User:Johnromulus24

Awihao, Toledo City, Cebu

This place is one of the midland barangays of Toledo City. Its geographical location includes a vast stretch of an upland valley punctuated with some rolling plains and rocky mountain ridges. The types of its soil ranges from sandy soil to clay loam, which accumulated over the village from eroded mountain plateaus bordering around the area. As the soil is sandy, a large portion of land is planted with coconuts. Other farm products such as cereals and other root crops are also grown in the area.

This place can be reached by two feeder roads from the national highway: 1) the Bato-Awihao Road, which was built before the outbreak of the World War II; and 2) Cabitoonan-Awihao Road. The former was one of the major projects initiated by the late Nicholas Rafols during his incumbency as congressman of the sixth congressional district of Cebu, while the latter was constructed by the early years of the administration of the late Marcelo A. Barba who was the chief executive of the then municipality of Toledo. Both roads have an average distance not less than 4 kilometers from the heart of the barangay down to either two end places of the coastal barangays of Bato and Cabitoonan.

One interesting features of the barangay is the conspicous presence of a sizeable number of poultry farms. In fact, this place has been dubbed as the "Egg-Basket" of the City. Truckloads of eggs are sold in the city on Sundays which are market days; some are occasionally marketed in Cebu City throughout the year round.

In days of old, this place was once a tobacco plantation but in later years, the said plantation gradually gave to coconut trees and corn where planted instead. The proliferation of the tobacco in the place is still noticeable among the barrio folks even nowadays as gleaned from the fact that most of the people herein are presently engaged in selling dried tobacco leaves.

The present name of the place is derived from a tree. It is said that there was once a tall, dominant big tree in the village which the settlers called "awhao". The fruit particularly the seed of the tree is akin to that of the "santol." The gigantic tree grew near the hill. Some meters away from the tree was a deep well. Up to this day, the said well serves as the people's drinking source but the historical "awihao tree" has been long been gone This is how Awihao, as a barangay, got its name.

H I S T O R Y

During the Spanish domination, more than one hundred years ago the barrio did not have any name. It was a lonely place with only very few people residing. The houses were far from each other and what was considered to be the closest neighbor was one whose house was built 300 meters away.

According to the oldest resident in the barangay, Olalia Tomarong Canillo commonly known as “Inse Olay” who is already 122 years old this time (1872-1994) her grandfather planted a tree near an old well. This well was the only source of water in the place. It’s cold fresh water caught everybody’s attention even those who have tasted it for the first time. The longest drought experienced by the people did not cause its water level to decrease much because of the generous spring underneath.

The tree planted by the side of the well grew to an enormous size that the residents begun to marvel at it because of the unique characteristics that the tree possessed. The compound leaves were dark green and resembled that of an Acacia. During the flowering season, the tree produced white buds which gradually turned yellow when in full bloom. Owing to its height and thick leaves, this black hardwood tree shaded the well and its vicinity thus producing a cool atmosphere. Many would spend a day washing clothes a little distance from the well.

An old woman accounted that an unexpected incident occurred one day, two young ladies were found dead near the tree for unknown reason and nobody dared to investigate the matter for fear that the unseen spirits living in the big tree will inflict punishment upon the the people in the barangay.

Even with mysterious events taking place, the people continued to draw water from it because it was the only existing well at that time. Whenever one was asked where the water was drawn from, the answer was always one, “ To The Alawihao Well”, a name derived from the “Giant” Alawihao tree. As timed passed, its name got shorter until the barangay was popularly called “Awihao”.

The “mighty tree” had its end when a super typhoon struck Central Visayas in the 1940’s. It was uprooted and was later cut by the residents to be used as firewood for cooking. What is left in the scene this time is the old and mossy Alawihao well. The people are beginning to abandon it because of the presence of the water system in the barangay.