Pinili, officially the Municipality of Pinili (Ilocano: Ili ti Pinili; Tagalog: Bayan ng Pinili), is a 3rd class 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, and 21 kilometres (13 mi) from Batac.

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'.

Then vicar of the Philippine Revolution Gregorio Aglipay and his Sandataan guerrilla chose the then thickly forested hilly area of Pinili to be his and his guerrillas’ last stand against the advancing American troops who are out to subdue President Emilio Aguinaldo and his followers north of the capital Manila. Some are romanticizing that it was Aglipay 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 on Dec. 20, 1919 his Executive Order No. 92. Felipe Arcangel was appointed by townmate Aglipay as the first town chief executive.

Later on 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 military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactics, and mobility, to fight the larger and less-mobile Japanese troops.

On the first day of 2020, Pinili's history is 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.

Climate

Demographics

Population census of Pinili

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1939	7,890	—
1948	8,318	+0.59%
1960	10,472	+1.94%
1970	12,211	+1.55%
1975	12,741	+0.86%
1980	13,521	+1.20%
1990	14,950	+1.01%
1995	14,817	−0.17%
2000	15,903	+1.53%
2007	16,185	+0.24%
2010	16,732	+1.22%
2015	17,300	+0.64%
2020	17,626	+0.37%
Source: Philippine Statistics Authority

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

5 10 15 20 25 30 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
	Rey A. Gabur
	Julius P. Fernandez
	Amor M. Bagarino
	Jerry P. Fernandez
	Louie Joy D. Pagdilao
	Anunciacion D. Pagdilao
	Reizel A. Cabie