The word Tacloban evolved from “Taklub”, a basket-like piece of equipment for catching fish. The city is well-known for its character in World War II, being a foremost base for the US forces and the first town liberated by Douglas MacArthur’s forces from the Japanese Imperial Forces. The city is also identified for being the hometown of the flamboyant former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos, whose Romualdez family still commands a large political following in the area. At the time, the place was known as Kankabatok - meaning belonging to Kabatok, because its most outstanding inhabitant was named Kabatok. The change of name came about in this manner: Kankabatok was a favorite haunt for fishermen. They would use a bamboo tray called “taklub” to catch crabs or shrimps. When asked where they were going the fishermen would answer, “to tarakluban”, which meant the place where they used “taklub” to catch crabs. Later, the name was shortened to Tacloban. The capital of Leyte was transferred from one town to another with Tacloban as the last on February 26, 1830. The assessment to make Tacloban the capital was based on the following reasons: 1) Ideal location of the port and 2) Well-sheltered and adequate facilities. On June 12, 1952, Tacloban was proclaimed a chartered city by virtue of Republic Act No. 760.
