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The Leyte Provincial Capitol in Tacloban became
the seat of the Commonwealth during the Liberation of 1944.
It has murals depicting the first Mass in Limasawa
and Gen. MacArthurīs landing in Leyte. Price Mansion used to be
General MacArthursīs official headquarters, it is now the governorīs
guesthouse. The Redoma Residence housed then President Osmeņa.
The Tacloban City Hall is on topp of Kanhuraw
Hill in front of Sto. Niņo Church. At the foot of the hill is
a landscaped garden with a statue of the Madonna of Peace which
was donated by the Japanese people.
Sto. Niņo Church houses the miraculos ivory image
of the Child Jesus, parton saint of Tacloban and Leyte. The Sto.
Niņo Shrine and Heritage Museum has the image of the Holy Child
by Fernando Amorsolo, paintings of the 14 Stations of the Cross
by Filipino legend Malakas at Maganda The Adjacent Peopleīs Center
and Library contains dioramas fo the countrys ethnic groups and
historical documents on Samar and Leyte, as well as a social hall
and gymnasium. In Serin Disrict are lifesize concrete Stations
of the Cross leading to an 18-ft statue of the Sacred Hearth of
Jesus.
The Gen. Douglas MacArthur Landing Memorial in
Red Beach, Palo, marks the spot where the American liberation
forces landed. The Palo Cathedral was converted into an evacuation
hospital for Allied forces during World War II. Hill 522 in Palo
was the entrance to the first liberated town in 1944.
A Japanese ar Memorial Cementery is in Berauen,
where one of the fiercest battles of the Liberation was fought.
The Philippine-Japan Peace Memorial, a marker set by relatives
of World War II Japanese soldiers, is in Ormoc City.
The city is also the site of Tongonan Hot Spring
National Park which has a warm, medicinal swimming pool at an
elevation of 2000 meter. Amid densely forrested hills sits Lake
Danao National Park, which has the 3 km long lake said to be the
habitat of the giant eel, at an elevation of 1600 meters.
San Juanico Bridge, which connects Leyte to Samar,
is the longest and said to be the most beautifully designed bridge
in the Philippines.
The Tacloban Festival is held every last week
of June. It is kicked off by the Subiran Regatta, a sailboat race
held at the eastern entrance of San Juanico Strait.
Next is the Balyuan, a pageant reenacting the
historical exchange of images between Basey, Samar, and Tacloban
City. Then thre is Pintados Festival where participants paint
their bodies and dance to the rhytht of bamboo sticks. On the
last day is the city fiesta in honor of the Santo Niņo de Leyte.
The Turogpo held every Black Saturday is the
traditional contest of carabao (pasungay) and horses (paaway)
in the town of Carigara.
The Leyte Landing Anniversary, every October
20, is usually attended by high-ranking government officials and
the ambassadors of the united States, Japan and Australia. World
War II veterans come on sentimental journeys. |
