Saint Bernard, officially the Municipality of Saint Bernard ( Kabalian: ''Lungsod san Saint Bernard''; ; ), is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Southern Leyte Southern Leyte (; Kabalian: ''Habagatan nga Leyte''; ; ), officially the Province of Southern Leyte, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital and largest city is Maasin. Southern Leyte comprised the ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 28,414 people.

Etymology

Saint Bernard is named after Bernardo Torres, the former Governor of Leyte who played a significant role in the town's independence from Cabalian (now San Juan), then in the undivided province 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 been ...

. In gratitude to Torres, the local inhabitants unanimously chose to name the municipality in his honor. The honorific title "Saint" being a translation of the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

vernacular honorific "San" which is given to persons of virtue, wisdom, or generosity and the name

Bernard Bernard ('' Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It has West Germanic origin and is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''be ...

being the English version of the name ''Bernardo''.

History

Saint Bernard traces its roots to the largest barrio of Cabalian, then known as "Himatagon".

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Bernardo Torres of

, which then encompassed Cabalian, facilitated the conversion of the area into an independent municipality due to the persistent demands of the local inhabitants for separation from Cabalian, later gaining the recommendation of the

Leyte Provincial Board The Leyte Provincial Board (, ) is the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial legislature) of the Philippine province of Leyte (province), Leyte. The members are elected via plurality-at-large voting: the province is divided into five Legislative d ...

. Finally, on December 9, 1954, President

Ramon Magsaysay Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay Sr. (August 31, 1907 – March 17, 1957) was a Filipino statesman who served as the seventh President of the Philippines, from December 30, 1953, until his death in an 1957 Cebu Douglas C-47 crash, aircraft disast ...

issued Executive Order No. 84, excising Himatagon and 18 other barrios from Cabalian to form the municipality of Saint Bernard. On May 22, 1959, Saint Bernard became part of the newly established province of

, effective July 1, 1960. On February 17, 2006, a tragic series of mudslides killed over 1,100 residents in Barangay Guinsaugon, in the northern part of the town. Affected families received aid from the Philippine government and other non-government organizations from around the world. Guinsaugon got buried as the result of the mudslides and thus New Guinsaugon was built close from the original site.

Geography

The town is situated on the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

coast, facing Cabalian Bay and the first town on Route 690 (from it towards

Abuyog Abuyog (IPA: �ɐ'bujog, officially the Municipality of Abuyog, (; ; ), is a municipality in the province of Leyte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 61,216 people. Facing Leyte Gulf out into the Philippine S ...

) from the eastern side of

Sogod Bay Sogod Bay is a large bay in the southern part of Leyte Island in the Philippines. An extension of the Bohol Sea, the bay is surrounded by the province of Southern Leyte, and the namesake municipality of Sogod is located at the head of the bay. ...

Barangays

Saint Bernard is politically subdivided into 30

barangay The barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as ''barrio'', is the smallest Administrative divisions of the Philippines, administrative division in the Philippines. Named after the Precolonial barangay, precolonial po ...

s. Each barangay consists of

purok A ''purok'' () is an informal division within a barangay in the Philippines. While not officially considered a local government unit (LGU), a ''purok'' often serves as a unit for delivering services and administration within a barangay. ''Pur ...

s and some have

sitios A ''sitio'' (Spanish language, Spanish for "site") in the Philippines is a territorial enclave that forms part of a barangay. Typically rural, a ''sitios location is usually far from the center of the barangay itself and could be its own bar ...

. Only 28 barangays are currently functioning, as Guinsaugon and Sug-angon were completely wiped out from a landslide during 2006. The survivors of the landslide were relocated to New Guinsaugon in Magbagacay.

Climate

Demographics

Economy

Saint Bernard's economy are based in agriculture and marine culture. The majority of the people who live in the flat lands engage in fishing as their main mode of livelihood. Those who live in the mountain barangays, live through farming. The municipality is considered among the fastest growing economy in the pacific area of Southern Leyte. The common mode of transportation is by bicycles with side cars, known locally as "''Potpot''" (a type of

pedicab The cycle rickshaw is a small-scale local means of transport. It is a type of tricycle designed to carry passengers on a for-hire basis. It is also known by a variety of other names such as bike taxi, velotaxi, pedicab, bikecab, cyclo, be ...

), or tricycles with side cars, called "''trisikads'' "or center cabs and "''habal-habal''", a motorcycle with a rudimentary roof. The Port of Saint Bernard reopened on March 15, 2025. The only shipping company that operates in the Port of Saint Bernard is GT Express Shipping Corp. with its GT1/Star Asia vessels a new route between Saint Bernard and Lipata, Surigao operates on a daily schedule. The LGU established the ''Saint Bernard Town Center'' for economic activities of small to medium sedium entrepreneurs (SMSE).

Tourism

*Hindag-an Falls- Barangay Hindag-an *Tinago Beach- Barangay Magbagacay *Tinago Spring Falls- Barangay Ayahag *Lipanto Marine Sanctuary- Barangay Lipanto *Himbangan Bird Sanctuary- Barangay Himbangan *Sangat Cave and Beach- Barangay Hindag-an *Saub Beach- Barangay Lipanto *Ground Zero Memorial Park & Lawigan River- Lawigan River, access at Brgy Tambis I *Libas River- Barangay Libas *Kissbone Cove and Resort- Barangay Magbagacay *Santo Nino Shrine - Sitio Cansi, Barangay Himatagon *Municipal Disaster Management Office - LGU Compound, Municipal Building, Barangay Himatagon

Education

There are accessible elementary schools in every barangay in the municipality as of its 2019 census. List of Secondary Schools in the Municipality of Saint Bernard: *Tambis National High School-located in Brgy. Tambis 1, Saint Bernard Southern Leyte *Himbangan National High School - located in Brgy. Himbangan, Saint Bernard Southern Leyte *Cristo Rey Regional High School - the only diocesan and private school in Saint Bernard *New Guinsaugon National High School - relocation area of New Guinsaugon, Brgy.Guinsaugon *Catmon Integrated School - located in Brgy.Catmon Saint Bernard Southern Leyte

References

External links

* * Philippine Standard Geographic Codebr>Local Governance Performance Management System
{{Authority control Municipalities of Southern Leyte Political divisions established by Philippine executive order 1954 establishments in the Philippines