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English: 1894 Saint Catherine of Alexandria Church of Gerona[1] [2]Vicariate of St. Catherine of Alexandria Vicar Forane: Father Alfredo Dizon Saint Catherine of Alexandria Parish (F-1894) Titular: Saint Catherine of Alexandria, November 24 Parish Priest: Father Alfredo Dizon[3][4]Parish Priest: Rev. Fr. Ramon Capuno Parochial Vicar: Rev. Fr. Paulo Dela Cruz[5]Don Federico Bartolome Street, McArthur Highway, Gerona, Tarlac 2302, Philippines[6][7][8][9]Roman Catholic Diocese of Tarlac [10][11]Most Rev. Florentino F. Cinense, D.D., PhD, STL [Gerona, Tarlac[12] is the home of aesthetic crafts[13]Historically, the original name of Gerona was paontalon. Old folks claim that Paontalon was probably a Negrito word. This is reinforced by Dominican sources, which recorded the presence of Negritos in the area as early as 1704. The Dominicans reported that they covered a place called Paontalon, whose inhabitants were all Negritos. By 1718, Paontalon was listed as a visita of Paniqui (at that time, a town of the province of Pangasinan). In 1753, Pontalon was relocated and renamed Barug, a Pangasinan word for “little forest.” Sources do not give any explanation why this was done subsequently; settlers from Ilocos were attracted to Barug, especially those from the towns of Bacarra, Badoc, and Sinait. Gradually, the settlers who grew in numbers occupied the forest. The Dominicans supervised the visita in Barug, which only had some seventy families. The number rose to 461 in 1787. The Dominicans chose St. Catherine of Alexandria, virgin and martyr as the patron saint of Barug. The parish priest of Paniqui came once a week to say mass in the visita. In 1846, a parish priest was permanently assigned to attend to the spiritual needs of the community. The assignment of a parish priest to Barug coincided with the traditional date of its founding as a civil town. Thus, most town histories record the founding date of Gerona as 1846. However, Jean Mallat, in his travel account, explained that Barug (which he spelled as Baruc) was a town already existing in 1838 with 252 tribute payers and 1, 260 inhabitants. In any case, the name Barug was later changed to Gerona in 1851, after the Spanish hometown of the governor general, Claveria. A document signed by a certain Father Ciano dated June 13, 1877, described the ethnic groups residing inGeronaas speakers of four languages: Pangasinan, Ilocano, Tagalog, and Pampango. Of these, Ilocano was the most widespread. Similarly, this account still holds true even nowadays. Based on the 1995 census, about 78.09% of the total household population speaks Ilocano, while Tagalog is spoken about 12.59% of the population, followed by the Kapampangans with 8.83%, respectively. Gerona was officially created as an independent municipality on July 14, 1945. Its first appointed gobernadorcillo was Don Anacleto Melegrito. Basically, it is an agricultural hamlet. This is why its huge flat rice lands are suitable and attractive to native and migratory birds called great heron. Hence, the Spanish word Gerona. Considered as the halfway to the northern and southern Luzon areas, it is a fast growing town that teemed with thriving and blooming trade and industry. It prides itself with its aesthetic crafts in Christmas lantern making and the cabiaoan tradition of sugar cane production. Gerona is a first-class municipality in the province of Tarlac, Philippines. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 83,084 people. The MacArthur Highway goes through the center of the town. Gerona has a land area of 12,889 hectares (31,850 acres) of plain and rugged agricultural land representing 4.63% of the province total area. The Tarlac River, which originates from the eastern slopes of the Zambales Mountain, cuts across the west central areas, dividing the town into two parts.[14]Area: 128.89 km² ZIP Code: 2302[15]The history of the Municipality of Gerona can be traced back during the reign of the Spaniards, when the Dominican Missionaries in the Philippines started to propagate the Catholic faith in the whole archipelago in 1704.[16]This place is situated in Tarlac, Region 3, Philippines, its geographical coordinates are 15° 36' 23" North, 120° 36' 0" East and its original name (with diacritics) is Gerona. original name: Gerona - geographical location: Tarlac, Region 3, Philippines, Asia geographical coordinates: 15° 36' 23" North, 120° 36' 0" East[17]Isdaan Floating Restaurant]