Villaba (IPA: [vɪ'ʎabɐ]), officially the Municipality of Villaba (; ; ), is a municipality in the province of Leyte, Philippines. According to the 2024 census, it has a population of 42,981 people.
Villaba is a coastal municipality in the province of Leyte. The municipality covers a land area of 150.31 square kilometers (58.04 square miles), accounting for 2.37% of Leyte's total area. According to the 2020 Census, its population was 42,859, representing 2.41% of Leyte's total population and 0.94% of the entire Eastern Visayas region. This results in a population density of 285 inhabitants per square kilometer (738 inhabitants per square mile).
Geography
Barangays
Villaba is politically subdivided into 35 barangays.
Abijao Balite Bangkal Buga-buga Cagnocot Cabunga-an (A Tumamak) Cabungahan Cahigan Calbugos Campurog Canquiason Capinyahan Casili-on Catagbacan Fatima (Poblacion) Hibulangan Hinabuyan Iligay Jalas Jordan Libagong New Balanac Payao Poblacion Norte Poblacion Sur Sambulawan San Francisco San Vicente Santa Cruz Silad Suba Sulpa Tabunok Tagbubunga Tinghub
Climate
History
Pre-Spanish history The existence of the place now known as Villaba was discovered in about the last quarter of the sixteenth century by Boholano traders. These traders landed on the western coast and found fertile plains along the river and forest. The sea coast also proved to be good fishing ground. The settlers built their houses along the banks of the river and banded into groups to protect themselves from the moro pirates and wild animals. Along the banks of the river were "Hindang" trees which grew in abundance so they called the new settlement Hamindangon (full of hindang trees).
As the years passed, more settlers migrated from Bohol and Cebu. These new inhabitants likewise settled on the plains along the Hamindangon River.
Spanish period During the expedition of the entire Eastern Visayas by Spanish conquistador in 1593, a group of Spaniards, led by the General-Governor's son, Luis Pérez Dasmariñas landed on the shores of Hamindangon and the named the place Nueva Galicia in honor of his father, the Governor-General of the Philippines, Gomez Perez Dasmariñas who is from Galicia, Spain.
The governor set sail from Cavite for Pintado province in October 1593, to join the part of the fleet under Luis Pérez who is already at the Visayas. Before he proceeded to Moluccas, Luis Pérez introduced the barrio of Nueva Galicia to the whole fleet. But the Governor-General renamed the place to Vilalba (from the Spanish town in Galicia region) in order not to confused with other Nueva Galicia town that is located in Mexico.
Over the years, the natives of the barrio had problem of Spanish accented digraphs, mispronouncing Vilalba (Spanish pronunciation: [biˈʎalβa]) with Villaba (IPA: [vɪ'ʎabɐ]), and perhaps, it is easier to pronounce the later name and thus retained it when the town was officially established in June 1910.
American period The Spanish was defeated by the Americans who started their occupation of the Philippines on August 13, 1898. The following year, there was a popular revolt in the Visayas particularly in Samar and Leyte called the Pulahanes movement. One consequence of that revolution against the Americans was that the town of Villaba was reduced to a barrio and became part of the municipality of San Isidro, Leyte.
During that period, Villaba was then ran by local executives known as cabeza de barangay. For want of official records however, to provide a complete list and their specific terms of office, the following have served in the said capacity:
Andres Gervacio Antonio Dejillo Fortunato Cabilar Hermogenes Tumamak Casimiro Tumamak Tomas Tumamak Luciano Domael
The Villaba Town In June 1910, the Provincial Board of Leyte passed and approved a resolution creating the Municipality of Villaba. Since then, there was a continuous change of Chief Executives in the municipality up to the present. No.PortraitNameTerm1Juan Burgos1910 - 19122Flaviano Domael1913 – 1915, 1919 – 1921,
1925 - 19273Carmelino Rubillos1916 - 19184Paulino Dejillo1922 - 19245Damian Perez1928 - 19306Bartolome Esmas1931 - 1939, October 1963 - December 19637Vicente Veloso1940 - 19458Eusebio Gaviola1945 - 19469Fermin Tumamak1946 - 195010Francisco Burgos1951 - 195911Alberto S. Veloso1960 - 196312Sofronio Ramirez1964 - 196713Aurelio Veloso1968 - April 198014Antonio VillamorMay 1980 - April 20, 198615Faustino TumamakApril 21, 1986 - December 3, 1987 (OIC)16Roman OmegaDecember 4, 1987 - February 1988 (OIC)17Faustino Tumamak Jr.February 1988 - March 1992, 1998 - 2004,18Leonora RosalMarch 1992 - June 199219Jorge Vallar VelosoJune 1992 - 1998, 2013 - 2016, 2019 - June 202220Claudio Martin Larrazabal2004 - 201321Juliet Aquino Larrazabal2016 - 201922Carlos Gonzalez VelosoJuly 2022 – present
In November 2013, Villaba was among the towns in Leyte that were heavily affected by Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), which caused extensive destruction across the province.
On the night of September 30, 2025, at 21:59 PST, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake off Cebu was strongly felt in Villaba, where a landslide occurred in Barangay Abijao.
Demographics
In the 2024 census, the population of Villaba was 42,981 people, with a density of .
Economy
References
External links [ Philippine Standard Geographic Code] Philippine Census Information Local Governance Performance Management System