ABOUT CAMILING

On the western reaches of Tarlac Province lies the historic ton of Camiling. Early in the eighteenth century, this thriving community was a sitio of Paniqui, contrary to the popular belief that it was a part a Bayambang, Pangasinan. The discovery of a Spanish document in 1937 attested to the fact that inhabitants of Camiling paid their tributes to Paniqui. In the beginning, the community was a vast area of cogon growth interposed with thick forestalls areas stretching far as the Zambales mountain ranges. A wide river cut peacefully through it.

The early inhabitants of the place were known as “Aetas” who depended as for their living on fruit trees and by hunting and fishing. With the coming of the Pangasinenses and ilocanos from the north, the “Aetas” who used to roam freely in the wilderness obliged themselves to move to the interior. The new settlers first occupied the swampy land, now known as “Cacamilingan” on the opposite side of the river. With the passage of time, these settlers moved to the opposite shore considering that most often, disastrous floods were visiting the present site. To this new location, the residents therein built a little church or “vista” with the villagers taking “St. Micheal” as the Patron Saint.

The town Camiling owes its name after the name of a tree called “Camiring" which grew abundantly in the wilderness. The letter “R” in ‘CAMIRING’ was changed to “L” for its liquid sound. As this settlement attained progress, Camiling became a District Commission from 1834 – 1837. It was founded by Don Francisco Soriano, an adventurous barangay leader who incidentally became the town’s first District Commissioner, followed by Domingo Claudio, Bernabe Bugarin and Pascual Cabacungan.

In 1838, Camiling became an independent town, formally separated from the town of Paniqui and with Don Vicente Galsim as the first Governadorcillo. Thirty-eight (38) others followed him. Don Buenaventura Torres was the last to serve under the Spanish regime and the first Presidente Municipal under the Revolutionary Government by Aguinaldo. Of historical importance, the Camiling Catholic Convent was the death place of Gen. Pedro Pedroche and his men for being accused as rebels.

Camiling is a first class municipality in the western part of the province of Tarlac in the Philippines. It is about 150 kilometers north-northwestern of Manila, and about 50 kilometers south-southwest of Dagupan City of Pangasinan. It is the commercial center of an area composed of about eight (8) towns, and borders the Province of Pangasinan. It is he gateway to central and western Pangasinan through the Romulo-Highway (former Highway 13). It borders San Clemente on the West, Bayambang from the north, Sta. Ignacia and Mayantoc to the south and Paniqui by the east.