Eastern Visayas or Region VIII is composed of three main islands, Biliran, Leyte and Samar,

connected by the famous San Juanico Bridge. It consists of

six provinces (Biliran, Samar, Eastern Samar, Northern Samar, Leyte, and Southern Leyte) and
seven cities (Ormoc City, Baybay City, Maasin City, Calbayog City, Catbalogan City, Borongan
City, and the regional center - Tacloban City).

Region VIII lies on the east central part of the Philippine archipelago, directly facing the Pacific
Ocean.

POPULATION
Per 2010 census, the Eastern Visayas Region has a total population of 3,912,936. Its population
density in 2010 was 176 persons per square kilometer.

LAND USE AND FORESTRY

The region has a total land area of 2,143,169 hectares, of

which 1,118,214 hectares are established as forestland and 1,024,955 hectares are alienable &
disposable lands. Per 2011 Philippine Forestry Statistics, the region has a total forest cover of
519,848 hectares.
As of 2011, a total of 132 Community-Based Forest Management (CBFM) Agreements were
signed by the DENR in the region involving 116,739 hectares of forestland, benefitting 14,405
households and 132 peoples organizations. The CBFM is a government strategy which gives
the management of forests back to the people. It offers long-term security of tenure to partner-
communities and promotes an integrated approach to sustainable forest resource management.
The region also participated in the National Greening Program, a flagship program of President
Benigno S. Aquino III which aims to reforest the entire Philippines within 2011-2016. In 2011
alone, Region VIII was able to rehabilitate 10,869 hectares of open and denuded lands by
conducting massive tree planting activities involving its citizens, thereby expecting to increase
the regions forest cover.
Eastern Visayas is an agricultural region with rice, corn, coconut, sugarcane, and banana as
major crops.
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 characterized 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 a year round
distribution of rainfall and a short period of dry season that is observed from February to May.
This type of climate is well exhibited in the western half of Leyte island and some portions of
Northern Samar.

NATURAL RESOURCES

Region VIII is one of the fish exporting regions of the country. Its sea and inland waters are rich
sources of salt and fresh water fish and other marine products.

The region has abundant geothermal energy and water resources. There are also substantial
forest reserves in the interiors of the islands.

Mineral resources that abound in the region are chromite, uranium (in Samar), gold, silver,
manganese, magnesium, bronze, nickel, clay, coal, limestone, pyrite, and sand and gravel.

PROTECTED AREAS
The following sites in Region VIII were declared by law as protected areas and components of
the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS): the Calbayog-Pan-As Hayiban
Protected Landscape (in Samar), the Guiuan Protected Landscape/Seascape (in Eastern Samar),
the Calbiga Caves Protected Landscape (in Samar), the Cuatro Islas Protected
Landscape/Seascape (in Leyte), the Biri Larosa Protected Landscape/Seascape (in Northern
Samar), the Jicontol Natural Park (in Eastern Samar), the Mahagnao Volcano Natural Park (in
Leyte), the Lake Danao Natural Park (in Leyte), the Samar Island Natural Park (in the Provinces
of Samar, Eastern & Northern Samar), and the Taft Forest Philippine Eagle Wildlife Sanctuary
(in Eastern Samar).
DENR JURISDICTION
The Regional Office of DENR-REGION VIII has six (6) Provincial Environment and Natural
Resources Offices (PENROs) located in Leyte, Biliran, Southern Leyte, Samar, Eastern Samar,
and Northern Samar. Its Community Environment and Natural Resources Offices
(CENROs) are in Palo, Albuera, Baybay, Maasin, San Juan, Catbalogan, Sta. Rita, Borongan,
Dolores, Catarman, and Pambujan.

POLITICAL SUBDIVISION
Major Islands - Samar, Leyte & Biliran
Northern Samar, Eastern Samar,
Provinces - Western Samar, Leyte, Southern
Leyte and Biliran
Tacloban, Ormoc, Maasin,
Cities - Calbayog, Baybay, Catbalogan &
Borongan
No. of Towns - 139
No. of Barangays - 4,390
Population as of
- 3,912,936
Aug. '07
Annual Pop.
- 1.12
Growth Rate
Population Density - 183 person/sq. km.
No. of
Congressional - 12
Districts

http://r8.denr.gov.ph/index.php/about-us/regional-profile
VEGETATION

Vegetation types on Mindanao and in the Eastern Visayas originally included beach forest,
mangroves, lowland rain forest, and more open forest at higher elevations up to 1,000 m
(Stattersfield et al. 1998).

The stunted beach forest contains Casuarina and Barringtonia mixed with other lowland
species. Palms, vines, bamboo, and Pterocarpus indicus are present only in rare back-beach
swamps. This habitat type is extremely rare because of coastal habitation (Heaney and Regalado
1998).

https://www.worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/im0129
Local Heritage of Eastern Visayas

The original structures here were probably built around the time of the Biliran Religious Revolt
from 1765 to 1774. Their architecture is original; they have not been patterned after other
Spanish churches and watch towers found all over Leyte and Samar.

The Biliran revolt was led by Padre Gaspar Ignacio de Guevara, a native priest from Samar who
was the first parish priest of the Biliran pueblo. He broke away from the Catholic Church,
formed his own sect, and experimented with a commune society for the natives in the forest of
Biliran, some eight kilometers from its protective fortress.

Padre Gaspar was captured by Moro pirates and drowned around 1774. The pirates or his
followers later burned his forest commune and the structures in the existing ruins. Prof.
Rolando Borrinaga

http://tourism.biliranisland.com/nasunuganwatchtower.php
Balangiga Church

Guiuan Church

The Immaculate Conception Parish

Church (Spanish: Iglesia
Parroquial de la Inmaculada
Concepcin), commonly known
as Guiuan Church, is a Roman
Catholic church in the municipality
of Guiuan, Eastern Samar,
Philippines, within the jurisdiction
of the Diocese of Borongan.

