Burgos : Padre Jose Burgos

Long ago in the early part of the last century, a mighty sailor from Paoay, Ilocos Norte, by the name Matias Guiang, by means of his "ponting" plied regularly the China Sea between the Ilocos and Zambales for the purpose of trade.

The Ilocano sailor was popularly known as Matias Gosing due to his congenital defect (cleft palate). Upon his return to the Ilocos he told stories of his flourishing trade and decided to migrate with his neighbors, relatives and friends to Northern Zambales, now the western part of the province of Pangasinan.

These settlers landed at Agno, proceeded up the river and settled in the wide plateau covered with virgin forest which was traversed by a stream now called "Amborayan". The Amborayan is very different from other streams because its waters flow to a precipice about a hundred meters deep so that it looks to be a broken stream. No one could go down the stream until its junction at the big river because of the precipice, hence it was popularly called a "potot" stream.

It was discovered that the settlement was between the municipalities of Agno, Mabini, formerly Balincaquin, and Dasol. More and more settlers came after Matias Guaing and their number increased so many times that in about the year 1830 the said Matias Guiang led a petition to the Honorable Governor of Zambales praying for the establishment of their settlement into a pueblo. Their request was granted and the new town was named San Isidro after the name of their Patron Saint San Isidro, and Matias Guaing or better known as Don Matias Gosing became the first gobernadorcillo.

Because of confusion with the municipality of San Labrador along the Lingayen Gulf, the people suffixed their town's name San Isidro by the Ilocano word "potot" which refers to the popular description of their place. This, however, did not solve the confusion, and mails for San Isidro Labrador were sometimes missent to San Isidro Potot and vice versa.

Occasionally travelers who had never gone to the town mistook San Isidro Labrador for San Isidro Potot. For this reason in 1913 during the administration of Presidente Municipal Don Anacleto Ruiz, the name of the town was changed to Burgos after the name of the Filipino hero Father Burgos. #