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Samar
—  Province  —
Flag Seal
Map of the Philippines with Samar highlighted
Coordinates: 11°50′N 125°00′E / 11.833°N 125°E / 11.833; 125Coordinates: 11°50′N 125°00′E / 11.833°N 125°E / 11.833; 125
Country	Philippines
Region	Eastern Visayas (Region VIII)
Founded	1543, separated from Leyte in 1768; became Western Samar on June 19, 1965; renamed Samar in 1969
Capital	Catbalogan City
Government
• Type	Province of the Philippines
• Governor	Sharee Ann T. Tan (NUP)
• Vice-Governor	Stephen James T. Tan (NUP)
• 2nd District Representative	Milagrosa T. Tan (Lakas-Kampi)
• 1st District Representative	Mel Senen S. Sarmiento (Liberal)
Area
• Total	6,048.0 km2 (2,335.1 sq mi)
Area rank	12th out of 80
Population (2010)
• Total	733,377
• Rank	37th out of 80
• Density	120/km2 (310/sq mi)
• Density rank	62nd out of 80
Divisions
• Independent cities	0
• Component cities	2
• Municipalities	24
• Barangays	951
• Districts	1st and 2nd districts of Samar
Time zone	PHT (UTC+8)
ZIP Code
Spoken languages	Waray-Waray, English

Samar, formerly and also known as Western Samar, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Catbalogan City and covers the western portion of Samar Island as well as several islands in the Samar Sea located to the west of the mainland. Catbalogan City and Calbayog City, two of the three cities on Samar Island, are located in the province of Samar. The province is bordered by Northern Samar and Eastern Samar. Samar is connected to island and province of Leyte via the San Juanico Bridge, which spans the San Juanico Strait, the narrowest strait in the country. To the south is the Leyte Gulf.

Languages and Dialects[link]

Residents of Samar are mostly Waray, the sixth largest cultural-linguistic group in the country. 90.2% of the household population speaks the Waray language while 9.8 percent also speak Cebuano; 8.1% speak Boholano; 0.07% speak in Tagalog and 0.5% speak other languages. There are two types of Waray spoken in the province, Waray Lineyte-Samarnon which is spoken from the southernmost tip of the province up to the municipality of Gandara and Waray Calbayog which is an intermediate between the Waray of Northern Samar and the Waray of Samar and is spoken in Calbayog City, Santa Margarita, and in some parts of Tagapul-an, Santo Niño and Almagro. Cebuano on the other hand is spoken in some parts of the first district of Samar, mainly in Calbayog City, Almagro, Santo Niño and Tagapul-an English and Chinese languages are also spoken.

Climate and Rainfall[link]

Areas of the Samar province that are characterized by having no dry season with a very pronounced maximum rain period which usually occurs from December to January are generally along or very near the eastern coast, thus are open to the northeast monsoon. Municipalities in the southeastern part of the province experience this type of climate.

Those areas located in the northwestern part of the province have a more or less evenly distributed rainfall throughout the year.

Economy[link]

Fishing and agriculture are the major economic activities of the province. Economical Data

Geography[link]

Samar island occupies the eastern portion of the Philippines. It lies southeast of Luzon and occupies the northernmost section of Eastern Visayas. It is separated from Luzon on the north by San Bernardino Strait and from Leyte on the southwest by the narrow San Juanico Strait. It is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Leyte Gulf and on the west by the Samar Sea.

Topography[link]

Samar province is hilly, has some mountain peaks ranging from 200 to 800 metres (660 to 2,600 ft) high and narrow strips of lowlands, which tend to lie in coastal peripheries or in the alluvial plains and deltas accompanying large rivers. The largest lowlands are located along the northern coast extending up to the valleys of Catubig and Catarman rivers. Smaller lowlands in Samar are to be found in the Calbayog area and on the deltas and small valleys of Gandara and Ulot rivers. Slopes are generally steep and bare of trees due to deforestation. Run-off waters after heavy rains can provoke flooding in low-lying areas and the erosion of the mountains enlarges the coastal plains of the province.

Governance[link]

The province of Samar is composed of two (2) congressional districts, twenty four (24) municipalities and two (2) cities (Catbalogan and Calbayog). It has a total of nine hundred fifty two (952) barangays

Cities[link]

• Calbayog
• Catbalogan

Municipalities[link]

History[link]

The explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, first came to the island in 1543 and named it Las Islas Filipinas.

