The town's name also came from the Ilocano phrase “mangga ken tirem”, which means "mango and oyster".The town's poblacion area continues to attract major food, retail, and service establishments from Metro Manila and nearby cities within the province of Pangasinan.This is one of the reasons that major commercial establishments started to take notice of the municipality and decided to set up their branches here.Mangatarem, 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.A number of local property owners have also developed their own pocket resorts outside of the poblacion area and opened these to the general public.