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Ormoc City, Leyte Etymology



The city's name is derived from ogmok, an archaic Visayan term for "lowland" or "depressed plain". The city also celebrates an annual Thanksgiving festival called the Piรฑa Festival in honor of the saints Peter and Paul and thanks for the bountiful pineapple harvest.



Church in town: ๐’๐š๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐ž๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐๐š๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐๐š๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ก



The formal Christian evangelization of Ormoc started in the year 1597 with the arrival of the Jesuits, who founded the church of Ormoc under the heavenly protection of the apostles, Sts. Peter and Paul. Overcoming difficulties, the early missionaries ventured into a systematic task of introducing Christianity to the communities around present-day Ormoc, even establishing a visita as far as Baybay. The Jesuit presence in Ormoc ended with their expulsion from the country in 1768. That same year the Augustinians took over the Jesuit mission in Ormoc and their town administration of Palompon (becoming a vista of Palompon) until their eventual departure from Leyte in 1834, handling the administration of the parishes in the western side to the Diocesan Clergy of Cebu (and those in the East to the Franciscans). Soon after, the parish of Ormoc was re-established in 1850 with the secular priests belonging to the Diocese of Cebu. Throughout these years, there has been a continued presence of the Christian community who have constantly invoked the divine protection and the intercession of her heavenly patrons, Sts. Peter and Paul. This year, 2013, marks the 416th year of the annual celebration in honor of these two pillars of the church. The present-day church of the parish of Sts. Peter and Paul date their original foundation and expanded throughout the centuries. The present structure emerged after the bombings and destruction during the Second World War. The sanctuary and its original altar (with the twin five-foot images of Sts. Peter and Paul right at the center on the upper portion of the altar and their images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary flanking on the side of the apse) have been renovated in the mid 1960โ€™s right after the second Vatican Council to demands of the new liturgy. The old altar was torn down to give way to a freestanding altar at the center of the sanctuary, and bigger six-foot Gothic images clearly visible from the entrance of the church replaced the original images of the patrons at the upper of the apse. In the 1980โ€™s images of the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart were once again taken down. The year 2007 saw the construction of a new reredos (or retablo) in the sanctuary. The images and their positions were retained, but now closed in a baroque altarpiece. In 2013, the desire to enhance the present-day altarpiece (for the sake of artistic harmony and iconography authenticity) and the need to retrieve this historical patrimony of the church led to the decision to replace the image of the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart on the left. However, the newly refurbished images of Sts. Peter now holds a miniature of a church (upon Peter the church was built), also points to the future look of the parish church with a dome on top and a portico up front. All these have been accomplished with a fervent faith and the belief that the structures, images, and symbols of the church do aid in the encounter between God and his people.



๐๐จ๐ญ๐š๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐Ž๐ซ๐ฆ๐จ๐œ ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ


On May 1507, a mission in Ormoc was established by these missionaries. That year, the locals were converted to Christianity. Their years of peace were short-lived when in the year 1634, a ruler of Sulu by the name of Raja Bungsu captured 300 natives from Ormoc after the invasion of the notorious pirates in the town.


๐๐ฅ๐š๐œ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐Ž๐ซ๐ฆ๐จ๐œ:


Lake Danao in the province of Ormoc, Leyte
Lake Danao in the province of Ormoc, Leyte

- Lake Danao

- Alto Peak

- Lake Danao Natural Park

- Philippine-Japan Peace Memorial Park

- Lake Janagdan

- Bantigue Beach Resort

- Heaven's Peak


๐…๐š๐ฆ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐›๐จ๐ซ๐ง ๐ข๐ง ๐Ž๐ซ๐ฆ๐จ๐œ:

- None in the list


๐๐ข๐ง๐จ๐ฒ ๐œ๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐›๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ, ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐Ž๐ซ๐ฆ๐จ๐œ:

- John Riel Casimero (Filipino professional boxer)

- Monica Cuenco ( second runner-up of Star Power: Sharon Search For the Next Female Superstar)

- Rey Evangelista (PBA player, Purefoods TJ Hotdogs)

- Richard Gomez (Pinoy actor/TV host/politician)

- Chico Lanete (PBA player, San Miguel Beer)

- Garvo Lanete (PBA player, Northport Batang Pier)

- Primitivo Martinez (Filipino basketball player who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics and in the 1948 Summer Olympics.)

- Zeanaida Monsada(Filipino chemist)

- Sam Pinto (Pinay actress/model, singer)

- Carlos Tan (Filipino politician)

- Lucy Torres-Gomez (Pinay actress and politician)

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