• 1596: Many names (Samal, Ibabao, Tandaya) were given to Samar Island prior to the coming of the Spaniards in 1596. The name Samar was derived from the local dialect “samad”, meaning wound or cut, which aptly describes the rough physical features of the island that is rugged and deeply dissected by streams. During the early days of Spanish occupation, Samar was under the jurisdiction of Cebu.
• 1735: Samar and Leyte were united into one province with Carigara, in Leyte, as the capital town.
• 1768: Samar again became a separate province in 1768.
• 1901: The Balangiga massacre occurred during the Philippine–American War.
• 1941: The invasion by the Japanese fighter and bomber planes in the province of Samar.
• 1941 to 1942: During the Japanese invasion in the Second World War, Filipino troops of the 91st Infantry Division, Philippine Commonwealth Army, and USAFFE (under the Visayan-Mindanao Force) were established, but they all fell to the invading Japanese forces. The general headquarters in Samar also fell to the Japanese. This resulted in the defeat of the Filipino troops of the USAFFE 91st Division.
• 1942: The occupying Imperial Japanese forces arrived in the province of Samar.
• 1942 to 1944: During the Japanese occupation, thousands of local Samareños - men and women - joined guerrilla groups in the province and helped local Filipino troops of the Philippine Commonwealth Army units fight the Japanese Imperial forces which led to the latter's defeat and started the pre-Allied Liberation.
• 1942 to 1944: During the Japanese Occupation, the 4th, 9th, 93rd, 95th and 96th Infantry Divisions of the Philippine Commonwealth Army were re-established from 1942 to 1946 at the military general headquarters and military camps. The military unit organizations started the anti-Japanese military operations in the province from 1942 to 1945.
• 1942 to 1944: The 96th Infantry Division of the Philippine Commonwealth Army was founded and established from 1942 to 1946 at the military general headquarters in the province of Samar, Eastern Visayas.
• 1942 to 1944: During the Japanese insurgencies and occupation, the Philippine Guerrilla Forces or PGF were established from 1942 to 1945 as a guerrilla resistance organization with headquarters in San Andres, Villareal, Samar.
• 1944: The Battle off Samar took place on October 24, 1944 as Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita's Center Force warships clashed with several allied naval vessels in a collision course. His forces sank escort carrier USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), destroyers USS Hoel (DD-533) and USS Johnston (DD-557), and escort destroyer USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413), but at a cost of his cruisers Chikuma, Chokai, and Suzuya. Despite having a tactical victory for the Imperial Japanese Navy, it did not alter the course of the entire Philippines campaign.
• 1944 to 1945: Combined U.S. and Philippine Commonwealth military forces, including recognized guerrillas, liberated the province of Samar and defeated Imperial Japanese forces. The local Filipino soldiers, under the USAFFE 91st and the 4th, 9th, 93rd, 95th and 96th Infantry Divisions of the Philippine Commonwealth Army and 9th Infantry Regiment of the Philippine Constabulary, started the battles in Samar and fought against the Japanese troops.
• 1945: Filipino and Filipino-American soldiers under the 1st Filipino Infantry Regiment of the United States Army began the Battle of Samar and aided the local Filipino soldiers of the Philippine Commonwealth Army 4th, 9th, 91st, 93rd, 95th and 96th Infantry Division and the Philippine Constabulary 9th Infantry Regiment, the local Samareño guerrilla resistance and the U.S. liberation military forces defeats and attacking the Japanese liberated the province of Samar.
• 1965: On June 19, 1965 the Philippine Congress along with the District's Congressman, Felipe Abrigo, approved Republic Act No. 4221 dividing the region of Samar into three divisions: North Samar, East Samar, West Samar. Each region adopted a new capital: Catbalogan (West Samar), Borongan (East Samar), and Catarman (North Samar).
• 1969: On June 21, 1969, under Republic Act No. 5650, Western Samar was renamed Samar with Catbalogan still as the capital.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Samar

• Official Website of the City Government of Calbayog
• Official Website of the City Government of Catbalogan
• Samar News.com—based in Catbalogan, it is a source of news and information on Eastern Visayas.
• Province of Samar—Profile of the Samar province
• Philippine Standard Geographic Code
• 1995 Philippine Census Information
• 2000 Philippine Census Information
• 2007 Philippine Census Information (1)
• 2007 Philippine Census Information (2)
• Local Governance Performance Management System

		Northern Samar
	Masbate  Biliran / Samar Sea		Eastern Samar
		Samar    East
	Leyte / San Juanico Strait	Leyte Gulf

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