Tunga (IPA:
">u'ŋaʔ, officially the Municipality of Tunga ( war, Bungto han Tunga; tl, Bayan ng Tunga), is a 6th class
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
in the
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...
of
Leyte
Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census.
Since the accessibility of land has be ...
,
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 7,656 people.
It is the smallest municipality in Leyte, both in population and area.
History
The municipality of Tunga existed as early as 1860 as a barrio of
Barugo
Barugo (IPA: ɐˈɾugo, officially the Municipality of Barugo ( war, Bungto han Barugo; tl, Bayan ng Barugo), is a 4th class municipality in the province of Leyte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 34,497 people ...
. At that time, only about fifty families were residing there, most of them coming from the different towns of Barugo,
Carigara
Carigara (), officially the Municipality of Carigara ( war, Bungto han Carigara; tl, Bayan ng Carigara), is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Leyte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 54,656 people.
The ...
and
Jaro. There are different versions that have been told as to why the place was called Tunga. Due to their stronger credibility, only two of these legends have been selected as the possible ones. One states that before Tunga became a barrio, people from Ormoc, Carigara, Barugo, Jaro and Tacloban engaged in trade with each other and they had to stop by on this place. Some of them even made it their contact point for conducting their business. Through their exchange of ideas and conversations, they concluded that this place was halfway between
Ormoc
Ormoc (IPA: oɾˈmok, officially the City of Ormoc ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Ormoc; war, Syudad han Ormoc; fil, Lungsod ng Ormoc), is a 1st class independent component city in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 ce ...
,
Tacloban
Tacloban ( ; ), officially the City of Tacloban ( war, Syudad han Tacloban; fil, Lungsod ng Tacloban), is a first class highly urbanized city in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines. The city is autonomous from the province of Leyte, a ...
and Carigara and Jaro. Since it had no name at the time, people started calling it Tunga,
Waray term for "half". When it became a barrio, the residents, due to their familiarity with the name christened the place Tunga.
During World War II after the American landing in Leyte, Tunga was captured by the American forces coming from Jaro on 1 November 1944.
On March 4, 1948, Pag-Urosa Han Mga Tungan-on, an association that led the campaign to make Tunga an independent municipality, was organized. Its elected officials included Domingo A. Ponferrada, president; Martino Ariza, Blas Uribe and Vicente Catenza, vice presidents; Primitivo Geraldo, secretary; Norberto Quintana, treasurer; Ramón Santillan Sr. and Juan Avila, auditors; and Paulo Cotoner, Magno Buñales and Arsenio Carit, sergeants-at-arms. The organization invited
Leyte 5th District Representative Atilano R. Cinco, to join them on the move for an independent municipality of Tunga. Upon Cinco's urge, a consensus committee was created with Martino Ariza as chairperson, with its members being some of the students of Tunga Institute.
Subsequently, President
Elpidio Quirino
Elpidio Rivera Quirino (born Elpidio Quirino y Rivera; ; November 16, 1890 – February 29, 1956) was a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the sixth president of the Philippines from 1948 to 1953.
A lawyer by profession, Quirino enter ...
issued Executive Order No. 266 on September 24, 1949, creating the independent municipality of Tunga. However the appointed local officials had to assume their posts a few days after the elections.
On November 15, 1949, Provincial Board Secretary Ricardo Collantes, representing Leyte Governor Catalino Landia, proclaimed the foundation of the Municipality of Tunga before a huge crowd of joyous Tungan-on and distinguished visitors.
The patron saint of Tunga is Saint Anthony of Padua. The Tungan-ons celebrate their town's fiesta annually on the 13th of August.
Geography
Barangays
Tunga is politically subdivided into 8
barangay
A barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as barrio (abbreviated as Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolitan ...
s:
* Astorga (Barrio Upat)
* Balire
* Banawang
* San Antonio (
Poblacion
''Poblacion'' (literally "town" or "settlement" in Spanish language in the Philippines, Spanish; ) is the common term used for the administrative center, central, downtown, old town or central business district area of a Philippines, Philippi ...
)
* San Pedro (Poblacion)
* San Roque (Poblacion)
* San Vicente (Poblacion)
* Santo Niño (Poblacion)
Climate
Demographics
In the 2020 census, the population of Tunga, Leyte, was 7,656 people, with a density of .
Economy
The socio-economic situation in Tunga can be described as poor with little outside investment and few opportunities for most of the municipality's citizens to improve their economic status. Income per capita is very low and the poverty incidence is alarming. The magnitude of families living below the poverty threshold is much too high. The under-employment rate is high and most people hold informal jobs and carry out various activities daily to earn barely a subsistence income for their families. The percent of households without their own dwellings is high.
Elementary education participation is low, reflecting low incomes because families cannot afford to put their children through school and/or children are taken out of school to assist families with income-earning activities. As a result, the simple literacy rate is low.
Crop production indicates very low land productivity with the majority of farmers involved in coconut tree cultivation for copra as their main economic mainstay. Rice cultivation is the second main agricultural activity. Some farmers also raise pigs and chickens to sell to the local meat shop in the local market.
The fish catch, which is mainly Tilapia, in the Tunga River, which flows through the municipality, has decreased since 2005.
Education
There are a total of 4 Elementary Schools and 1 Secondary/High School in Tunga Leyte
Grade School/Elementary Schools
* Astorga Elementary School
* Balire Elementary School
* Banawang Elementary School
* Tunga Central School
Secondary/High School
* Gregorio C. Catenza National High School (Tunga National High School)
References
External links
*
Philippine Standard Geographic Code
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
Philippine Census InformationLocal Governance Performance Management System
{{Authority control
Municipalities of Leyte (province)
Establishments by Philippine executive order