As early as 1909, the American-owned The Mindanao Herald, published in Zamboanga, had already bestowed on Juan Auad (Awad), a traveling merchant from Mount Lebanon, Syria, who arrived in Davao in 1893, as “the father of all the Davao planters.”
Auad, who later owned the tallest pre-war building in Davao (where Development Bank of the Philippines stands) at the junction of C.M. Recto and San Pedro streets, was an itinerant expatriate looking for better pastures. Around the country he searched for prospects of good business before ultimately deciding to permanently settle in Davao.
Recognized as the first to propagate a hemp plantation in Davao region, his journey was not lost to oblivion. In its Feb. 3, 1909 issue, The Mindanao Herald stated:
“[Señor Juan Auad] had looked the Philippines over and decided on planting hemp on the fine bottom lands of the Davao River. He secured a Spanish grant of some 1,500 acres [607 hectares], twelve miles from the mouth of the river, an absolutely wild country. He figured on the character of the rich alluvial deposit and of the sub-irrigation that was to be secured from the abrupt rise of the low mountain range that sheds its water like the eaves of a roof on the rich hemp lands.”
In fact, that year he owned the largest plantation in Davao district. The farm was on its 16th year and it was only then that it was producing copiously. The plants it hosted were described as “great hemp forests where stalks look more like trees than ordinary hemp.” Auad’s hemp plantation was situated 15 miles (24.15 kilometers) from the town proper and considered as the best hemp-producing piece of land anywhere in the district.
The grant was for a wild country known as Lapanday (formerly Belen), which is situated 19 kilometers from the mouth of Davao River. The fine bottom land was good for planting abaca, and he rightly observed “the character of the rich alluvial deposit and of the sub-irrigation [needed] to be secured from the abrupt rise of the low mountain range that sheds its water like the eaves of a roof on the rich hemp lands.”
The success of the Lapanday agricultural estate attracted settlers and new businesses to the place at a time when the population in Davao, during the first half decade of American regime, was only about 2,200. Sawmills sprouted, as did an ice plant, which was a luxury at the time. And just as the plantation flourished and expanded, the need to introduce a more efficient management and to adopt new techniques in harvesting became imperatives.
Three years earlier, Dr. Najeeb Mitry Saleeby, another Syrian who migrated to the United States and became a naturalized citizen, joined the plantation as partner. He was known for his two scholarly books, Studies in Moro History, Law, and Religion and its sequel The History of Sulu. It was he who introduced new and profitable harvesting methods, like hauling the trees to one point and stripping the hemp under cover. Awad’s and Saleeby’s partnership prospered with the acquisition of Padada Plantation in 1908 after it was severely hit by a drought.
Assisting Awad later in his ventures was brother Rafael, who joined him in the Lapanday project. The details of Rafael’s involvement, though, are not known. What is confirmed is that he married a Lebanese woman with whom he sired three boys—one is Nabih—and four girls.
Outside his booming hemp investments, Auad ventured into other engagements. A Mindanao Herald article dated March 18, 1908 reported the Lebanese businessman was also into aquamarine trade and is credited for discovering an abundant supply of pearl in the gulf of Davao.
“The pearling beds,” the story added, “have been located in the narrow straits between the town [of Mati] and Samal Island and are now known to be rich in excellent shells. Around fifteen luggers have converged in the area to work out the underwater find.”
On a fine day, a ton of pearl shells gathered from the beds was valued at P1,200 per ton in the market. Though no costly pearls were found in the area, the venture provided gainful returns to the operators. Still, the lugger operators were still optimistic that many more pearling beds could be found in other parts of the gulf in order for Davao region to be able to compete with the flourishing pearling trade in Sulu.
A fifth of the luggers involved in the pearling business belonged to Auad, and a similar number of boats belonged to Messrs. Holmes and Lawine, and the Ohta Development Company which at the time was operating a fleet of fishing vessels. Tech & Boon Liat of Zamboanga operated two, while the rest were owned by Chinese merchants of Jolo.
Auad’s businesses flourished during the American years. He bought numerous real estate properties, joined socio-civic organizations, and was a towering business figure to upstarts in the region. To his credit he built the city’s first three-story structure, the tallest in pre-war times. This edifice was constructed at the corner of present-day C.M. Recto Street and San Pedro Street, at the site where the iconic Philippine National Bank (PNB) and Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) buildings are found.
The Auad legacy is immortalized in the names given to a creek, a village, and a bridge. A school in Mandug, the T. Awad Echevarria Elementary School, is named after a niece who married a local guy.
