Tacloban was first known as
Kankabatok, an allusion to the first inhabitants –
Kabatok. They established their dwellings in the vicinity of the present-day
Santo Niño Church. Others who came later were
Gumoda,
Haraging, and
Huraw who erected their settlements on nearby sites.
Huraw's domain is the hill where the city hall now sits. The combined settlements acquired the name
Kankabatok, meaning "
Kabatoks property." The constant threat of pirates due to its lack of a natural barrier hindered the development and progress of the settlement. And so the place never figured out the early centuries of the Spanish colonization of Leyte. When the Jesuits (the first evangelizers of Leyte) left in 1768, the Augustinians took over, and in 1770 they established the barrio with a chapel (visita) of Tacloban under the jurisdiction of Palo. The Augustinians who came from the Province of the Holy Name of Jesus based in Cebu were also responsible in introducing the devotion to the Santo Niño becoming therefore the heavenly patron of the settlement. With the Moro raids in check, the place became a hub for commercial activity and soon after the place was renamed Tacloban becoming an independent municipality and then capital of the province of Leyte. In 1843, the Augustinians ceded the administration of the parish to the Franciscans. The 1800s census by Manuel Buzeta recorded 2,290 native families in Tacloban and they co-existed with 11 Spanish-Filipino families. The change of the name came about in this manner:
Kankabatok was a favorite haunt of fishermen. They would use a bamboo contraption called a
"taklub" to catch crabs, shrimps or fish. On May 25, 1942, Japanese forces landed in Tacloban, signalling the beginning of their two-year occupation of Leyte. They fortified the city and improved its airfield. Since San Pedro Bay was ideal for larger vessels, the
Japanese Imperial Naval Forces made Tacloban a port of call and entry. This time was considered the darkest in the history of Tacloban and the country due to the incidence of torture among civilians, including the elderly. In response, guerrilla groups operated in Leyte – the most notable of which was the group of
Nieves Fernandez. The Japanese established a "comfort station" in the city, where they kidnapped local girls, teenagers and young adults whom they then forced into becoming sex slaves under the gruesome "
comfort women" system. Leyte was the first to be liberated by combined Filipino and American troops.
General Douglas MacArthur's assault troops landed in the Tacloban and Palo beaches (White Beach and Red Beach, respectively) and in the neighbouring town of Dulag (Blue Beach) on October 20, 1944. These landings signalled the eventual victory of the Filipino and American forces and the fulfillment of MacArthur's famous promise: "I Shall Return." Three days later, on October 23, at a ceremony at the
Capitol Building in Tacloban, MacArthur, accompanied by President
Sergio Osmeña, made Tacloban the temporary seat of the Commonwealth Government and temporary capital of the Philippines until the complete liberation of the country. The provincial government of Leyte and the municipal government of Tacloban were re-established. Paulo Jaro was the Liberation mayor of Tacloban. The first mayor of this capital upon the inauguration of the Philippine Republic was Epifanio Aguirre. On January 8, 1960, MacArthur made his "sentimental" journey to Leyte. He was greeted with cheers by locals when he visited Tacloban. The city was proclaimed as a highly urbanized city by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on October 4, 2008 and ratified by the people on December 18, 2008. Tacloban was officially declared an HUC at 10:40PM of that day.
2013 Typhoon Haiyan On November 8, 2013 (
PST), Tacloban was hit by the full force of
Typhoon Haiyan, causing massive destruction across the city. Dead bodies were scattered on the streets, trees were uprooted, and a
storm surge largely destroyed the
airport, though it functioned soon after as a makeshift command and evacuation center. After taking a helicopter flight over the city,
US Marine Brigadier General Paul Kennedy was quoted as saying, "I don't believe there is a single structure that is not destroyed or severely damaged in some way – every single building, every single house." Widespread looting and violence is reported to have taken place and local government virtually collapsed, as many city officials were victims.
President Aquino declared a
state of emergency in Tacloban. The official final death toll stood at 6,201.
2015 Papal visit blesses the crowd after the mass near the
Tacloban Airport on January 17, 2015, en route to
Palo, Leyte to visit families of
Typhoon Yolanda victims. On January 17, 2015,
Pope Francis, the leader of the
Roman Catholic Church, arrived in Tacloban to celebrate Mass with the survivors of Haiyan
(Yolanda). The pope arrived at Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport on a flight operated by Philippine Airlines. ==Geography==