By Restituto C. Basa

Source: People’s Digest Newsweekly

October 16-22, 2001

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VILLASIS is a town of honey bees. Located on the northern bank of the great Agno River, it is in the heartland of the vast Agno valley. It has a land area of 8,047.48 hectares which is a fertile agricultural area.

Villasis and its surrounding towns raise a huge volume of corn, after rice. This is the reason why Purina, the leading manufacturer of animal feeds, selected Villasis as the site of its manufacturing plant. Corn is the raw material in the manufacture of animal feeds.

Origin: The town started as a barrio of Malasiqui, the town to its west. Its ancient name was Pandoyocan, a Pangasinan word which means a colony of oyocan, a variety of honey bees.

Its separation from its mother town was initiated by Fr. Fernando Sta. Maria, parish priest of Malasiqui. The decree which created it into a town was issued by the Rt. Mons. Miguel Espeleta, the bishop of Cebu who was designated acting governor general. The decree was dated October 18, 1759. This date is recognized as the foundation of Pandoyocan as a town.

Villasis: During the years 1760 up to 1850, community life in the town was tumultuous. It would appear that there was a comparatively big number of Spanish residents in the town. The natives resented the domineering ways of the Spaniards. There was constant friction between the two groups.

It should be noted that in 1762 Juan dela Cruz Palaris of Binalatongan (San Carlos) led what is called in history the Palaris revolt. The unrest of the natives of Pandoyocan undoubtedly was inspired by the Palaris uprising in Central Pangasinan.

In 1850, the Spanish governor general was Antonio Urbiztondo y Villasis. He came to Pandoyocan to reconcile the warring factions to restore peace and order. He succeded. Eventually, the name of the town was changed from Pandoyocan to Villasis, in his honor.

Trade route: One factor that accelerates the development of the town’s economy is its favorable location. It lies along the Manila-Ilocos roadline. This is the most important trade route in Midwestern Luzon. This same roadline branches westward to Dagupan and Lingayen at Urdaneta.

Through this highway, farm crops harvested from the town, particularly vegetables such as eggplants, tomatoes, mongo beans and others, could reach the Metro Manila markets within three hours by trucks and buses, or within two hours to Baguio, and within 45 minutes to Dagupan.

Villasis is a major vegetable basket.

Because of the excellent existing means of transportation and communications in Villasis and throughout Pangasinan, students from the town have easy access to the good colleges and universities in Manila, Dagupan, Baguio and Urdaneta.

The town has produced an associate justice of the Court of Appeals in the person of Justice Teodoro Primicias Regino.

Transportation between Villasis and Metro Manila is available 24 hours a day.

Villasis is bounded in the north by Urdaneta, in the northeast by Asingan, in the southeast across the Agno river by Rosales, in the southwest by Sto. Tomas and Alcala, in the west by Malasiqui.