Burauen

The name “Burauen” evolved from the word “haru” which means “spring”. This is because Burauen is the fountainhead of several rivers: the big Daguitan and Marabong rivers, the Guinarona and Hibuga rivers that pass through several neighboring towns, as well as several smaller ones. The legend behind the name speaks of a drought when several tributaries of these rivers dried up, forcing people to flock to a cluster of large springs in the town. The place was duly called “Buraburon” which according to Justice Norberto Lopez Romualdez Sr., is the “multiplicative construction of the word “haru” (spring), which indicates “abundance”. Over the years, the name “Buraburon” (“having many springs”) evolved into “Burawon” and finally into “Burawen”.

Burauen is located in the central part of Leyte Island, bounded to the north by Dagami and Tabon-tabon, on the east by Julita, south by Lapaz and on the west by Albuera and Ormoc City.

In the 2020 census, the population of Burauen, Leyte, was 52,511 people,[3] with a density of 200 inhabitants per square kilometre or 520 inhabitants per square mile.

Its population in 2015 comprised 3.1 percent of the total population of Leyte (excluding Tacloban City). It grew at the rate of 1.46 percent annually from 2010 to 2015, which is higher by 1.12 percentage points from its population growth rate in 2000 to 2010 of 0.35 percent.[14]

The household population of Burauen totaled to 52,548 persons in 2015, which is 7.9 percent higher than its count in 2010 at 48,711 persons. Majority or 99.7 percent of the total population of Burauen in 2015 are household population. The remaining 0.3 percent or 184 persons comprised institutional population or those residing in collective or institutional living quarters such as hospitals, rehabilitation centers, orphanages, hotels, motels, inns, lodging houses, dormitories, military camps, corrective and penal institutions, logging, mining, construction/public work camps, and other institutional living quarters.[14]

The number of households in 2015 reached 12,577, higher by 1,983 households from 10,594 in 2010. The average household size in Burauen declined from 4.6 in 2010 to 4.2 in 2015. This municipality posted the 10th highest number of households in Leyte in 2015.[14]

The estimated total land area of Burauen was 265.33 square kilometers as per data from the Land Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The resulting population density in 2015 posted at 199 persons per square kilometer, higher than in 2000 and 2010 at 178 and 184 persons per square kilometer, respectively.[14]

Of the 77 barangays of Burauen, Barangay Poblacion District III registered the biggest population with 2,565 persons in 2015 or 4.9 percent of the municipality's total population. The remaining barangays which completed the top 10 barangays in terms of population were Poblacion District IX (2,530), Poblacion District VI (2,162), Poblacion District IV (2,099), Poblacion District II (1,671), Poblacion District I (1,614), Arado (1,369), Libas (1,357), Maghubas (1,189), and Malabca (1,111). These barangays also recorded with the highest number of households.[14]

Meanwhile, Barangay Gitablan recorded the smallest population in 2015 with 139 persons which accounted 0.3 percent of the total population of Burauen. The remaining barangays which completed the bottom 10 barangays in terms of population were Balatson (181), Kaparasanan (211), Laguiwan (230), San Fernando (236), Damulo-an (242), Buenavista (245), Hugpa East (253), Cali (269), and Kagbana (282).[14]

The top three (3) fastest growing barangays of Burauen in terms of population growth rate from 2010 to 2015 were Hibonawan (10.69 percent), Ilihan (9.38 percent) and Maghubas (7.83 percent). The rest of the barangays which completed the top 10 fastest growing barangays were Balorinay, Cagangon, Taghuyan, Caanislagan, Cadahunan, San Esteban and Esperanza with PGRs ranging from 4.96 percent to 6.45 percent.[14]

Agriculture is the main driver of development in Burauen. Demand for staple foods, agricultural commodities and - increasingly - processed food is growing within the municipality.

Also, commerce is the next thing that driving the town's economy for decades. It was able to develop people's way of doing business, coupled by the local government units excellent management which is one of the country's best in terms of business efficiency.

Tourism is also a growing economic growth driver currently in the process development.

