San Clemente Tarlac Philippines
Brief history of San Clemente Tarlac
Story passed from one generation to another indicate that this town was so named
as a bestowal of people’s gratitude to the heroics of a figure who emerged with
a sword in hand battle-ready sentinel at the approach of the bridge separating
Tarlac from Pan-gasinan. This giant figure scared the advancing bandits that saw
them scampering in dif-ferent directions. Thus, foiling the sinister attempt of
these bad elements from ransack-ing the town as it was their usual operation
during the time. Upon witnesses’ account, the man was later identified with high
degree of certainty as Saint Clement of Rome.
The Philippines’ cessation to the U.S. in 1898 relegated the town to a mere
ba-rangay of Camiling for reason of underdevelopment. Two years later, however,
civil government was restored throughout the archipelago. The inhabitants of
San Clemente led by Don Jacinto Dumlao, made representations with higher
authorities to re-establish the “municipality” status of the town. This
objective they later on achieved during the latter part of 1914 by virtue of Act
No. 82 of the Philippine Commission upon the ex-press orders from President
McKinley of the United States of America.
Records indicate that the early settlers of this town, said to be the Dumlao,
Trini-dad, Loria, Espiritu, Martin, etc., were mostly of the Ilocano stock who
have come from the Ilocos Region in a quest for better economic opportunities in
the abundantly fertile agricultural lands. These prominent people are indeed
endowed with the vision to trans-form their adopted abode into a wholesome place
to live. Thus, local governance has al-ways been viewed at the socio-economic
development perspective. The local chief ex-ecutive position then did not only
entail the laborious task of administration but also the shelling-out of sizable
pecuniary contributions to pursue a project … up to the extent of donating
tracks of land for public utilization. The public plaza, market, municipal
build-ing, school buildings, church, etc. are constructed on donated lands.
Structures in the locality reminiscent of the past era of colonization such as
church, school buildings, houses, bridges, etc. have gradually given way to the
modern day’s engineering designs for relative purposes. The venerable tradition
of the Filipino hospitality however, remained alive and in practice – where
every visitor is genially ac-corded the honored guest treatment.
To these days, the descendants of the early families still maintain their
residency to perpetuate the legacy of productivity left by their ancestors.
Consciously instilled, in-dustry, which characterizes their Ilocano
predecessors, is likewise evident. Through the years, the industrious
townspeople toiled enough to realize the economic sufficiency everyone aims for.
Modesty aside, modern day technological advances for domestic comforts are
ubiquitous in majority of the households. While at the outset, the people rely
mainly on farming as a source of livelihood; nowadays, local labor resources
have gone their way overseas for better and more lucrative opportunities to
improve their lot.
The municipality of San Clemente owes its growth mainly to the industry
of its townspeople and to the public officials who took the cudgel one after
another in the quest for prosperity. The election held in 1915 catapulted the
first highest municipal official by the title, Pre-sidente Municipal, the
equivalent of Municipal Mayor in today’s structure.
