Daram, officially the Municipality of Daram (; ), is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Samar Samar ( ) is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided in ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 41,608 people.

Etymology

The origin of the name Daram is from a type of bird, called Darangsiyao, that guided the initial settlers to the island. Some time later, a Spaniard inquiring about the name of the island, mistook the name for "Daramsiyao". This was further shortened to the current name of Daram. The original name of Daramsiyao is still in use as the name of the annual festival held in Poblacion 1 on January 15.

History

The Island was originally part of the municipality of Zumarraga, Samar, and mostly inhabited by a few fisher-folk and travelers from other places whose primary source of income was fishing and farming. As the years passed Daram began to grow in population and economic activities through settlers and travelers who constructed dwelling units sporadically along the coastlines of the islands.

Separation from Zumarraga

On 1 September 1949, President

Elpidio Quirino Elpidio Rivera Quirino (; November 16, 1890 – February 29, 1956) was a Philippine nationality law, Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 6th President of the Philippines from 1948 to 1953. A lawyer by profession, Quirino entered p ...

signed Executive Order No. 262. This order ceded the islands of Daram and Parasan from the Municipality of Zumarraga and created the independent Municipality of Daram, with barrio (now barangay) Daram as the municipal seat. On the current list of barangay for the Municipality of Daram, there is no barangay named Daram.

Geography

Daram has a total land area of 14,026 hectares (34,659 acres). The town is composed of two major islands; Daram Island and Parasan Island. Other islands include Poro Island and Danaodanauan Island (uninhabited). The main island features mountainous interiors with very narrow coastal areas. Mountain ranges occupy the major portion of the island municipality. Daram has a combination of warm and cool climatic zones, thus the prevailing climate is ideal for the cultivation of a wide range of agricultural crops. There is no distinct dry season but the heavy wet season generally occurs in December. Daram lies within the western part of Samar Sea and the Zumarraga Channel. The north and western boundary is the Samar Sea; the eastern boundary is the Zumarraga Channel; the southern boundary is Daram Channel. It can be reached by a 30-minute boat ride from the provincial capital, Catbalogan, and Northern Leyte.

Barangays

Daram is politically subdivided into 58

barangay The barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as ''barrio'', is the smallest Administrative divisions of the Philippines, administrative division in the Philippines. Named after the Precolonial barangay, precolonial po ...

s. Each barangay consists of

purok A ''purok'' () is an informal division within a barangay in the Philippines. While not officially considered a local government unit (LGU), a ''purok'' often serves as a unit for delivering services and administration within a barangay. ''Pur ...

s and some have

sitios A ''sitio'' (Spanish language, Spanish for "site") in the Philippines is a territorial enclave that forms part of a barangay. Typically rural, a ''sitios location is usually far from the center of the barangay itself and could be its own bar ...

. * Poblacion 1 (Hilaba) * Poblacion 2 (Malingon) * Poblacion 3 (Canti-il) * Arawane * Astorga * Bachao * Baclayan * Bagacay * Bayog * Betaug * Birawan * Bono-anon * Buenavista * Burgos which is becoming popular with tourists * Cabac * Cabil-isan * Cabiton-an * Cabugao, (Parasan Island) * Cagboboto, (Parasan Island) * Calawan-an * Cambuhay * Candugue * Campelipa * Canloloy * Cansaganay * Casab-ahan, (Parasan Island) * Guindapunan * Guintampilan * Iquiran * Jacopon * Losa * Lucob-lucob * Mabini * Macalpe * Mandoyucan * Marupangdan * Mayabay * Mongolbongol * Nipa * Parasan, (Parasan Island) * Pondang * Poso * Real * Rizal, (Parasan Island) * San Antonio * San Jose * San Miguel * San Roque * San Vicente * Saugan * So-ong * Sua * Sugod * Talisay * Tugas * Ubo * Valles-Bello * Yangta

Climate

Demographics

Language

The native language of the majority in Daram is Samarnon- Waray-Waray (also known as Waraynon, Samarnon, or Samar-Leyte Visayan) and to a lesser degree Cebuano, both

Visayan languages The Bisayan languages or Visayan languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages spoken in the Philippines. They are most closely related to Tagalog and the Bikol languages, all of which are part of the Central Philippine languages. Mo ...

. Majority of the residents also speak and understand Tagalog and English.

Religion

Most of the inhabitants of Daram are

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

and a small number of

born again To be born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelical Christianity, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is d ...

. Because of the large number of Catholics, like other places in Philippines, they also celebrate fiesta (

festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

Economy

Being an island municipality, the main livelihood is fishing and agriculture. Seafood is a local specialty, in fact, many fish are sold in the markets of nearby Catbalogan and

Tacloban Tacloban ( ; ), officially the City of Tacloban (; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city on Leyte island in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, Tacloban has a popu ...

. The major fishing products caught in the seas around Daram are galonggong, alumahan, tamban, pompano, bisugo (

bream Bream (, ) are species of freshwater fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Ballerus'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', '' Etelis'', '' Lepomis'', '' Gymnocranius'', ...

