Place:Camiling, Tarlac, Central Luzon, Philippines

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source: Family History Library Catalog

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Camiling, officially the Municipality of Camiling, is a 1st class municipality in the province of Tarlac in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 87,319 people.

Camiling is one of the fastest-growing towns of Tarlac when it comes to income and economy. It is also considered one of the richest when it comes to cultural heritage in the entire province. The town is also dubbed to be the "Old Lady in the Northwestern province of Tarlac" because it is one of the oldest municipality created by the Spanish government under the province of Pangasinan where it previously included the former barrio of Mayantoc, San Clemente, and Santa Ignacia. The municipality also features cultural antiquity such as its churches, ancestral houses, and ruins. However, the baroque church of Camiling has yet to be restored after 20 years since a fire burned its interior. The inside of the church, one of the only two Spanish churches left in Tarlac, has become a cesspool for human waste, while the facade (front) and buttresses (side supports) have been occupied by business establishments. One buttress has been converted by a business store into a toilet. Heritage advocates and Camiling locals have been campaigning for the restoration of the church after the reports came out in March 2018.

Camiling is the major municipality in north-western Tarlac. It is the commercial center of an area composed of about eight towns, and borders the province of Pangasinan. It is the gateway to central and western Pangasinan through the Romulo Highway (formerly Highway 13). It is also known for its famous "Chicharon Camiling" and its green native rice cake called "Nilubyan".

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

During the classical era, the area used to be lush in tropical rainforest and was used mainly by the local Pangasinense people. When the polity of Caboloan was established in 1406, the area was incorporated as part of the kingdom. It was ruled by a series of native huangs (kings/queens), namely, Urduja, Kamayin, Taymey, and Liyu. Majority of its rulers are unnamed as no document of them were properly recorded. For a short period, an emperor in China became an honorary ruler as well. In 1575, the Chinese pirate Limahong attacked the polity and declared himself as ruler of the Caboloan realms. The kingdom was eventually abolished in 1576, when the Spanish attacked and ransacked the kingdom's capital of Binalatongan (present-day San Carlos, Pangasinan). It was later on incorporated into the Spanish Empire.

Early in the 18th century, the community was a sitio of Paniqui; before and after, Paniqui was also part of Bayambang. The town's name is derived from a tree called kamiring which at that time grew abundantly in the wilderness and subsequently changed to Camiling.

The community was originally a vast area of Cogon growth interposed with thick forestalls areas stretching into the Zambales mountain ranges. A wide river cut through it. The early inhabitants of the place were the Aetas who make a living by gathering fruit from fruit trees, hunting, and fishing. With the coming first of the Pangasinenses and later the Ilocanos from the north, the Aetas who used to roam freely in the wilderness obliged themselves to move into the interior. The new settlers first occupied the swampy land, now known as "Cacamilingan" on the right side of the river. In time, these settlers began moving to the left opposite shore because of more frequent disastrous floods. To this new location, the residents therein built a small church with Saint Michael as the patron saint.

Camiling became a District Commission from 1834 to 1837 founded by Don Francisco Soriano, the then Cabeza de Barangay who became the town's first District Commissioner. In 1838, Camiling became an independent town, formally separated from the mother town of Paniqui and with Don Vicente Galsim, as the first Gobernadorcillo. Thirty-eight others followed him. Don Jose Sabado, the last to serve under the Spanish regime and the first Presidente Municipal under the Revolutionary Government by Aguinaldo.

Camiling was a first-class municipality during the 1970s but was reclassified when the Local Government Code went into effect in the early 1990s. It became again a first-class municipality again on November 20, 2001, by virtue of the Latest Income Class Classification (L.I.C.C.) initiated by the Department of Finance; the Local Government Unit of Camiling was reclassified from a second class municipality to a first-class municipality, having attained an annual income of 50,942,508.51 pesos. In 2008, Camiling's income was more than 72,463,893,00 pesos with average growth of more than 5.164% per year (2001–2008).

Camiling is an inhabited place.

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