Long before the rich lowland was discovered by civilization, a group of stocky-haired aborgines called Aetas have already staked a claim and declared this place their own. Far from being civilized, these aetas led a nomadic life and co-existed with the living creatures of the wild. They have few wants and were easily satisfied. With the use of their bow and arraw “PANA-SA-BOBOY” as they call it, they hunted for food which primarily consisted of rootcrops and meat of wild boars. “Pana-sa-Boboy” was their most essential tool and it became a part of their lives. When the Christian settlers came at the century, these friendly natives moved further to the hinterlands along with them their “Pana-sa-Boboy”. This later evolved into the present day PANABO. 1999 Hypothesis The Local Government Unit of Panabo conducted the Barangay Development Planning Workshop wherein historical trending with all the barangays was considered using the key informant interview from the baseline information. The oldest natives in the barangay who were born in Panabo were tapped but never mentioned about the history as first drafted. This ignites the idea to dig out more information. The stories were collated until the consensus was presented. It was disclosed that it is not only the Aetas alone who first settled in Panabo but together with them are the Kalagans (now called the Davao Muslims) and the ANGS (non-Muslims and non-Christians). As they grew in number, they establshed their own villages and a trading center where they exchanged their goods, services and agricultural products. They fondly called this place, TABOAN of PANABOAN in the local languaege. “PANABO-AN” or TABOAN was finally changed to PANABO which became the official name of the community. Thus its people are now called PANABOANS.