According to the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index Report, Burauen has been consistently one of the top performers in the region and in the province since the ranking started in 2013. The town has been the top performer in Leyte for the year 2017, 2018 and 2019. Making it the only town in the province to held the top spot for 3 consecutive years and has been consistently in the top 10 since CMCI started in 2013.[15]

According to the 2019 Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index, Burauen posted the highest score in the province and second in the region in terms of infrastructure quality and development.[16]

The Local Government Unit of Burauen has been consulting with industry experts on how to develop the town's eco-tourism sites in a sustainable manner to carry out the Burauen Eco-tourism and Sustainable Tourism (BEST) project.

With extensive promotion and backing of experts, Burauen is off to a good start in its goal to market and cement the town's status as the spring capital of Leyte.

Other identified eco-tourism sites are in the villages of Matin-ao, Tambis, Villa Rosas, Abuyogon, Cansiboy, and Kagbana.

These areas are seen as an addition to Mahagnao Volcano Natural Park, a site proclaimed as a national park in 1937.

Notable persons supporting the initiative are former actress and UN Sustainable Development Goals Advocate Antoinette Taus, former Tourism Secretary Mina Gabor, and Asean Center for Biodiversity Director Mundita Lim.

Like the Philippines as a whole, Burauen is also a predominantly Catholic town that traces its origin way back during the early period of Spanish Colonialism.

It all started when the Jesuits arrived in the Philippines in 1590, they came to Leyte and established a temporary residence in Dulag in 1595, and another residencia in Dagami in 1613 which became one of the two Jesuit residences in Leyte, the other being Carigara. The Dulag rector Fr. Pascual de Acuña started apostolic work in Burauen in 1622 (Redondo, 1886). It seemed to have been an embryonic missionary outpost for so many years because Fr. Francisco Colins wrote in 1663 that Dagami had only ten villages with their own churches. Burauen was not one of them. A 1767 Royal Decree ceded Burauen from the Jesuits to the Augustinian Recollects when the former was expelled in the Philippines in 1768. The Jesuits’ possessions were forfeited except for the obras pias. “The Diocese of Cebu (which had jurisdiction over Leyte-Samar) refused to recognize the Jesuits' mission-pueblos as parishes even if the pueblos had functioned as parishes, some for at least a century,” says Leyte-Samar historian Rolando Borrinaga.

"I assume this would have been the time that Burauen’s pueblo-mission status was demoted to a visita of Dulag, because at that time, Burauen was already a pueblo with its own parish priest" (Borrinaga, 2020). The oldest entries in Burauen's records date back to June 3, 1804, during the time of Augustinian Fr. Pedro Gomez as parish priest (Redondo, 1886).

In his Estado geográfico published in 1865, the Franciscan friar Fr. Felix Huerta wrote that Burauen formally separated from its mother parish in Dulag in 1844 with Fr. Francisco Lopez as its parish priest. Given the rivalry between the Jesuits and the Franciscans (and the alliance of Augustinians and Franciscans), Fr. Huerta, like the Diocese of Cebu, did not seem to acknowledge Burauen as a Jesuits’ pueblo-mission. From the river, Fr. Lopez oversaw the transfer and construction of a new Augustinian-led church to a new site (presumably at the present-day location) made of hardwood posts with double paneling of planks and nipa roofing 186 ft. long and 48 ft. wide. With Burauen right smack on a typhoon path, the structure would not survive long.

Currently, the under construction new Burauen, Leyte Immaculate Conception Catholic church is slowly taking shape. Once finished, the church would be of a neo-gothic design, which features geometric decorative designs and decorative blocks.

Burauen healthcare needs are served by both the private and government owned health institutions.

• Burauen District Hospital (managed by the Provincial Government of Leyte)
• Burauen Rural Heath Unit (managed by the LGU of Burauen)
• Barangay Health Centers (with presence in each barangays of Burauen)

While there are also several Private health facilities that catering Burawanons and nearby towns scattered all over the Poblacion.

Burauen's educational institutions is one of the largest when it comes to the size of enrollment and the teacher to student ratio. The town is served by both public and private educational institutions.

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  Daguitan Irrigation Facility
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  Marabong River
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  Mamanwa tribe leader holding a gong being used for their rituals
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  Burauen Municipal Hall
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  Tribu Buraburon performing in the Aliwan Festival
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  Burauen Executive & Legislative Building

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Burauen, Leyte.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Burauen.

• Philippine Standard Geographic Code
• Philippine Census Information
• Local Governance Performance Management System