WESTERN SAMAR

Population

38th largest Total 641,124 (2007)

languages

Waray-Waray, Tagalog and English

General Information

Formerly Western Samar, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Catbalogan City and covers the western portion of Samar island as well as several islands in the Samar Sea located to the west of the mainland.

Economy / Resources

Primarily, fishing and agriculture are the major economic activities of the province.

Geography

Samar island occupies the eastern portion of the Philippines. It lies southeast of Luzon and occupies the northernmost section of Eastern Visayas. It is separated from Luzon on the north by San Bernardino Strait and from Leyte on the southwest by the narrow San Juanico Strait. It is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by Leyte Gulf and on the west by the Samar Sea.

Culture

The native language of the majority in Samar province is Samarnon-Waray-Waray (also known as Waraynon, Samarnon, or Samar-Leyte Visayan). However, in the island municipalities of Almagro and Santo Niño, Cebuano is the native tongue.

Climate

Samar province falls under the 2nd and the 4th type of climate. The 2nd type is characterized by having no dry season with a very pronounced maximum rain period which usually occur in December to January. Areas characterized by this climate are generally along or very near the eastern coast, thus are open to the northeast monsoon. Municipalities in the southeastern part of the province experience this type of climate. For the 4th type of climate, rainfall is more or less evenly distributed throughout the year. This is an intermediate between the 1st and 2nd types, although it resembles the 2nd type more closely since it has no dry season. Those areas located in the northwestern part of the province has this type of climate.

Transportation

Samar can reached by plain and buses.