# Pinili

Pinili, officially the Municipality of Pinili (Ilocano: Ili ti Pinili; Tagalog: Bayan ng Pinili), is a municipality in the province of Ilocos Norte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 17,626 people.
Pinili is 39 kilometres (24 mi) from Laoag, 456 kilometres (283 mi) from Manila, 21 kilometres (13 mi) from Batac, and 23 kilometres (14 mi) from Nueva Era.

## History

Pinili was once a forested hilly part of the towns of Paoay, Badoc, and Batac. Pinili is both a Tagalog and Ilokano word for 'chosen'.
The then vicar of the Philippine Revolution, Gregorio Aglipay, and his Sandataan guerrilla chose the thickly forested hilly area of Pinili as the location for their last stand against the advancing American troops tasked to subdue President Emilio Aguinaldo and his followers. It is said that it was Aglipay himself who selected the name Pinili, but in fact it was the area's elders themselves who chose to unite and be one municipality after the Philippine-American War for unity and closer cooperation.
Pinili was made an independent town on January 20, 1920, after then Governor General Francis Burton Harrison signed Executive Order No. 92 on December 20, 1919. Felipe Arcangel was appointed by townmate Aglipay as the first town chief executive.
During the Japanese occupation in the 1940s, bolomen from the town, headed by Mariano Gamatero, with three subordinate officers ranked major, Agustin Cabie, Cecilio Vermudez, and Florencio Tacub, fought guerrilla warfare using tactics that included ambuscades, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactics, and mobility, to fight the larger-but-less-mobile Japanese troops.
On January 1, 2020, Pinili's history was re-enacted at the town square after a Thanksgiving Mass in Kullabeng, the site where Aglipay used to meet up with elders of the area before it became a town. It was also there where Aglipay, then no longer a Catholic, celebrated what was to be called the first Aglipayan Mass.

## Geography
### Barangays

Pinili is politically subdivided into 25 barangays.  Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.
* Aglipay
* Apatut-Lubong
* Badio
* Barbar
* Buanga
* Bulbulala
* Bungro
* Cabaroan
* Capangdanan
* Dalayap
* Darat
* Gulpeng
* Liliputen
* Lumbaan-Bicbica
* Nagtrigoan
* Pagdilao (Poblacion)
* Pugaoan
* Puritac
* Puzol
* Sacritan
* Salanap
* Santo Tomas
* Tartarabang
* Upon
* Valbuena (Poblacion)

### Climate

Climate data for Pinili, Ilocos Norte :
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 29 (84) | 31 (88) | 32 (90) | 34 (93) | 32 (90) | 31 (88) | 30 (86) | 30 (86) | 30 (86) | 30 (86) | 30 (86) | 29 (84) | 31 (87) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 18 (64) | 19 (66) | 20 (68) | 23 (73) | 24 (75) | 24 (75) | 24 (75) | 24 (75) | 24 (75) | 22 (72) | 21 (70) | 19 (66) | 22 (71) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 9 (0.4) | 11 (0.4) | 13 (0.5) | 23 (0.9) | 92 (3.6) | 122 (4.8) | 153 (6.0) | 137 (5.4) | 139 (5.5) | 141 (5.6) | 42 (1.7) | 14 (0.6) | 896 (35.4) |
| Average rainy days | 4.6 | 4.0 | 6.2 | 9.1 | 19.5 | 23.2 | 24.0 | 22.5 | 21.5 | 15.2 | 10.5 | 6.0 | 166.3 |
| Source: Meteoblue ||||||||||||||

## Demographics

In the 2020 census, the population of Pinili was 17,626 people, with a density of 200 inhabitants per square kilometre or 520 inhabitants per square mile.

## Economy

Poverty incidence of Pinili
* 10
* 20
* 30
* 40
* 50
* 2000 40.76
* 2003 38.40
* 2006 21.90
* 2009 17.63
* 2012 23.66
* 2015 12.42
* 2018 6.01
* 2021 7.34
* Source: Philippine Statistics Authority

## Government
### Local government

Pinili, belonging to the second congressional district of the province of Ilocos Norte, 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. The mayor, vice mayor, and the councilors are elected directly by the people through an election which is being held every three years.

### Elected officials

Members of the Municipal Council (2019–2022) :
| Position | Name |
| Congressman | Eugenio Angelo M. Barba |
| Mayor | Rommel T. Labasan |
| Vice-Mayor | Maynard Francis R. Bumanglag |
| Councilors | Mel Lawrence O. Coloma |
| Councilors | Rey A. Gabur |
| Councilors | Julius P. Fernandez |
| Councilors | Amor M. Bagarino |
| Councilors | Jerry P. Fernandez |
| Councilors | Louie Joy D. Pagdilao |
| Councilors | Anunciacion D. Pagdilao |
| Councilors | Reizel A. Cabie |