Eastern Visayas is one of the 17 regions of the Philippines, designated as Region VIII.
It is composed of three main islands, Leyte and Samar, connected by the San Juanico Bridge,
and Biliran Island. It consists of six provinces, one independent city and one highly urbanized
city namely, Biliran, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Northern Samar, Samar, Southern Leyte, Ormoc
City and Tacloban. The Highly Urbanized City of Tacloban is Eastern Visayas Regional Center.
These provinces and cities occupy the easternmost islands of Visayas group of islands. It is
one of only two regions having no land border with another region, MIMAROPA being the other.
Eastern Visayas directly faces the Pacific Ocean. The land area of the region is 2,156,285 hectares.
As of 2010, it has a population of 4,101,322 people.
Geography Eastern Visayas lies on the east central part
of the Philippines archipelago. It is composed of two main islands, Leyte and Samar, which
formed the eastern most coast of the archipelago. It is bounded by Philippine sea on the east
and north with San Bernardo Strait separating Samar island from southeastern Luzon: Camotes
sea and Visayas sea on the west: Bohol sea on the south with Surigao Strait separating
Leyte island from northwestern Mindanao. It has a total land area of 2,156,285 hectares
or 7.2% of the country’s total land area. 52% of its total land area are classified
as forestland and 48% as alienable and disposable land.
Climate There are two types of climate prevailing
in the region under the Corona system of classification: Type II and Type IV. Type II climate is characterizes
by having no dry season but a pronounced maximum rainfall from November to January. Samar Island
and the eastern part of Leyte Island fall under this type of climate. Type IV on the
other hand has an even distribution of rainfall the year round and a short period of dry season
that can be observed starting February up to May. This type of climate is well exhibited
the western half of Leyte island and some portion of Samar which covers the municipality
of Motiong up to San Isidro of Northern Samar. In November 2013, the region was hit with
the highest death toll in the country by Typhoon Haiyan, the second deadliest typhoon ever
to hit the Philippines. Natural Resources
The region's 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(in
Samar), gold, silver, manganese, magnesium, bronze, nickel, clay, coal, limestone, pyrite
and sand and gravel. It has abundant geothermal energy and water resources to support the
needs of medium and heavy industries. Demographics
Languages Waray-Waray is spoken on the island of Samar,
Biliran and north-eastern Leyte. 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, central, and southern parts of Leyte and in Southern Leyte.
Political divisions
Provinces Cities
Component cities Baybay City, Leyte
Borongan City, Eastern Samar Calbayog City, Samar
Catbalogan City, Samar Maasin City, Southern Leyte
Economy
Eastern Visayas is primarily an agricultural region with rice, corn, coconut, sugarcane
and banana as its major crops. Primary sources of revenue are manufacturing,
wholesale and retail trade and services. Mining, farming, fishing and tourism contribute significantly
to the economy Manufacturing firms include mining companies, fertilizer plants, sugar
central, rice and corn mills and other food processing plants. Tacloban is the hub of
investment, trade and development in the region. Other industries include mining, rice, corn
and sugar milling, coconut oil extraction, alcohol distilling, beverage manufacture and
forest products. Home industries include hat and basket weaving, metal craft, needlecraft,
pottery, ceramics, woodcraft, shell craft and bamboo craft.
Education Eastern Visayas is home to several state universities,
including the prominent University of the Philippines Visayas. The region is also home
to the University of Eastern Philippines, located in Catarman, Northern Samar, which
holds the most number of baccalaureate and post-baccalaureate courses among universities
in the region. The Zonal Agricultural University for the
Visayas under the National Agriculture Education System concept, Visayas State University is
also in the region, located in Baybay City. Also, the region is home to Palompon Institute
of Technology, a maritime school in the Philippines providing deck and engine cadet. Its main
campus is located in the municipality of Palompon, Leyte province.
The Eastern Visayas State University is Leyte's state university with five extension campuses.
Southern Leyte State University with five extension campuses, is the only state university
in the province of Southern Leyte. In Biliran, Naval State University is the province state
university. For Eastern Samar, the Eastern Samar State University is the only state university
of the province with a single extension campus while Samar State University is Western Samar's
state university with two extension campuses. For normal education, the Leyte Normal University
specializes in education courses. Infrastructure
Transportation The region's Leyte and Samar islands serve
as main link between Luzon and Mindanao by land transport. A total of nine airports,
are strategically located in different parts of the six provinces that define the region.
Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport in Tacloban City is the main gateway by air to the region.
There are seaports in Tacloban, Catbalogan, Calbayog, Borongan, Ormoc, Bato, Maasin, Sogod
and Naval. Power and Energy
The region is the top producer of geothermal energy supply in the country. The province
of Leyte hosts the biggest geothermal plant in the Philippines. Still, geothermal exploration
is ongoing in the nearby province of Biliran. With abundance of river system, the region
has potential in hydroelectric production. Being coastal facing Pacific Ocean, the region
have location being eyed for wind power generation. The strait of San Juanico between Leyte and
Samar islands has been declared as potential source for water current and tidal energy
sources. Culture
Dances Tinikling, the Philippines' national dance
is folkdance that originated from the region. But the most popular cultural dance among
Warays is the Kuratsa, danced during feast celebrations and special gatherings. The Leyte
Kalipayan Dance Company, a local cultural group, held highly successful performances
around the world. Music
Waray people are music lovers whose folkloric music are mostly ballads in form, famous of
which is "Dandansoy" while "Iroy nga Tuna" is a patriotic song.
Points of interest References
External links Eastern Visayas Festivals & Fiestas