The former barrio of San Carlos, now the site of the town proper or poblacion was once the biggest and one of the progressive barrios located in the far south of the mother town, San Carlos (now a city).As early as 1918, influential and prominent citizens of the then barrio of Basista came together and made the first attempt to petition the municipal government of San Carlos and the provincial board of Pangasinan to grant the township of their barrios.Prominent politicians during that time volunteered their help in making representations with the proper authorities, but their request was not granted.[5] Four years after, however, the Philippine Supreme Court declared the town's creation as without legal basis citing their ruling in the "Emmanuel Pelaez vs.Poverty incidence of Basista Source: Philippine Statistics Authority[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] Basista, belonging to the second congressional district of the province of Pangasinan, is governed by a mayor designated as its local chief executive and by a municipal council as its legislative body in accordance with the Local Government Code.