HISTORY OF DAO

(Municipality of Tobias Fornier)

Posted by: tojoven /Arobo

Long, long prior to the arrival of Magellan here in the

Philippines, there had already been people residing in the
archipelago. The members of these groups are what we call the
Aetas. The Aetas or the Negritos were the first inhabitants here
and may be said to be our real ancestors. But the first cross-breeds
of Filipinos were descended from the Bornays who came from
Borneo.

Long before the coming of the Spaniards, people from the

South, particularly from Borneo, migrated to this islands. They
came to settle and immediately began to look for good spots
wherein to establish their permanent homes. They found the Aetas
friendly and so many of the Bornays intermarried with them. They
became neighbors. Mnay of them came to the island of Panay and
a group of these came to the Southernmost part of what is now the
province of Antique. This particularly stout-hearted group of
Bornays had a leader called “Ohoy”. His wife was named
“Dawa”. He managed the clearing of the place.

The site of the little town of Dao was a deep forest haunted by
ferocious animals, reptiles and darkened by gigantic trees. In the
center of this place was one tree which overshadowed the rest.
Large snakes found sanctuary and fearful beasts were seen around
it. The people believed that the tree was enchanted because of its
powerful dimensions. But gradually, under the leadership of Ohoy,
they lost their fear of the place. They called the tree and all the
other trees of the same kind, DAO, a combination from the first
syllable of the name Dawa and the first syllable of the name Ohoy.
“Da” and “O” combined.

As weeks grew into months and into years, families sprang out.
Each family claimed the portion it had be cleared. These families
more or less organized themselves into tribe under Ohoy.While
some of them cleared and developed then place, others went
hunting. When hunters met in the woods, it was their custom to
inquire where each lived in order to get acquainted with each
other. The hunters under Ohoy often indicated where they resided
by referring to Dao trees as home. Soon other tribes began calling
these particular trees and the place where they stood Dao.

Years later, when the Spanish conquistadores came, more

people combined the original group of Ohoy and the place became
civilized. It developed into village, then into town.

The comers married into the original Bornays and soon

everybody was in one way or another related to everybody else.
The introduction of the Spanish local government only served to
strengthen the ties which already bound the people together.
However, as the civilization progressed, even the big trees were cut
down including the largest one at the center of the village. The
trees were gone now but the name given them which consequently
became the official cognomen of the town, will forever remain in
the history of the province and in the hearts of the Daonhon
people.