formerly a barrio of the municipality of cauayan, candoni started as the center of the tabla valley settlement founded in 1935 by santiago h. diego, a prominent man from the municipality of isabela. he led a group of settlers with a pioneering spirit and prompted by the desire to have a piece of land they could call their own. pooling their resources and organizing themselves into a cooperative they called tablenos, the settlers started clearing the valley starting from where the town is now located. they toiled the forests enduring hardships, but many of them died of malaria.