Location

Pili is a municipality and the capital of the province of Camarines Sur in the Bicol region of the philippines. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 82,307 people, making Pili the second largest municipality of the province in terms of population. The municipality was classified as 1st class in terms of income classificaton in 2007. Pili is one of the municipalities comprising the metropolitan area of Metro Naga. There are two Bicol languages used all over the municipality, coastal Bikol on the northern part, and Riŋkonāda bicol on the south. Tagalog, Hiligaynon (Bisaya) and Ilocano are used by a few. English language is widely understood. In terms of religion Roman Catholic seems to be dominant.

General Information

Area (sq. kms.): 126.2                                          Population (2000): 67,393 No. of Barangays: 26 (6 urban) Income Class: First District: Second Zip Code: 4418 Area Code: 054 How to Get here BY LAND Distances (Pili to:) Manila: 466 kms. (Goldline Tours, Penafrancia Tours, Superlines Transport) Naga City: 15 kms. BY AIR Philippine Airlines has one 267-km./50-min. flight (using Boeing 737 aircraft) to Pili (gateway to Naga City) from Manila.   Naga airport is located at Brgy. San Jose, Pili 12 kms. southeast of Naga City.  It has a 4,800–ft. long paved runway.

Pili is politically subdivided into 26 barangays :

• Anayan 
• Bagong Sirang
• Binanuaanan
• Binobong
• Cadlan
• Caroyroyan
• Curry
• Del Rosario
• Himaao
• La Purisima
• La Paz
• New San Roque
• Old San Roque (Pob.)
• Palestina
• Pawili
• Sagurong
• Sagrada
• San Agustin
• San Antonio (Pob.)
• San Isidro (Pob.)
• San Jose
• San Juan (Pob.)
• San Vicente (Pob.)
• Santiago (Pob.)
• Santo Niño
• Tagbong
• Tinangis

Cimarrones Festival

PILI, CAMARINES SUR  – this capital town celebrates the Cimarrones Festival in honor of tribesmen who were mentioned on record to have roamed the areas in the slope of Mount Isarog in the 17th century.

Cimarrones are members of a warrior tribe who tried to resist the invasion of Spanish colonizers and it is in honor of the bravery of the natives that the Cimarrones Fesival, now on its 8th year, is held every 3rd week of October.

Last 2012 according to statement of Mayor Bongalonta, 15 public elementary schools and high schools in the 26 villages there participated in the “Cimarrones” street dancing contest to get a piece of the Php. 200,000 worth of cash and government projects that were awarded by the local government to participating schools this year.

Bongalonta said the festival was created as a historical tribute by the people of Pili to their tribal ancestors whose warriors frequently fought the Spanish colonizers at the foot of Mt. Isarog in the 1600s in efforts to resist invasion.

The conversion of the natives to Christianity sometime in 1712 made them the first devotees of Our Lady of Peñafrancia and paved the way for their assimilation to the ways of the colonizers. Spanish missionary Don Miguel Robles de Covarrubias convinced the Cimarrones to build the first nipa chapel for the patroness of Bicolandia, which now stands as the Peñafrancia Shrine in Naga City.

History

History

The first recorded history of Pili started during the promulgation of Christianity in the early 1770s by the Spanish missionaries.
It was believed that its development as a town started when the road from Pili leading to Lagonoy which was also the route to Legazpi City and Naga City was constructed. Furthermore, the establishment of the Philippine National Railways (PNR) station in the municipality paved the way for Pili to become the second largest center of commerce in the province, next to the city of Naga.
It was established in 1919 and was named after the pili nut, now a famous product of the town. On June 6, 1955, Pili was declared the new provincial capital of Camarines Sur by virtue of Republic Act 1336, replacing Naga City.