The church is classified as

a National Cultural Treasure by
the National Museum of the Philippines. It was formerly nominated to the UNESCO World
Heritage Sites of the Philippines under two categories, the Baroque Churches of the
Philippines (Extension) and the Jesuit Churches of the Philippines.

It was totally destroyed when Typhoon Haiyan (locally named as Yolanda) made landfall in
Guiuan and struck other parts of Central Visayas on November 8, 2013.
MacArthur Landing Site

The MacArthur Landing Memorial National Park (also

known as the Leyte Landing Memorial
Park and MacArthur Park) is a protected area of
the Philippines that commemorates the historic
landing of General Douglas MacArthur in Leyte
Gulf at the start of the campaign to recapture and
liberate the Philippines from Japanese occupation on
20 October 1944. This event led to the largest naval
battle of World War II and Japan's 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 region's major
tourist attractions. It was declared a national park on
12 July 1977 through Letter of Instructions No. 572
signed by President Ferdinand Marcos.[1]
 Palo Cathedral

The Metropolitan Cathedral of Our

Lord's Transfiguration, also known as Palo
Metropolitan Cathedral or simply Palo
Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic Church
located at Palo, Leyte in
the Philippines belonging to the Vicariate
of Palo under the Metropolitan
Archdiocese of Palo.

In 1596, the Jesuits established the church and became their residence for some time. It was later
on administered by the Augustinians in 1768 and then by the Franciscans in 1843. The church
was repaired in 1850 by the supervision Fr. Agustin de Consuegra who also oversaw the
construction of the two towers of the church. On March 25, 1938, the church was declared a
cathedral and Msgr. Manuel Mascarias became its first bishop. During the Second World War,
the American liberation forces used the church as a hospital.

Pope Francis' visit to Palo Cathedral in 2015

In November 2013, the cathedral was damaged by Typhoon Haiyan. After the church's
rehabilitation, Pope Francis briefly visited the cathedral in January 2015. In 2015, it was declared
as one of the pilgrim churches of the archdiocese by Archbishop John F. Du.
 Tanauan Church

Our Lady of Assumption Church is

one of the heavenly places that are
frequented by many faithful to rejuvenate
their faith and spirits.

The church was finished in 1704. Fr.

Francisco de Paula Marquez enlarged it and
added a chapel across the Gospel side.
Through the years, there have been many
renovations and reinforcements done inside
and outside the church. The Stations of the
Cross and statue of Our Lady of the
Assumption still remain.
 Capul Church

The San Ignacio de Loyola Parish

Church (Spanish: Iglesia Parroquial de San
Ignacio de Loyola), commonly known
as Capul Church or Fuerza de Capul, is
a Roman Catholic fortress church in the
municipality of Capul, Northern Samar,
Philippines within the jurisdiction of
the Diocese of Catarman. It was first
established as a mission station by
the Jesuits in 1596 under the advocacy of
Saint Ignatius of Loyola.

The church was declared a National Cultural Treasure by the National Museum of the
Philippines.

Old Palapag Church

The town of Palapag used to encompass

most if not all of the entire Second District
of Northern Samar. Its territory once
included the Pacific towns of Gamay,
Mapanas, and Lapinig. Laoang was also a
barrio of Palapag before 1768.

Reduced to an area of only 17,960

hectares, Palapag today is slightly bigger
than Pambujan and San Roque and smaller than Laoang and Silvino Lubos in land area.
However, many of the historical landmarks that give the town its unique distinction are still
part of its landscape, including that peak of Mount Maragano, where local sentries of yore
stationed to observe and monitor the movements of sea crafts, both friendly and hostile, near
the mouth of the San Bernardino Strait.

The sentries were trained to use fire signals to warn galleons of the presence of Moro pirates,
Dutch murderers, and other enemy ships the area. If a galleon crew saw fire or smoke rising
from the Maragano peak, it meant that there was an enemy ship in the area and so the galleon
would take another route to avoid detection and assault.

The ruins of the old church are still in the poblacion, next to the new church built in the 1980s.
The ancient church had been destroyed and rebuilt several times in the past, including during
Sumuroys revolt in 1649. Fr. Fransico Alcina chronicles this in his book Historical de las Islas e
Indios Visayas. He personally administered the reconstruction of the church 10 years after
Sumuroys bloody uprising.

The old Palapag church was the second residence founded by the Jesuits, where religious
superiors lived and which members of the religious community in the Ibabao region called
home after visiting different places to undertake missionary work. It was also used by priests
for their periodic meetings and spiritual retreats. Palapags ancient convent is believed to be
where Fr. Alcina wrote the manuscript of his book on the culture and history of the Visayas,
which was discovered in Jesuit archives more than 200 years later.

The church relative distance from the coast suggests that the fortified church complex was not
built for defense against sea pirates, but from other hostile groups resisting conversion and
evangelization. Nonetheless the church did endure the test of Moro pirates when they swooped
down on the town in 1769 and, as some documents suggest, possibly caused damage to the
church.

The exact year when the old church was left in ruins has not been determined, but sources
indicate it must after 1846 because of old documents suggesting the existence of an old stone
church with a thatched roof. The old church was destroyed by a strong typhoon and the
damage was so extensive that church officials thought it was no longer worth saving.
 Basey Church

A 17th Century church, featuring a

watchtower and old images of saints
painted on the ceiling.

Basey church has a rich history,

but now it has more significance for
residents, especially those who were
saved during the devastating storm.

Limasawa Shrine