People of this town had known many stories of how Orion got its name. Some folks say that Udyong was the first name adapted by this town. It came from the words "lu-ad" and "uryong" which meant muddy, because of the fact that the place was muddy and swampy during those times. Another popular story was that during the Spanish regime, some Spanish soldiers happened to pass by this town. They did not know the name of the place so they asked the people they saw in the ricefields. One of the soldiers pointed his finger to the ground and asked "Que es el llama pueblo". Not understanding Spanish the people thought that the soldier was referring to something he saw on the ground that happens to be a worm. They hurriedly answered "uod yon", referring to the worm. When the soldiers heard the word, they thought that the citizens were referring to the name of the town, and left the place numbling to themselves "Uod, uod yon". Thus, the town was known as Udyong and was later chang ed to Orion.

Background

The date of official recognition of the municipality of Orion could not be ascertained, however, records showed that this municipality was founded by a Dominican priest on April 30, 1667. On September 16, 1852, a strong earthquake shook the whole archipelago and caused the destruction of the parochial church and was later rebuilt by Fr. Ulpiano Herrera, the parish priest of the place at that time. In 1892, forty years later, a big fire practically burned the whole town, that only three houses remained safe. It was Fr. Jose Campomanes who tried to reconstruct the town from the ashes and ruins of the fire and transformed it into a beautiful and prosper one. This was the beginning of progress.

Present

The town of Orion has contributed a great man to the country in the form of Don Cayetano Arellano, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who was born in this town on March 2, 1847. Another hero was Francisco Balagtas, greatest Filipino poet and author of the renowned "Florante at Laura". He married Juana Tiambeng, a pretty lass of Orion, and lived here from July 1842 to February 1862.

It is 132 kilometers from Manila and approximately 31.2 nautical miles across Manila Bay. It is about 8 kilometers from Balanga, the provicial capital, and bounded on the north by Pilar and Limay on the south.
Has a total land area of 6,540 hectares and covers 23 barangays.
As of September 1995, Orion recorded a total population of 39,537. About 65% of these belong to the labor force, of which 7,100 are skilled workers and 4,700 are semi-skilled.

Major Industries

Medium-scale manufacturing and trading are the dominant business activities in Orion. These include garments manufacturing, meat processing, retailing and agri-related activities like poultry and hog raising.