REGION VIII
Eastern Visayas or Region VIII is one of the two regions of the Philippines having no land border with another region, MIMAROPA being the other. It is composed of two main islands, Leyte and Samar, connected by the famous San Juanico Bridge. It consists of six provinces and seven cities,[2] namely, Biliran, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Northern Samar, Samar, Southern Leyte, the cities of Ormoc City, Baybay City, Maasin City, Calbayog City, Catbalogan City, Borongan City and the highly-urbanized city of Tacloban, the regional center. These provinces and cities occupy the easternmost islands of Visayas: Samar, Leyte and Biliran.
Eastern Visayas directly faces the Pacific Ocean. The land area of the region is 2,156,285 hectares. As of 2010, it has a population of 3,912,936.
The Waray inhabit the islands of Samar and Biliran, and the eastern section of Leyte in the Eastern Visayas Region. The Waray language belongs to the Visayan language family and is related to Cebuano, Hiligaynon, and Masbateño.
The Waray-speaking people of Leyte (Leyteños) and Samar (Samareños) are a strong and proud group. They produce some of the finest native Philippine wines, commonly called pangasi and tuba. Hats and mats made from buri or tikug plant strips, which are still heavily used in the rural areas today, are the most distinctive handicrafts of the Warays.