San Miguel used to be a visita of Barugo and at one point in history was under the administration of the parish priest of Babatngon during the Spanish period, as well as a barrio of Alangalang during the early American period.

        In the Carta Hydrographica y Chorographica de las Islas Filipinas, more commonly known as the Murillo Velarde map or the first scientific map of the Philippines which was published in 1734, there was still no San Miguel in the portion for the island of Leyte. The Velarde map, considered the “mother of all Philippine maps,” shows that Palo still extended to all of the northeastern Leyte, with Barugo and Tanauan as boundaries. The towns of Alangalang, Jaro, Babatngon, Malibago and San Miguel were once "visitas" of
Barugo, according to “Barugo - Its Fabled History” written by Joel V. Aruta. 

        In the 1899 Algue Maps of the Philippines, however, Palo has diminished in size to its current location, and “San Miguel (de Leyte)” already appeared in the map alongside Jaro, Alangalang, “Babagnon”, Malibago, and Tacloban. The “Guide to Township Locations” by historian Bruce Kruikshank also mentioned San Miguel, Leyte as being contained in Map 19 and Map 19A of the 1899 Philippine maps. A historian named Agustin de la Cavada (vol. 2, 1876) listed 1852 as the date of creation of San Miguel as recorded in Historia Geografica Geologica y Estadista de Filipinas. 

        What has evolved into the now Municipality of San Miguel was called the town of Sabang in the early times, when the island of Leyte itself was still known to Spanish explorers as Tandaya.

        The town center of Sabang is part of only four coastal barangays of San Miguel directly facing the Samar Sea. It is located along the Carigara Bay with the island of Biliran to its west. The then area of Sabang is also now called the barangay Santa Cruz, therefore Sabang is the old name of both the town of San Miguel and the barangay of Santa Cruz. 

        San Miguel used to be visita of Barugo, the town next to Carigara which is the Spaniards’ first mission center in the island.

        Transferring the old town center from near the sea to the current location at the inland barangay of Libtong was largely influenced by the centuries-long Spanish-Moro war. The baluarte or watchtower still standing on the soil of Sabang, now Santa Cruz, is a silent witness to what happened to the community in the past. Sharing similarities in histories of many other towns in the Philippine islands, people in San Miguel used to be clustered near the sea because fishing was the main the source of livelihood. However, the Moro raids that went on from the mid-1500s to the late 1800s forced the people to move inland to be safer from the Moros pillaging the coastal areas for food and would-be slaves.

        It is imperative to know what happened at the national scene to fully understand the impact of these events on the town of Sabang. Among the Spanish missions was the 1578 military expedition in Mindanao which aimed, among other purposes, to have the Moro acknowledge Spanish dominion. This started a Spanish–Moro war in the archipelago which had the Spanish wanting to colonize the places in Mindanao and establishing forts there, while the Moros retaliated by burning the Christian territories in the Luzon and Visayas islands. In the course of the centuries, notable Moro attacks on the Samar and Leyte areas were in 1608, Bohol and Leyte in 1660, and several Visayas islands in 1662. The worst Moro attacks in the Visayas were recorded three times in 1754 in the months of March, June and July. The Moros attacked Leyte again in 1762 and they burned Boljoon, Cebu and Leyte town in 1792. In 1850 a fleet of boats raided the islands of Samar and Camiguin. In 1860, the Moros established themselves on the islands of Catanduanes (which is near Samar) and other islands in Albay, which are also near Samar, a short distance from San Miguel. The governors of these provinces were unable to dislodge the Moros, who infested the San Bernardino Strait (the sea between Samar and Bicol) and the Samar Sea. San Miguel itself is facing the Samar sea which was overrun by Moro raiders.

        During these Moro attacks on Christian soil such as Sabang, properties were burned, food and other valuables were taken, as well as men and women who were sold off as slaves to sultanates of the Malay archipelago.  In the 1850 raid, the Moros carried off to the seas some 75 natives from Samar, throwing children and the elderly overboard as they were considered useless.

        It is in this context of constant, unmerciful Moro raids that the people in the islands abandoned their ravaged town centers at the coastal areas to move further inlands to the mountains. (From these historical events, the town derived its local folklore about a woman named Bathan who was kidnapped, taken to Mindanao, yet returned to San Miguel with the help of a crocodile. See story on Heritage).

        In San Miguel or what was then the town of Sabang, the people filed a petition on August 12, 1852 to transfer the town site to its present location in Barangay Libtong. Documents at the National Historical Institute, particularly Historia Geografica y Estadistica de Filipinas (Agustin de la Cavada, Vol. 2,1876 ), shows that the town was already called San Miguel in 1852.  

        After the Spanish rule, the Americans took over administration of the Philippine islands. US President William McKinley governed the Philippines through what was referred to as the US Philippine Commission. The first commission, appointed on January 1899, was sent to the Philippines for purposes of coming up with recommendations. The second commission, formed in 1900 and referred to as the Taft Commission because it was headed by William Howard Taft, exercised lawmaking and some executive powers in the Philippines.  

