The first eighty years of Spanish colonization were years of conquest and prayer, blood compacts with chieftains expeditions and occupation. Then followed the long task of development and settlement of new-found islands. So little by way of historical materials has filtered down to us that only sketchy reports are available of that period between 1700 and 1900, when the settlements, once loud with strife, learned to simmer down into a christianized pueblo.
Government records for this period were even more rare. Politically, Leyte seems to have existed as early as 1622. The simple structure of government by encomenderos gave way to alcalde mayors, corregidores and tenientes. Leyte appeared in 1735 as politico-military province with jurisdiction over Samar. The two provinces were politically separated in 1768. Late in the 19th century, Leyte was a third class province with 28 pueblos.
The capital site of Leyte changed several times before Tacloban, now a city, became the permanent capital. There are no definite records of provincial leaders before 1831. After that the following shows how political authority changed hands and titles:
Gabriel Lavallino.........................Sept. 2, 1831
Manuel Laya.............................................1839
ALCALDE MAYOR
Victorino Lopez Llanos..............................1842
Pedro Nalleg y Barrutel.............................1844
Venancio M. Pizon.....................................1848
Jose Torre y Busquet ...............................1853
TENIENTE DE GOBERNADOR
Luciano Borromeo.....................................1856
Juan Martinez Polo....................................1856
Evaristo del Valle.......................................1857
Vicente Bouvier.........................................1858
Salvador Elio.............................................1859
Fransisco Herrera Davila...........................1861
ALCALDE DE GOBERNADOR
Juan Muiz y Alvarez...................................1862
Miguel Ruiz Perez......................................1863
Joaquin Dalman.........................................1864
COMADANTE POLITOCO-MILITAR
Domingo Fernandez Imbert.......................1866
Juan Sevaillano.........................................1868
Pablo Galaa..............................................1870
Eugenio Garcia Ruiz.................................1872
Joaquin Jironza.........................................1873
Jose Fernandez Teran..............................1876
Victor Sanz Cantero..................................1882
Alfonso Gonzales Wovellas.......................1885
Jose Quesada...........................................1887
Jose Gil de Avalle......................................1889
Luis Prats Bandrajen.................................1890
Fransisco Fernandez Bernal.....................1893
Teodorico Feijoo.......................................1895
Fernando S. Juarez...................................1897
COMANDANTE
Gabriel Galza............................................1898
CIVIL GOVERNOR
Catalino Tarcela.......................................1898
Vicente Lukban........................................1898
Ambrocio Mojica.......................................1898
MILITARY GOVERNOR
Arthur Murray...........................................1899 - 1901
CIVIL GOVERNOR
Henry Allen..............................................1901 - 1902
Joseph Grant...........................................1902 - 1904
Peter Borseth..........................................1904 - 1906
FILIPINO GOVERNOR
Jaime de Veyra........................................1906 - 1907
Vicente Diaz............................................1907- 1908
Francisco Enage.....................................1908 - 1910
Pastor Navarro........................................1910 - 1912
Jose Veloso.............................................1912 - 1916
Julian de Veyra........................................1916 - 1917
Salvador Dementrio.................................1917 - 1919
Eugenio Jaro...........................................1919 - 1922
Salvador Dementrio.................................1922 - 1924
Honorio Lopez.........................................1924 - 1927
Vicente de la Cruz...................................1928 - 1934
GOVERNOR OF THE PHILIPPINE COMMONWEALTH
Antonio Marcos.......................................1935 - 1936
Rafael Martinez.......................................1936 - 1940
Bernardo Torres......................................1940 - 1942
Pastor Salazar.........................................1943 - 1944
Ruperto Kangleon...................................1944 - 1945
Salvador Demetrio...................................1945 - 1946
GOVERNOR OF THE PHILIPPINE REPUBLIC
Mamerto Ribo.........................................1946 - 1949
Catalino Landia......................................1949 - 1950
Mamerto Ribo.........................................1950 - 1951
Bernardo Torres.....................................1952 - 1957
Ildefonso Cinco.......................................1958 - 1963
Norberto Romualdez, Jr..........................1964 –
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