Catbalogan, officially the City of Catbalogan (; ), is a 5th class component city and capital city of the province of Samar, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 106,440 people.
It is Samar's main commercial, trading, educational, financial and political center. The city is the gateway to the region's three Samar provinces.
Catbalogan's patron saint is St. Bartholomew the Apostle whose feast day is August 24.
The Philippine Army's 8th Infantry Division (Stormtroopers) is based at Camp General Vicente Lukban, Barangay Maulong, Catbalogan City. The camp is named in honor of Gen. Vicente Lukbán, a Filipino officer in Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo's staff during the Philippine Revolution and the politico-military chief of Samar and Leyte during the Philippine–American War.
History
Catbalogan was founded in October 1596 by Spanish Jesuit priests and became the capital of the entire island of Samar. Friar Francisco de Otazo, S.J., who arrived in the Philippines in 1596, founded the Catbalogan Mission and was thus the first missionary to bring the Catholic faith to the people of Catbalogan.
In 1627, Catbalogan was raised to the status of residencia (residence or central house) and among its dependencies were Paranas where, in 1629, Fr. Pedro Estrada actively evangelized the area and Calbiga where he took whiterocks or grey limestone to use as building blocks for its church. The church has some arc-like stone roof that was pasted together to dry on each block, giving an arching force to the side. On October 17, 1768, Catbalogan was ceded to the Franciscans who took over from the Jesuits. The first Franciscan parish priest was Fray Jose Fayo, OFM.
During the early days of Spanish colonization of the Philippines in the 16th century, Samar was under the jurisdiction of Cebu but later was declared a separate province. In 1735, Samar and Leyte were united into one province with Carigara, in Leyte, as the capital. The union, however, did not prove satisfactory. In 1768, Catbalogan became the provincial capital when Samar separated from Leyte and became an independent province. Paranas (with Calbiga) was then separated from Catbalogan as an independent town. In 1882, Jiabong (with Motiong) separated from Catbalogan as an independent town.
On December 31, 1898, during the Philippine Revolution, Gen. Vicente Lukban arrived in Catbalogan and put Samar under his jurisdiction.
On January 27, 1900, the Americans captured Catbalogan during the Philippine–American War (1899–1902). On June 17, 1902, a provincial civil government was established on Samar Island by an act of the Philippine Commission with Julio Llorente of Cebu as the first governor of Samar.
On May 24, 1942, during World War II, Japanese forces landed in Barrio Pangdan on early morning and occupied the capital. On October 28, 1944, American and Filipino forces liberated Catbalogan from the Japanese.
In 1948, the barrios of Jiabong, Jiaan, Malino, San Fernando, Casapa, Camoroboan, Lologayan, Magcabitas, Paglayogan, Dogongan, Bayog, and Malobago were separated to form the municipality of Jiabong.
On June 19, 1965, the Philippine Congress, along with the province's three congressmen, Eladio T. Balite (1st District), Fernando R. Veloso (2nd District) and Felipe J. Abrigo (3rd District), approved Republic Act No. 4221 dividing Samar into three provinces, namely Western Samar, Eastern Samar and Northern Samar, respectively. Catbalogan thus ceased to be the capital of the whole island-province after enjoying the prestige of being the premier town of Samar for 197 years since 1768.
On June 21, 1969, under Republic Act No. 5650, Western Samar was renamed Samar with Catbalogan remaining as the capital.
The greatest calamities to occur in Catbalogan were big fires. The April 1, 1957 conflagration, considered as the most destructive one, caused damage to properties in the amount of thirty million pesos. The next was on May 19, 1969, where damage was estimated at twenty million pesos and the more than century-old Saint Bartholomew Roman Catholic Church was razed to the ground. Paradoxically, like the proverbial Phoenix, each time Catbalogan suffered under the throes of these calamities, better buildings and infrastructures emerged from the ashes.