), lapu-lapu,

rabbitfish Rabbitfishes or spinefoots, genus ''Siganus'', are perciform fishes in the family (biology), family Siganidae. It is the only Extant taxon, extant genus in its family and has 29 species. In some now obsolete classifications, the species having ...

slipmouth Leiognathidae, the ponyfishes, slipmouths or slimys / slimies, are a small family of fishes in the order Perciformes. They inhabit marine and brackish waters in the Indian and West Pacific Oceans. They can be used in the preparation of '' bag ...

and assorted. Other fish resources are

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of ''Rhodophyta'' (red), '' Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

mussels Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, whic ...

oysters Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of Seawater, salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in Marine (ocean), marine or Brackish water, brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly Calcification, calcified, a ...

crabs Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura (meaning "short tailed" in Greek), which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the thorax. Their exoskeleton is often thickened and ha ...

and shells. Kelp seaweed is also a major harvest and exported worldwide. Agricultural income is derived mostly from

coconuts The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

bananas A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – berry (botany), botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa (genus), Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called pla ...

corn Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...

and other crops such as

sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its sizeable, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable, which is a staple food in parts of ...

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...

, and

legumes Legumes are plants in the pea family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seeds of such plants. When used as a dry grain for human consumption, the seeds are also called pulses. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consu ...

. Recently, there is a surge in tourism activity in Daram with the rise in popularity of Kandiwata islet, a rock formation that has become a popular tourist destination. Nearby Monbon beach is also a popular recreation site for beach campers and overnight stay for Kandiwata tourists.

Government

Like all other municipalities in the Philippines, Daram is governed from the Municipal Hall by a Mayor and the

Sangguniang Panlungsod The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) is the local legislature, legislative body of a Philippine city, city government in the Philippines. The name of the legislative body comes from the Filipino language, Filipino words "''sanggunian''" ("council") � ...

which is composed of the city (municipality) Vice Mayor as Presiding Officer, regular Sanggunian members (Councilors), the President of the Daram Chapter of the League of Barangays of the Philippines and the President of the Daram Chapter of the

Sangguniang Kabataan A Sangguniang Kabataan (abbreviated as SK; ) is a community council that represents the youth in a barangay in the Philippines. Established to provide young people with a platform for civic engagement and participation in Local government in ...

(Student Leaders). These elected officials are entitled to three-year terms. These political leaders exercise and perform the legislative powers and duties as provided for under Republic Act No. 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code of 1991. They are empowered to consider and conduct thorough study all matters brought to their attention and consequently pass resolutions, enact ordinances and introduce recommendations. In 2010, it has a budgetary allocation of PHP 19.8 million from the Philippine government.

Elected officials (2016-2019)

;Mayor *Philip Astorga (Nationalist People's Coalition) ;Vice mayor *Lucia Astorga (Nationalist People's Coalition) ;Municipal councilors *Ben Amistoso (Nationalist People's Coalition) *Boboy Dacallos (Nationalist People's Coalition) *Jimmy Barrantes (Nationalist People's Coalition) *Edgar Danday (Nationalist People's Coalition) *Florentino Carcellar Jr. (Nationalist People's Coalition) *Joan Astorga (Independent) *Reden Lepasana (Nationalist People's Coalition) *Danedave Cariño (Nationalist People's Coalition)

Elected officials (2013-2016)

;Mayor *Lo Astorga (Liberal Party) ;Vice mayor *Ben Amistoso (Independent) ;Municipal councilors *Boboy Dacallos (Nationalist People's Coalition) *Henry Astorga (Independent) *Buddy Astorga (Nationalist People's Coalition) *Jimmy Barrantes (Independent) *Reden Lepasana (Nationalist People's Coalition) *Danilo Carino (Independent) *Edgar Danday Sr. (Independent) *Baby Carcellar (Independent)

Elected officials (2010-2013)

;Mayor *Lucia Latorre Astorga ;Vice mayor *Arthur Zamora Losa ;Municipal councilors *Benjamin Sauro Amistoso *Florentino Paragas Carcellar Jr. *Ronnie Quitalig Casiano *Jimmy Achaso Barrantes *Henry Verzosa Astorga *Dante Bulan Gososo *Danilo Pajares Cariño *Edgar Redaja Danday Sr.

Infrastructure

Daram offers limited urban and extensive basic rural infrastructure that includes water-based transportation, a plentiful public water supply, electrical supply from SAMELCO II, cellular and cable communication facilities, sports and recreational facilities, tourist spots, and common service establishments.

Education

Primary schools

Daram has 58 primary schools.

Secondary schools

Daram has 8 secondary schools. *Bagacay NHS *Bakhaw NHS *Birawan NHS *Cabiton-an Integrated School *Daram NHS *Parasan NHS *Rizal Integrated School *Sua NHS

References

External links

Daram Profile at PhilAtlas.com
* Philippine Standard Geographic Code
Philippine Census Information

Local Governance Performance Management System
{{Authority control Municipalities of Samar (province) Island municipalities in the Philippines Political divisions established by Philippine executive order