Mabasa, Dupax del Norte, Nueva Vizcaya
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Mabasa is a barangay of Dupax del Norte in the province of Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines. It was one of the oldest barrio of Dupax (when the town was not yet divided into two, Dupax del Norte and Dupax del Sur). Mabasa was originally called San Roque, named by the parish priest of Dupax after the saint of hunters because the place then was a thick forest where game was abundant such as deers and wild pigs.
[edit] History
The first settlers of San Roque were Ilokano migrants from the town of Paoay in Ilocos Norte and from Alcala and San Nicolas towns in Pangasinan. They travelled by foot and by horses and carabaos through San Nicolas, Pangasinan, passing through Imugan, Santa Fe, Nueva Vizcaya because that was the shortest way possible during those times. The migrants settled at Sitio Poonan (later called Puongan). The family of Apolonio Vadil was the first settler in Poungan. Old records from the Roman Catholic Church in Dupax del Sur showed that the daughter of Apolonio Vadil, Tomasa, was baptized on October 10, 1887.
More migrants came and settled along the Apean (Apayan) River from Puongan upstream and occupied the western part of the barrio now called Riverside East and Riverside West. The settlers found the place always flowing with abundant water coming from a spring in the eastern part of the barrio, and so they called the place "Nabasa" which means "wet" in Iloko language. It was later officially called "Mabasa" changing the old name "San Roque."