Filipinos stake a large claim on hospitality, just sort of making it a national treasure and the Leyteños from the small province of Southern Leyte are no different.  There is warmth that begins with the lilt and caress of welcoming voices.  Most of the locals you see, speak Cebuano, a dialect that seems naturally nurturing.

Even the land is naturally welcoming the lights that beckon from homes that hug the coast and waving fronds of coconut palms.

Southern Leyte may be reached by land via the Pan Philippine Highway or as most prefer, by sea.  Either way, one finds oneself in Maasin, the provincial capital.  Maasin is hardly your idea of a bustling town; it has maintained a pace that is welcome after the hurly-burly of city life.  It is also blessedly situated between sea and forest.  One provides virtually untouched beaches waiting to be discovered and the other, virgin growth still unexplored.

BRIEF HISTORY

As early as 1898 during the Spanish and American periods, some government offices have already been established in Maasin on the southwestern part of Leyte.

Due to distance and difficulty in managing the affairs of government in Tacloban, local leaders proposed a bill in Congress to divide Leyte into two provinces.  After several unsuccessful attempts to pass the bill, President Carlos P. Garcia signed the bill into law on May 22, 1959 by virtue of Republic Act 2227 otherwise known as an "Act Creating the Province of Southern Leyte".  On July 1, 1960, Southern Leyte was inaugurated as a province with sixteen municipalities: Maasin, as the capital town and seat of the provincial government.

The "discovery" of the Philippines took place on March 28, 1521, the day Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese navigator in the service of the Spanish crown, landed on Limasawa, a 5-square-mile island at the southern tip of Leyte mainland.  Here Magellan met the native ruler, Rajah Kolambu, and his brother, Rajah Siagu, chieftain of Butu (in Mindanao).  In this little island, the first recorded blood compact or treaty of friendship between Magellan and Rajah Kolambu toook place.  The first mass was celebrated, and Magellan, after planting a cross on a hilltop, took possession of the territory in the name of Spain.