is a
Province of the
Philippines located in the
Eastern Visayas Region .
Southern Leyte forms an important part of the inter-island transportation system of the country, with ferries transporting people and goods between
Liloan and
Surigao Del Norte in
Mindanao .
Limasawa , an island municipality to the south is believed to be the site of the first
Christian Mass in the far east, when
Ferdinand Magellan landed there in
1521 .
The
Native Language is
Cebuano .
English ,
Tagalog , and
Waray are widely understood as second languages.
Southern Leyte is subdivided into 18
Municipalities and 1
City .
Southern Leyte occupies the southern one-fourth of the island of
Leyte . Southern Leyte is bounded by the province of
Leyte to the north, by
Surigao Strait to the east,
Bohol Sea to the south, and
Canigao Channel , across from
Bohol , to the west. Its capital is
Maasin City .
For a time, Southern Leyte was a part of Leyte province. The difficulty of managing the entire island from
Tacloban , the capital of Leyte, suggested the need to separate the island into two provinces. A law,
Republic Act 2227, was passed forming the province of Southern Leyte in
1959 and the province was inaugurated in
1960 .
In
December 2003 , a landslide in
San Francisco, Southern Leyte destroyed most of the town, killing 200 people.
{Link without Title}
See Also: 2006 Southern Leyte mudslide
On
February 17 ,
2006 , several mudslides caused by heavy rains, amounting over 200cm (79 inches), and a minor
Earthquake destroyed at least one town and many buildings, leaving hundreds dead. Rescue efforts were greatly hampered by poor road conditions and lack of heavy equipment. Unfortunately. The
Barangay of Guinsaugon was completely leveled and everything from trees to homes destroyed.
