Tayug, Pangasinan

Tayug : "layug"

The town of Tayug derived its name from the word "layug" which means "tall" in the Ilocano dialect.

During the early days of the settlement of the place there was a tall bacayao tree with an unusual height of about fifty meters. The people thus begun calling the place and surroundings as "Layug". Meanwhile, the letter "L" in the word Layug was difficult for the people to pronounce so that it was later on changed to "T" by common usage, hence the name "Tayug."

At the beginning the town was under the Augustinians, but was later on abandoned for unknown reasons in 1785. The Dominicans arrived on October 31, 1817 with Reverend Father Mathias Pelaez as the first Parish priest. The town was formally established on March 10, 1817 with Lorenzo Bernardo as Teniente Absoluto.

Tayug also became the inspiration of a local film producer who gave the nation, "Tayug : Ang Bayaning Api" and gained international recognition on Jan. 10, 1931. The film was based on a band of "colorum" rebels who attacked and burned the town's constabulary barracks and burned all the documents of its municipal building.