Hinunangan

Hinunangan, officially the Municipality of Hinunangan (Kabalian: Lungsod san Hinunangan; Lungsod sa Hinunangan; Bayan ng Hinunangan), is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Southern Leyte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 29,149 people.

Hinunangan is known as the "Rice Granary of the Province" for its vast plain land that is entirely planted with rice. Hinunangan has great potential for tourism because of its beautiful sandy beaches and islands. The town is also a producer of rattan and wood-based furniture, abaca handicraft items, pineapple, vegetables, other forest products, and bamboo furniture. It has a potential for mineral water and root crop processing and copper mining.

Hinunangan is also known as a major gateway in Leyte because of its near proximity to Tacloban City. The opening of Abuyog–Silago Road cuts travel time from Tacloban by half from the previous 6 hours to less than 3 hours. It is also the place in Southern Leyte with the most immigrants from Europe and North America.

It has a lot of tourist places, such as Tahusan, Talisay, or the twin islands (known as Cabugan Grande and Cabugan Chico as Pigafetta stated in his account during their travel with Magellan).. There are also hotels, inns, a public market, and beach resorts.

History
In 1521, Magellan recorded the sighting Hunonganan (Hinunangan) during the voyage in Leyte Gulf. As far back as 1750, Hinunangan was a mid-way station of Boholanos trading in Eastern Leyte. They rested overnight at the mouth of Das-ay River where they moored their boats. A shelter was built for the crews and tenders known as "hononganan" or stopover. Hence the name. In 1822, a certain Boholano named Palonoy founded Hinunangan. At this time, Silago to the north and Hinundayan and Anahawan to the south were part of Hinunangan.

In 1944, in the greatest naval battle in history the blocking warship of the Liberation waylaid the Japanese Fleet near Hinunangan. Thus, the area in Southern Leyte is the natural frontier of historically significant events in Philippine history.

2007 earthquake
On July 19, 2007, a strong earthquake hit the town with a magnitude 6 on the Richter scale and damaged some properties. The partial assessment report of Hinunangan dated July 20, a copy of which was obtained by PIA through Gov. Mercado, placed the estimated cost of damage to properties at P1,650,000.00 broken down as P790,000 for government infrastructure and P860,000 from private infrastructure.

Among the public properties destroyed were the water system - P 500,000; Das-ay Bridge railguard - P100,000; East Central School Concrete Fence - P80,000; Otama Elementary School - P50,000; Patong Elementary School - P40,000; and Tahusan Elementary School—P20,000.

The private infrastructure damaged included the Roman Catholic Bell tower - P100,000; Water tank of the Catholic convent - P40,000; Manalog barangay Chapel - P20,000; Santo Nino barangay Chapel - P10,000; a number of houses - P400,000, and various appliances, P290,000.

Geography
Hinunangan is home to the highest mountain in the province, Mount Nacolod, with an elevation of 948 m above sea level.

Barangays
Hinunangan is politically subdivided into 40 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.

There are two of which are island barangays located at the east of the town. The twin islands are accessible by motorized boats through Barangay Canipa-an.

Banking and Finance

 * Philippine National Bank
 * Saints Peter & Paul Multi-Purpose Cooperative
 * Leyte South Multi-Purpose Cooperative

Primary schools

 * Hinunangan East Central School
 * Hinunangan West Central School
 * Catublian Elementary School
 * Nava Elementary School
 * Canipaan Elementary School
 * Ambacon Elementary School
 * Calag-itan Elementary School
 * Pondol Elementary School
 * Manalog Elementary School
 * Patong Elementary School
 * Otama Elementary School
 * Ingan Elementary School

Secondary schools

 * Holy Rosary Academy - a Private Roman Catholic school
 * Hinunangan National High School - formerly Hinunangan Agricultural and Vocational School
 * Canipaan National High School
 * Nava National High School

Tertiary Schools

 * Southern Leyte State University - Hinunangan Campus (formerly Southern Leyte Institute of Agriculture and Technology; Hinunangan Agricultural and Vocational School)

Others

 * Hinunangan Skills and Technological Center - TESDA accredited vocational school.

Healthcare

 * Zenon T. Lagumbay Memorial Hospital
 * Hinunangan Community Hospital
 * Santo Domingo Family Clinic

Media

 * Hinunangnon - crowdsourcing social news network in Hinunangan, founded in 2016 that brings digital news and top stories locally from Hinunangan and its Province or around the world.
 * 92.1 MHz FM - Spin FM Hinunangan (Defunct)
 * 90.8 MHz FM - Mix FM Hinunangan
 * 105.0 MHz FM -  Best FM Hinunangan

Communication
Mobile:
 * Smart Communications (Since 2002)
 * Globe Telecom (Since 2004)
 * Sun Cellular (Since 2012)

Cable television:
 * Fiesta Cable TV
 * Direct-To-Home (DTH) satellite TV Service providers

Internet:
 * SMART 4G Network
 * Globe 4G Network