Samar, officially the Province of Samar, or also known as Western Samar, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is the city of Catbalogan while Calbayog is the most populous city in the province. It is bordered by Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Leyte and Leyte Gulf, and includes several islands in the Samar Sea. Samar is connected to the island of Leyte via the San Juanico Bridge.
Bacolod, officially the City of Bacolod, is a highly urbanized city in the Negros Island Region in the Philippines. With a total of 600,783 inhabitants as of the 2020 census, it is the most populous city in the Negros Island Region and the second most populous city in the entire Visayas after Cebu City.
Francisco Bangoy International Airport — also commonly known as Davao International Airport — is the main airport serving Davao City and Davao Region in the Philippines. Serving as the main gateway to Mindanao, it is the busiest airport on the island and the third busiest in the Philippines in 2022.
Clark International Airport —known as Diosdado Macapagal International Airport from 2003 to 2014—is an international airport covering portions of the cities of Angeles and Mabalacat within the Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone in the province of Pampanga, Philippines. It is located 80 kilometers (50 mi) northwest of Manila. It is accessible by way of the Subic–Clark–Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX).
Daram, officially the Municipality of Daram, is a municipality in the province of Samar, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 41,608 people.
Gandara, officially the Municipality of Gandara(Waray: Bungto han Gandara), is a municipality in the province of Samar, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 35,242 people.
Jiabong, officially the Municipality of Jiabong, is a municipality in the province of Samar, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 19,205 people.
Paranas, officially the Municipality of Paranas, is a municipality in the province of Samar, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 32,374 people.
Tarangnan, officially the Municipality of Tarangnan, is a municipality in the province of Samar, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 25,713 people.
Borongan, officially the City of Borongan, is a component city and capital of the province of Eastern Samar, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 71,961 people.
Laguindingan Airport, also referred to as Laguindingan International Airport, is an international airport in Northern Mindanao that serves the cities of Cagayan de Oro, Iligan and Marawi, as well as the provinces of Misamis Oriental, Lanao del Norte and Bukidnon in the Philippines. The airport is Mindanao's second-busiest airport after Francisco Bangoy International Airport in Davao City.
Roxas Airport is a domestic airport serving the general area of Roxas City and the province of Capiz, in the Philippines. The airport is classified as a Class 1 principal airport, by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, a body of the Department of Transportation that is responsible for the operations of most minor and domestic airports serving various parts of the country.
Labo Airport, also known as Ozamiz Airport, is an airport serving the general area of the city of Ozamiz in the Philippines. It is the only airport in the province of Misamis Occidental. The airport is classified as a community airport by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, a body of the Department of Transportation that is responsible for the operations of not only this airport but also of all other airports in the Philippines except the major international airports. It is one of only two community airports in the Philippines with commercial operations, but one of the busiest in Mindanao in terms of aircraft movement and passenger traffic.
Catbalogan, officially the City of Catbalogan, is a component city and capital city of the province of Samar, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 106,440 people.
Iloilo International Airport, also known as Cabatuan Airport, after its location, is the main international airport serving Metro Iloilo–Guimaras, as well as the rest of Iloilo Province in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines. It is the fifth-busiest airport in the Philippines and is located in the municipality of Cabatuan, Iloilo, approximately 24 kilometers (15 mi) northwest of Iloilo City proper, on a 188-hectare (460-acre) site.
Bacolod–Silay International Airport, is an airport serving the general area of Metro Bacolod, located in the Negros Island Region of the Philippines.
Mactan–Cebu International Airport (MCIA) is the main international airport serving Metro Cebu; it serves as the main gateway to the Central Visayas region in the Philippines. Located on a 797-hectare (1,970-acre) site in Lapu-Lapu City on Mactan, it is the second busiest airport in the Philippines. Opened on April 27, 1966, the airport serves as a hub for Philippine Airlines, and as an operating base for Cebu Pacific, Philippines AirAsia, and Sunlight Air.
Tropical Storm Kai-tak, known in the Philippines as Tropical Storm Urduja, was a late-season tropical cyclone that affected the Philippines during December 2017. The twenty-sixth named storm of the 2017 Pacific typhoon season, Kai-tak started as a tropical depression near Palau on December 11. After slowly intensifying, the system became a tropical storm on December 14. Due to its slow motion, Kai-tak made landfall in Samar on December 16 and traversed the Philippine Islands. Kai-tak later moved in a west-southwestward direction until it dissipated on December 23 near Malaysia.
Edgar Mary Sevilla Sarmiento was a member of the Philippine House of Representatives representing the 1st Legislative District of Samar from 2016 to 2022.
In August 2022, a motorboat carrying rebels of the New People's Army exploded in Catbalogan, Samar. The explosion killed the passengers including NPA leaders Benito and Wilma Tiamzon.