        On October 22, 1903, the US Philippine Commission enacted Act 954 “Reducing the 49  Municipalities of the Province of Leyte to 33” so San Miguel became a barangay of Alangalang. Section 1, No. 14 of Act 954 states that: “the Municipality of Alangalang shall consist of its present territory and that of the Municipality of San Miguel, with the seat of municipal government at the present municipality of Alangalang.” This is proof that the Municipality of San Miguel had long existed before the Americans came in 1899 and like many other towns in the country, was merged with other municipalities for administrative purposes. Section 2 of the Act further provided that when the elections were held, all offices existing in the then two separate municipalities were deemed “vacant and abolished” and all municipal officials of the two towns “shall cease to hold office” to pave the way for the new officials of the newly merged town. Thus began San Miguel’s status as part of Alangalang.

        In 1907, the US Philippine Commission became the upper house of the bicameral Philippine Legislature called the Philippine Assembly, with elected assemblymen at the lower house. On August 29, 1916 the Jones Act took effect and replaced the name of the bicameral Philippine Assembly to House of Representatives.  It was the House of Representatives that approved Act 2657 or the Administrative Code in December 31, 1916. This Administrative Code specifically mentions San Miguel as one of the 42 municipalities in the Province of Leyte, alongside Tacloban and Ormoc which were also still municipalities at that time. It belonged to what was the fourth district composed of the municipalities of Alangalang, Babatngon, Dulag, Palo, San Miguel, Tacloban, Tanauan, and Tolosa.

        On March 10, 1917, Act No. 2711 which amended the Administrative Code was enacted. In this new law, there was a redistricting in Leyte and five more towns were added, making 47 the total number of municipalities. San Miguel was still part of the fourth district composed now of the municipalities of Abuyog, Babatngon, Dulag, Palo, San Miguel, Tacloban, Tanauan, and Tolosa but under this amendment a fifth district was added, taking out Alangalang from the fourth district and putting it in the fifth along with Barugo, Burauen, Capoocan, Carigara, Dagami, Jaro, La Paz, and Pastrana.

        It was based on Act 2711 passed during the American Period that San Miguel celebrates its founding day on March 10.

        During the Japanese occupation and the American recapture of Leyte that led to the liberation of the Philippines, San Miguel was surrounded by action as it was right in the middle of strategic points.

        Japanese frontliners were stationed to the east and southwest of San Miguel town, and General Yamashita had even initially planned an amphibious assault supposedly on Dec. 16,1944 through the Carigara Bay. This was cancelled after Allied forces were seen en route to Mindoro so Yamashita abandoned plans for Leyte to defend Luzon. The Japanese who were already in Leyte were left without reinforcements of allies or supplies. In the book “Leyte: The Return to the Philippines” San Miguel and its barangay, Santa Cruz, was mentioned several times. The Japanese placed “an excellent, almost invisible installation, which served as an observation post, was dug in on the forward slope of a ridge about three miles north of San Miguel. It had a concealed entrance on the reverse slope. From this post eight miles of the road to the north and east could be observed.” The American 2d Squadron, 8th Cavalry established based at San Miguel, secured Cavite with one troop and later on moved to Barugo to mop up the north but the US 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry, maintained a platoon at Santa Cruz. Other regiments such as the 5th Cavalry, closed into the Barugo area on November, 1944 passing by Cavite and San Miguel.

        On December 31, 1944, battalions met two miles northeast of San Miguel, which signaled the end of all organized Japanese resistance in the area by the 77th Division, who estimated that from December 21 to 31, 1944, it had killed 5,779 Japanese.

        Two months before that, less than an hour away from San Miguel, world history was made. Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Commonwealth President Sergio Osmeña, with the largest convoy ever seen sailing in the Pacific, landed in Palo after the biggest naval battle recorded in history. They then went to Tacloban Municipal Hall in a broadcasted ceremony that will forever be etched in history books as one that signaled the liberation of Leyte and the rest of the country from the Japanese.  

        The simple ceremony was held in front of the municipal building of Tacloban, where inside there was a “shambles of broken furniture and scattered papers.” With a guard of honor composed of "dirty and tired but efficient-looking soldiers," General MacArthur announced the establishment of the Philippine Civil Government. Amid the sound of the bugle, the national flags of the United States and the Philippines were then raised together. Life and government in the Philippines, as we know it now, began.

        The people of San Miguel have had a long history of both obstacles and triumphs. But their indomitable spirit defies all odds – even the strongest of winds and high waters – as it is anchored on faith, hardwork, and hope.

References:

https://www.britannica.com/place/Leyte
https://www.academia.edu/
Library of Congress. 
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/54740/54740-h/images/frontish.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barugo
https://www.filipinaslibrary.org.ph/articles/the-moro-to-the-spanish-colonizers/
Aristocrats of the Malay Race: A History of the Bangsa Moro in the Philippines 
The Philippine Commission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Commission
Acts of the Philippine Commission 
Leyte: The Return to the Philippines