, run over tree branches, or dodge bamboo traps set by rice farmers. Dancers imitate the tikling birds legendary grace and speed by skillfully maneuvering between large bamboo poles, today tinikling is taught throughout the United States. In grades K-12 the dance is used as an exercise for physical education classes, to help expand physical movements such as hand coordination, foot speed. Tinikling is commonly performed at schools and on occasions, such as the Filipino Independence Day, as a celebration of Filipino culture. Two or four pairs of bamboo poles, each around 6 to 12 ft long, are held by two or more sitting or kneeling people. The poles are used as percussive instruments accompanying rondalla music played with string instruments and they produce clapping sounds as they are struck against the ground and each other in a triple metre pattern. Traditionally, the poles are tapped twice on the ground on the first two beats, then brought together on the third beat, two or more dancers then weave through the rapidly moving bamboo poles with bare feet and ankles. The dancers have to follow the rhythm so as not to get their ankles caught between the poles as they snap close. They start the dance with their hands at their hips or clasped behind their backs, the tempo of the bamboo poles becomes faster as the dance progresses, forcing the dancers closer together as their movements become more frantic. The dancers hold hands at the last part of the dance and they end the dance by letting go of each others hands and stepping out entirely of the moving bamboo poles. For the dance, females wear a dress called balintawak or patadyong. The balintawak are colorful dresses with wide arched sleeves and the patadyong is a pineapple fiber blouse paired with checkered skirts, the barong Tagalog is usually light long sleeved shirts and worn with red trousers. Dancers wear no footwear while performing, modern variants of the dance can include innovations like increasing the number or arrangement of the poles, changing the number of dancers, or using different music and choreography. These dances originate mostly from the islands of Visayas and Luzon and imitate the simplicity, other Filipino folk dances of this category include Sayaw sa Bangko, Maglalatik, and Pandanggo sa Ilaw. In the United States, this dance has been altered into a rhythm to adjust to popular music
42.
Typhoon Haiyan
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It is the deadliest Philippine typhoon on record, killing at least 6,300 people in that country alone. Haiyan is also the strongest storm recorded at landfall, in January 2014, bodies were still being found. Tracking generally westward, environmental conditions favored tropical cyclogenesis and the system developed into a depression the following day. Haiyan is also the strongest tropical cyclone in the Eastern Hemisphere by wind speed, several hours later, the eye of the cyclone made its first landfall in the Philippines at Guiuan, Eastern Samar. Gradually weakening, the storm made five additional landfalls in the country before emerging over the South China Sea, turning northwestward, the typhoon eventually struck northern Vietnam as a severe tropical storm on November 10. Haiyan was last noted as a depression by the JMA the following day. The cyclone caused catastrophic destruction in the Visayas, particularly on Samar, according to UN officials, about 11 million people have been affected – many have been left homeless. On November 2, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center began monitoring a broad area about 425 kilometers east-southeast of Pohnpei. Moving through a region favoring tropical cyclogenesis, the Japan Meteorological Agency classified the system as a tropical depression early on November 3. Subsequent intensification resulted in the JMA upgrading the system to a tropical storm, by November 6, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration assigned the storm the local name Yolanda as it approached their area of responsibility. Later, the eye of the passed over the island of Kayangel in Palau. Around 1200 UTC on November 7, Haiyan attained ten-minute sustained winds of 230 km/h, six hours later, the JTWC estimated Haiyan to have attained one-minute sustained winds of 315 km/h and gusts up to 378 km/h, according to preliminary track data. The storm displayed some characteristics of a tropical cyclone, though a strong convective band remained present along the western side of the system. At 2040 UTC on November 7, Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in Guiuan, the JTWCs unofficial estimate of one-minute sustained winds of 315 km/h would, by that measure, make Haiyan the most powerful storm ever recorded to strike land. Interaction with land caused slight degradation of the structure, though it remained an exceptionally powerful storm when it struck Tolosa. The typhoon made four additional landfalls as it traversed the Visayas, Daanbantayan, Bantayan Island, Concepcion, a weakened Haiyan, with its core disrupted by interaction with the Philippines, emerged over the South China Sea late on November 8. Environmental conditions ahead of the storm became less favorable, as cool stable air began wrapping into the western side of the circulation. Rapid weakening ensued as Haiyan approached its final landfall in Vietnam, once onshore, the storm quickly diminished and was last noted as it dissipated over Guangxi Province, China during November 11
Media related to Leyte (island) at Wikimedia Commons
Leyte Island travel guide from Wikivoyage
