Palauig originated from the word “Manglawig”, or going to the field and tether a carabao.  The natives answered “Manglawig” when a Spanish soldier with a reconnaissance mission asked about the name of the place. The native misunderstood the question because the soldier had a roll of rope hanging on his body for, he was on his way to tether his carabao on the field.  Accordingly, the soldier reported Palauig instead of “Manglawig”.

The Municipality of Palauig used to be just a sitio of Sto. Nino (now one of the barrios of Palauig) inhabited by the aborigines called the Aetas.

After the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the so- called galleon trade from Acapulco, Mexico has started and continued for so many years at the harbor site of Sitio Sto. Nino, Palauig barrio and at present Municipality of Palauig.

One day, Napoleon Jimenez, the patron of one of the galleons landed in an island (without name) but later it was named as the Island of San Juan. After so many years, this island was underwater and the inhabitants inhabited the shore formerly called Bitaoy (name of a tree). Therefore, there were two sitios, already found; the first one was the Sitio of Sto. Nino and the other was the Sitio of Bitaoy. Napoleon Jimenez married a native girl in one of the sitios thus came the origin of the Municipality of Palauig.

These sitios were the nucleus of the creation expanded to many other barrios. The barrio of Sto. Nino was later transferred under the jurisdiction of the Municipality of Iba in 1913, under Municipal President Marcelino Gregorio, Barrio Sto. Nino became a municipality called Palauig. Some of the descendants of Napoleon Jimenez were graced with luck and political power, as they became the ruler of this municipality time and again until to the present.

In the early days, this place was known as “VANGAO”. The so called Recollects established this place as a religious mission center in 1653 but were abandoned when the residents fled to the mountains out of fear of a Spanish Commandant who came to watch the galleons. In 1759. It was organized into a sitio renamed San Juan and continued to be the supply statiom of the Acapulco Galleons. Then it was organized as a barrio and given the name Sto. Niño encroaching the entire settlement area and San Juan was retained as part of the same.

During that period, a certain group of Spanish soldiers who were known to be patrol mission arrived in this place. They met a native bearing a roll of rope on his shoulder as he was then on his way to his farm.

The officer, in Spanish language, then asked the native about the name of the place. The native didn’t understand what has been said but thought it was he rope that was the subject of the inquiry. So he said it. Is “LALAWIG” meaning, a tethering rope.

The solders unfortunately didn’t get the word right, nevertheless, they were satisfied with the belief that they got the answer they needed. They didn’t know that they missed the first letter that instead of “L” they wrote down on their notebook the word that begins with letter “P” thus the word “PALAUIG” was born and the same became the official name of this place since then up to the present.

The early known settlers in this place were the seventeen (17) families who migrated from the Municipality of Masinloc aside from the Aetas who occupied nearby areas since time immemorial. So far, those former residents of Masinloc constituted the biggest group who came to settle in their place. Those families like the Mendoza’s, Aragon’s, Antiquerra’s, Gregorio’s, Navarro’s, Del Fierro’s, Marcia’s, Miranda’s and other came from different provinces in the south like Pamp-anga, Bulacan, Cavite, Batting’s and still some from Ilocos Region particularly the province of Vigan. Those who came from Masinloc and the Ilocos Region were known to be engaged in fishing as their principal occupation so that they settled I laces near the sea. The former settled in the area now known as Barangay Garreta while the latter settled themselves in the place formerly known as Sitio Bitaoy now knoen as Barangay San Juan. The rest who were known to be farmers or inclined to own tracts of land and perform farming works, preferred to occupy areas suitable for conversation into farm lands and also grazing lands.