Leyte Provincial Capitol | |
---|---|
General information | |
Town or city | Tacloban |
Country | Philippines |
Coordinates | 11°15′02″N125°00′14″E / 11.25046°N 125.00385°E Coordinates: 11°15′02″N125°00′14″E / 11.25046°N 125.00385°E |
Construction started | 1917 |
Completed | 1924 |
Renovated | 1964, 2019 |
Owner | Provincial Government of Leyte |
National Historical Landmarks | |
Official name | Capitol Building of the Philippines, 1944–1945 |
Designated | 1950 |
The Leyte Provincial Capitol was the seat of government of the Philippine province of Leyte until 2019. The historic building situated in Tacloban also served as the temporary national capitol in 1944 to 1945 during the World War II era.
The Leyte Provincial Capitol in Tacloban dates back to the American colonial administration. The construction of the building began on 1917 during the administration of then-Leyte Governor Salvador Demeterio and was completed and inaugurated in 1924 during the tenure of Leyte Governor Honorio López. [1] The building exhibits a neoclassical architectural design. The capitol complex hosts a main structure with a legislative building behind it. [2]
During the World War II era, the building sustained damage when the Imperial Japanese forces occupied the Philippines in the 1940s. [1] The building also became the seat of the Philippine Commonwealth government from October 23, 1944, to February 27, 1945, as the Allied forces liberated the Philippine islands from Japanese control. Sergio Osmeña was sworn in as President by American general Douglas MacArthur inside the building. [2]
The capitol underwent renovations in 1964 during the tenure of then-Leyte Governor Norberto Romualdez Jr. [1]
During the administration of Leyte Governor Leopoldo Petilla, there were plans to move to seat of government of Leyte to Palo after Tacloban was elevated into a highly urbanized city. [3] In 2013, the building was hit by storm surges caused by Typhoon Haiyan, which was locally known as Super Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines. [1] In 2015, Governor Petilla expressed plans to convert the building into a museum while still retaining the capitol as meeting place for dignitaries. [3]
In May 2019, the provincial government of Leyte under the administration of Governor Leopoldo Petilla abandoned the capitol after it sustained further damages due to the magnitude 6.4 Visayas earthquake of April 23, 2019. Even if retrofitting has been made on the building the Leyte government decided to pursue its plans to build a new capitol in Palo and convert the original capitol into a museum. [1]
It has been declared a National Historical Landmark
Leyte is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census.
Leyte, officially the Province of 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, administered independently from the province. Leyte is situated west of Samar Island, north of Southern Leyte and south of Biliran. To the west across the Camotes Sea is the province of Cebu.
Tacloban, officially the City of Tacloban, is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines. The city is autonomous from the province of Leyte, although it serves as its provincial capital. According to the 2020 census, Tacloban has a population of 251,881, making it the most populous city in the Eastern Visayas. The city is located 360 miles (580 km) southeast from Manila.
The 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, and its main span is of an arch-shaped truss design. Constructed during the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos through Japanese Official Development Assistance loans, it has a total length of 2.16 kilometers (1.34 mi)—the second longest bridge spanning a body of seawater in the Philippines after Cebu-Cordova Bridge.
Dulag, officially the Municipality of Dulag, is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Leyte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 48,992 people.
Palo, officially the Municipality of Palo, is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Leyte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 76,213 people, making it the most populous municipality (non-city) in the province.
Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport, also known as Tacloban City Airport, is an airport serving the general area of Tacloban, a highly urbanized city in Leyte island in the Philippines. It is the main gateway from Manila and Cebu to Eastern Visayas. It is classified as a Class 1 principal airport by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, the agency responsible for the operations of all the airports in the Philippines excluding the major international airports. As of 2017, Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport is ranked as the eighth-busiest and the third-fastest growing airport by passenger volume out of the 45 commercial airports in the Philippines.
The legislative districts of Leyte are the representations of the province of Leyte, the independent component city of Ormoc, and highly urbanized city of Tacloban in the various national legislatures of the Philippines. The province, together with the independent cities are currently represented in the lower house of the Congress of the Philippines through their first, second, third, fourth, and fifth congressional districts.
