Villasis, Pangasinan

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Map of Pangasinan showing the location of Villasis

Villasis is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Pangasinan, Philippines. It is a small farming town situated by the Agno River. On its borders are the towns of Malasiqui and Asingan and Urdaneta City. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 54,224 people in 11,001 households.

Hemmed between two bustling areas, Urdaneta City and Carmen, Villasis is one of the fastest developing towns in the province. It also thrives on its rice, corn and tobacco plantations. Its hilly barangays situated along the Malasiqui boundary is an ideal place for resort developers and agri-businessmen.

The town holds an annual fiesta in honor of its patron saint, San Antonio de Abad.

1 History
2 Economy
3 Barangays
4 External links

[edit] History

Villasis was a barrio of Malasiqui in the early part of the 17th century and was known by its former name, "Pandoyocan." The place had no fixed boundaries. It was simply a frontier settlement, a thickly forested region covering most of the southeastern parts of the province. Few people lived in this place due to the unavailability of open space for farming. In this thick forest however, was a nesting ground of bees called "oyocan". The abundance of honey attracted Spaniards and inhabitants of neighboring places to settle in this village. Because of this, the place was called "Pandoyocan", meaning "colony of bees."

[edit] Economy

The town's accessibility to all kinds of land transportation has made Villasis a bustling center of trade and commerce. It is intersected by the Manila North Road from north to south, allowing all major bus lines plying the Manila-Region I CAR route to pass through the town 24-hours a day. The main agricultural crops of the town are rice, corn, cassava, cabbage, varieties of vegetables and fruits. Raising livestock is another livelihood of the townspeople who raise poultry, swine, cattle and goats.

There are 56 registered small to medium sized industries in Villasis. These include rice mills, metalcraft industries, cement production, poultry raising and piggeries and an ice-plant.