Villalba, Puerto Rico


Villalba is a municipality of Puerto Rico located in the central region, northeast of Juana Díaz; south of Orocovis; and west of Coamo. Villalba is spread over 6 wards and Villalba Pueblo. It is part of the Ponce Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Villalba was founded in 1917 by José Ramón Figueroa y Rivera and Walter McJones. Its current mayor is the Luis Javier Hernàndez.
By 1918, there weren't any highways connecting Villalba to its neighboring towns but by 1927 there were.
Hurricane Maria on September 20, 2017 triggered numerous landslides in Villalba with the significant amount of rainfall.
The entire electrical system was destroyed. Villalba's emergency operations center and an assisted living center were among the many buildings destroyed in Villalba. "From Catastrophe to Hope", a documentary describing the destruction of infrastructure in Villalba, and how volunteers, community members, the mayor, and all emergency service personnel worked to save people's lives, was published in 2019 by Noticias de Villalba, Villalba News. Bridges were destroyed and many areas where vital infrastructure was located were inaccessible. The geography of Villalba made restoring electricity and water services to Villalba extremely challenging. Chaplains, religious leaders of all denominations provided emotional support to all involved.
In 2018, Javier Hernández, the mayor discussed other options for electrical power, such as micro-grids, for Villalba, with the mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey, who reminded him that recovery from such a powerful hurricane would take years. Architect Jonathan Marvel talked about his company's plans to build an off-the-grid, 41-unit building in Villalba on the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria.

Geography

Villalba is located in the central region of Puerto Rico.
Like all municipalities of Puerto Rico, Villalba is subdivided into barrios. The municipal buildings, central square and large Catholic church are located in a barrio referred to as "el pueblo".
  1. Caonillas Abajo
  2. Caonillas Arriba
  3. Hato Puerco Abajo
  4. Hato Puerco Arriba
  5. Vacas
  6. Villalba Abajo
  7. Villalba Arriba
  8. Villalba barrio-pueblo

    Sectors

Barrios in turn are further subdivided into smaller local populated place areas/units called sectores. The types of sectores may vary, from normally sector to urbanización to reparto to barriada to residencial, among others.

Special Communities

Of the 742 places on the list of Comunidades Especiales de Puerto Rico, the following barrios, communities, sectors, or neighborhoods the following were in Villalba: Chino neighborhood, Cooperativa neighborhood, Hato Puerco Arriba, Apeaderos, Sector Cubones in Caonillas Arriba, Palmarejo in Villalba Arriba, Céspedes in Pino, Cerro Gordo and Sector El Semil in Villalba Arriba.

Energy consortium

An Energy Consortium was signed in late February, 2019 by the mayors of Villalba, Orocovis, Morovis, Ciales and Barranquitas municipalities. The consortium is the first of its kind for the island. It is intended to have municipalities work together to safeguard and create resilient, and efficient energy networks, with backups for their communities.

Demographics

Tourism

Landmarks and places of interest

Agriculture

Festivals and events

Villalba celebrates its patron saint festival in July. The Fiestas Patronales de Nuestra Sra. del Carmen is a religious and cultural celebration that generally features parades, games, artisans, amusement rides, regional food, and live entertainment.
Other festivals and events celebrated in Villalba include:
In 2017, Villalba celebrated the 100th year of its founding.

Government

All municipalities in Puerto Rico are administered by a mayor, elected every four years. Waldemar Rivera Torres served as mayor since 2005 to 2012. The current mayor is Javier Hernández who was elected in 2013.
The city belongs to the Puerto Rico Senatorial district VI, which is represented by two Senators. In 2012, Miguel Pereira Castillo and Angel M. Rodríguez were elected as District Senators.

Transportation

There are 23 bridges in Villalba.

Symbols

Flag

Four horizontal, unequal stripes in width, that from top to bottom have the following order: green, white, green and yellow. In the immediate side to the flagstaff, in the superior stripe, appears, in white color, the star of the shield.

Education