Municipality of Palo, Leyte
Philippines
Palo is
strategically located in the northern part of the Province of
Leyte, 8 miles from the capital city of Tacloban. It is
composed of 33 barrios (barangays) with a total population of
40,000. The main source of income for most of the citizenry
is buying and selling farm products and the local wine
"tuba" manufacturing and fermentation.
Palo is a town
that takes pride not in its material wealth for it rates
poorly in the economic growth, but rather, in the fame and
glory for being a rare TOWN OF FIRSTS - culturally,
historically and spiritually.
The landmark
that has brought Palo to the annals of world history is the
Red Beach, Candahug, where Gen. Douglas McArthur first landed
to liberate the Philippines from the Japanese occupation on
October 20, 1944. Palo was also once the capital fo Leyte and
the Purissima Bridge was the first steel bridge built in the
Province.
Culturally
speaking, no other town or barrio in our country has been
more blessed to have a great number of natural born artists,
particularly in the field of music. Palo was the first to
implement an official town hymn and a municipal seal. The
town is able to sing original Paloano songs with arrangements
and full orchestrations catered by the most number of local
band members and conductors. In 1990, the first regional
Model Filipino Award for Music was conferred to the late
Prof. Agustin El O'Mora who had composed and arranged more
than 4,000 songs, including the town hymn. His operetas like
the "Karahibot", "Star of Liberation" and
"Limasawa" have been preserved by the Divine Word
University Museum and Library, while the "Golden Book of
Palo" which he wrote for 15 years, awaits publication.
Very recently, the famous all-male chorale, The Rah Rah
Rousers, launched their maiden volume of Visayan Songs on
cassette tape. Moreover, the Palo Development Council has
gained a nationwide attention through accreditation by the
Department of Tourism to make annual tourist attractions two
of our traditional activities: "The Pamalandong",
which is a reenactment of the Passion and Death of our Lord
Jesus during the Lenten season and the colorful "Palo
Christmas Festival", a joint project with the
multi-awardee tenor concert singer, Enrico Saboren.
On the
spiritual side, Palo is believed to be a sacred place by
clerical observers. It is the seat of the ecclesiastical
province, the Archdiocese, where the Roman Catholic
Archbishop resides in Bukid Tabor. One can find the
Metropolitan Cathedral in Palo and also, the seedbed of
vocations to the priesthood is found at the Sacred Heart
Seminary and the St. John the Evangelist School of Theology.
Two Paloano nuns were Superior Generals in their respective
congregations. To date, there are 79 ordained priests and 106
nuns from the town alone.
Indeed, Palo
has established a distinctive and unique extraordinary
identity as a conservative and religious town with a highly
cultural characteristic that has made Paloanos extremely
proud of their birthplace.