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Municipality in Leyte, Philippines

Palo (IPA: [pɐ'loʔ]), officially the Municipality of Palo (; ), is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Leyte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 76,213 people, making it the most populous municipality (non city) in the province. The municipality is the seat of most government departments, bureaus and regional offices of Region VIII, although some are situated at the neighboring city of Tacloban. The municipality is also home to the offices of the ecclesiastical government of the Archdiocese of Palo; the archbishop's residence; as well as the secondary, tertiary and theology seminaries of the archdiocese. On March 17, 2022, the new Leyte Provincial Capitol in Palo was inaugurated by President Rodrigo Duterte, officially moving the seat of provincial government to the municipality pending an enabling law changing the provincial capital from the current highly urbanized city of Tacloban.

According to existing records those who went to Kutay after the tribal war in Bunga were all equipped with palo, a sort of club for fighting or self protection. Being the settlement of a tribe with palos, this is likely the reason why the community was known as "Palo". However, the late Justice Norberto Romualdez, in an issue of Noli Me Tangere, a Tacloban based newspaper of that time, asserted on June 9, 1909, that this town was named Palo because of its many carpenters sporting hammers (mazo or palo). Believers in superstition and the supernatural ascribe the origin of the Palo name to the town's experience during pre Spanish time often being visited by typhoons every eight (walo) days. They called the phenomenon walo walo, hence walo palo (eight hammer).

The first settlers of Palo were the tribes Panganuron, Kadampog, Manlangit, Kamagung, Kawaring, Kabalhin, Kumagang Maglain, Bilyo and Dilyo. They lived peacefully in an area resembling the shape of a bridge in what is now Barrio Bunga (present day San Joaquin), which spanned an area on both sides of the river bearing the same name. As the population increased, tribal feuds would cause the people to disperse. Survivors would settle in Payapay, and others in Canpetik. The bulk went to Kutay. Those in Kutay would eventually establish the town of Palo.

On November 8, 2013, Palo was severely struck by Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), which destroyed a large portion of Eastern Visayas and killed a number of residents in the town. On January 17, 2015, Pope Francis visited the town as part of his papal visit to the Philippines to meet with the surviving victims of the typhoon. He also blessed the Pope Francis Center for the Poor and met with priests, seminarians, other religious figures, and surviving victims of the typhoon at the Palo Cathedral before leaving Leyte.

The municipality is located in the north eastern part of the province of Leyte, 8 miles from the capital city of Tacloban.

In the 2020 census, the population of Palo, Leyte, was 76,213 people, with a density of
Literacy rate in Palo is 99.5%. The town's native language is Waray Waray, the major language and lingua franca in the Eastern Visayas region.

Palo is the seat of the ecclesiastical province, the Archdiocese, where the Roman Catholic archbishop resides in Bukid Tabor. One can also find the archdiocese's Metropolitan Cathedral in Palo. Meanwhile, Palo is also a seedbed of vocations to the priesthood with the Sacred Heart Seminary and the St. John the Evangelist School of Theology. Two Paloan nuns also became Superior Generals in their respective congregations. To date, there are 158 ordained priests and 106 nuns from the town alone.

Palo is the seat of the 6.8 hectare Leyte Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Park and the 22 hectare Leyte Mikyu Economic Zone. The Leyte ICT Park hosts two BPOs while the Leyte Mikyu Ecozone is undergoing development. The town's historic municipal building was the former seat of the Provincial Government of Leyte. Agriculture is the municipality's dominant industry. The area produces and ferments the local coconut wine called tuba.

Palo is sister city with Palo Alto, California, USA, since 1963.