Carlos Jericho "Icot" Loreto Petilla is a Filipino politician. He ran as a senator in the Philippines under the Liberal Party (LP) during the 2016 General Elections in the Philippines. He is also a former Secretary of the Department of Energy (DOE) of the Philippines. He is currently serving as Governor of the Province of Leyte since 2022 and previously from 2004 to 2012 before joining the cabinet of President Benigno Aquino III.
The Cebu Provincial Capitol is the seat of the provincial government of Cebu in the Philippines. Located at the north end of Osmeña Boulevard in Cebu City, it was designed by Juan M. Arellano, a Filipino architect best known for the Manila Metropolitan Theater (1935), the Legislative Building, and the Manila Central Post Office (1926). An inscription on the central concave portion of its façade reads, "The authority of the government emanates from the people. Erected A.D. MCMXXXVII."
Typhoon Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Yolanda, was one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded. On making landfall, Haiyan devastated portions of Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines. It is one of the deadliest Philippine typhoons on record, killing at least 6,300 people in that country alone. In terms of JTWC-estimated 1-minute sustained winds, Haiyan is tied with Meranti in 2016 for being the second strongest landfalling tropical cyclone on record, only behind Goni of 2020. As of January 2014, bodies were still being found. Haiyan was also the most intense tropical cyclone worldwide in 2013.
The MacArthur Leyte Landing Memorial National 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.
Pope Francis made a pastoral and state visit to the Philippines from January 15 to 19, 2015. He was the third pontiff to visit the Philippines and the first in the 21st century and 3rd millennium, after Paul VI in 1970 and John Paul II in 1981 and 1995. Besides Manila, Francis visited Tacloban and Palo, Leyte, to encourage the victims of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) and Typhoon Hagupit (Ruby). The Filipinos nicknamed Francis Lolo Kiko as a term of endearment, which he commended. Around 6–7 million attended Francis' final Mass at Luneta, surpassing the crowd at World Youth Day 1995 in the same venue and making it the largest papal crowd in history. The theme of Francis' 2015 visit was "Mercy and Compassion".
Casa Real is one of the oldest public buildings and served as the provincial seat of government of Lingayen, Pangasinan in the Philippines during the Spanish occupation in the country. It was where the Alcalde Mayor held office as the Provincial Governor and the Judge of the Court of First Instance. It was declared a National Landmark by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines and noted it as "an outstanding and unique example of civil architecture from the Spanish and American colonial periods". Local offices that were housed by the building abandoned it when Typhoon "Cosme" ripped off its roof in 2008. The provincial government of Pangasinan has already allotted funds for its renovation, which will turn it into a museum.
The Leyte Provincial Board is the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of the Philippine province of Leyte.
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.
Atty. Carlo Petilla Loreto is the former vice governor of Leyte from 2013 until 2022. He is a lawyer by profession and is an advocate of environmental and humanitarian concerns. He is also the national vice-president in the League of Vice-Governors of the Philippines (LVGP) for Visayas. He is the former national president in the Provincial Board Members League of the Philippines and national secretary general of the National Movement of Young Legislators (NYML). He also holds various positions in different organizations and committees.
The 2019 Eastern Samar Earthquake struck the islands of Visayas in the Philippines on April 23, 2019 at 1:37:51 PM(PHT).It had a moment magnitude of 6.5 and a local magnitude of 6.2 with a max intensity of VI based on the PHIVOLCS Earthquake Intensity Scale(PEIS). The epicenter was in San Julian, Eastern Samar and the hypocenter was at a depth of 64 km(~39.76 mi). As of April 30, 2019 there were 172 aftershocks ranging from magnitudes of 1.6 to 4.6. The earthquake injure 48 people and damaged about 245 homes.
Typhoon Phanfone, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Ursula, was a strong and deadly tropical cyclone which traversed the Philippines on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in 2019, the first typhoon to do so since Nock-ten in 2016.
The Redoña Residence was a historic house along Tomas Mapua Street in Tacloban, Philippines.