Jones, Isabela

[3] The town derived its named in honor of William Atkinson Jones, an American legislator who authored the Philippine Autonomy Act of 1916.

It was initially divided into 21 barrios with virgin forests and wide fertile plains, with Cabanuangan serving as the Municipal Government's seat.

It was originally composed of 21 barrios of virgin forests and wide fertile plains with Cabanuangan as the seat of the municipal government.

[5] The house of one Tirso Mateo served as the first town hall, with the following as the first municipal officials: President - Don Antonio Vallejo; Vice President - Benito Tiburcio; Secretary - Francisco Gumpal; Treasurer - Pio Tomines; Justice of Peace - Daniel Apostol; Chief of Police - Zoilo Gadingan; and Modesto Payuyo, Antonio Pintang, Gregorio Santos, Dionicio Cristobal, Valentin Torio, and Damaso Leano as councilors.

During rainy days, these roads and trails easily turned into knee-deep mud fit only for wallowing carabaos.

The vast virgin forests and fertile soil of the place were populated and harnessed and cultivated by the indigenous Pugots (Aetas) and Ilongots (Bugkalots), and the Yogads who are natives of southern Isabela, particularly the towns of Echague, Angadanan and San Guillermo, and the enterprising Ilocanos who migrated overland for a couple of centuries all the way from the Ilocos region in northwestern Luzon.

When the Japanese Imperial Army invaded the Philippines in 1941, Jones became a shelter for the national and provincial officials and for evacuees from other places until 1942.

It was subsequently occupied by the Japanese forces, but its forested areas continued to be a stronghold of Filipino guerillas and American soldiers who for a while were under the command of Brigadier General Guillermo Nakar.

In 1945, Filipino troops of the 11th Infantry Regiment, Philippine Commonwealth Army, USAFIP-NL are liberated and recaptured Jones from the Japanese forces.

Poverty incidence of Jones Source: Philippine Statistics Authority[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] Jones is primarily an agricultural municipality best suited for the intensive production of rice and corn as evidence by its topographic map which shows that 73% of the agricultural area of 16,848 hectares is under 0-3 slope category.

The Pinilisa Festival is an acknowledgment of the culture of Jonesians and celebrated every March 17 to rejoice over the bountiful harvests of Pinilisa, a unique organic plum-colored rice known not only in the region but also in other countries, due to its unique fragrance and flavor compared to ordinary rice.

Its gustatory features make it a favorite staple food and primary ingredient for native rice cakes and other products.

The festival was easily produced and marked the history of the town of Jones and one among the line-up of the Department of Tourism Wow!