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Eastern Samar - History
The Province of Eastern Samar was created by Republic Act. No. 4221 approved by Congress on June 19, 1965. It divided the whole island of Samar into three independent provinces: Northern Samar, Western Samar (subsequently renamed Samar), and Eastern Samar. The eastern province was to be composed of 23 municipalities, with Borongan as the capital. The first set of officials were elected in 1967.
Eastern Samar played important roles in the country’s history. On March 16, 1521, Ferdinand Magellan first set foot on Philippine soil in the island of Homonhon, on his way to rediscover the Philippines for the western world.
An American garrison occupation troops was annihilated by the townspeople of Balangiga on September 28, 1901. Now known in history as the “Balangiga Massacre,” the accident triggered a wave of reprisals against the people of the whole island of Samar.
On October 17, 1944, rangers of the U.S. Army landed on the tiny island of Suluan Guiuan and had their first encounter of the Philippine territory three days before General Douglas MacArthur landed on the beaches of Leyte.
Earliest known chronicles reveal that further contact with western civilization, aside from the Magellan landing, occurred as early as 1596 when Jesuit missionaries worked their way from the western coast of the island of Samar and established mission centers in what is now the Eastern Samar territory. It is most probable that the populated existing settlements were created pueblos shortly after this time. The eastern part of the island was known as “ibabao” and distinct from Samar, which was the name of the western part. It was Magellan who named the place where he landed as Homonhon.
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