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Eastern Visayas, Region VIII, Philippines

The Philippine Republic's Region VIII, Eastern Visayas, comprises six provinces on three principal islands (each province includes nearby islets).

Flag images here drawn after Symbols of the State, published by the Philippines Bureau of Local Government.

Biliran
Leyte
- Tacloban City
- Ormoc City
Southern Leyte
Samar
- Calbayog City
Northern Samar
Eastern Samar

Biliran

by Jaume Ollé, 12 January 2001

The island of Biliran, a province since 1992, is the newest province in the region, and, with 140,000 inhabitants on 555 sq. km., the smallest in both population and area. It is divided into eight towns, of which Naval is the capital.
John Ayer, 17 February 2001

Leyte

by Jaume Ollé, 12 January 2001

South of Biliran is the island of Leyte, divided into the two provinces of Leyte and Southern Leyte. Leyte has a population of 1,572,000 in Tacloban City (the capital), Ormoc City, and forty-four towns. The island is unusually rich in history. Magellan visited here, and the first Christian mass in the Philippines was apparently celebrated on Leyte on Easter Sunday, 1521. The Leyteños, among the first Filipinos to welcome the Spaniards, were also among the first to take up arms against them. It was on Leyte that Gen. Douglas MacArthur returned to the Philippines in 1944, accompanied by President Sergio Osmeña and Gen. Carlos P. Romolo of the Commonwealth of the Philippine Islands. A town in Leyte is named MacArthur. To the east was fought on 24-26 October 1944 the Battle of Leyte Gulf, which noted naval historian Commodore Samuel Eliot Morison calls "the greatest naval battle of all time," and the last in which capital ships formed line of battle and exchanged cannon-fire. It was disastrous to the Japanese. Hill 120 on Leyte, where American soldiers raised the Stars and Stripes less than two hours after their landing, is a memorial to the victors in that war, one of many. There is also a memorial to the Japanese war dead, which the Japanese maintain and visit, one of several in the Philippines; and there is a monument to Philippine-Japanese friendship, again one of several.
John Ayer, 15 February 2001