History

A Brief History of the Province of Southern Leyte

Even before the Spaniards fell to the Americans on August 13, 1898, there already existed some kind of a “sub-province” in the southwestern part of Leyte consisting of the municipalities from Palompon to Hinunangan, with Maasin as the center.

Maasin was the depository of cedula tax collections from Palompon to Hinunangan. This was administered by the office of the Administrado de Hacienda, equivalent to the Provincial Treasurer, a position under Secretario de Hacienda.

There was also established in Maasin a Court of First Instance, then known as the Promoter Fiscal, where all minor administrative and other cases from Palompon to Hinunangan were heard and disposed of.

However, due to change of sovereign powers, all the offices in Maasin except the Fiscal’s Office were abolished and reverted to Tacloban. This created a major problem because of the dearth of transportation, the difficulty in managing the affairs of government in Tacloban and the language barrier between the Cebuano-speaking South-westerners and the Waray Easterners. The division of Leyte into two provinces and the establishment of a separate government for the western towns of the island were then thought of as the only solution to these problems.

At first there was a general movement for a Western Leyte and soon after, many prominent men and leaders rallied behind the movement. Six attempts to pass a law for the division of Leyte were made. On the sixth attempt, then Congressman Nicanor Yñiguez introduced into the House a division law similar in substance to that of the Kangleon Bill, but recognizing the impossibility of creating an East-West Division, he instead opted to make his own district a province, no matter how small.

Abandoning the first bill, he presented House Bill No. 1318 proposing a new province of Southern Leyte comprising the Third Congressional District of Leyte to include 16 municipalities, from Maasin to Silago in the mainland, and in the Panaon Island.

Amidst intrigues and strong oppositions, the bill became Republic Act No. 2227 and was signed into Law by President Carlos P. Garcia on May 22, 1959. The new province was inaugurated on July 1, 1960 . Thus the third District of Leyte became the province of Southern Leyte and Lone District of Southern Leyte.