PAING

        Barangay Paing is one of the oldest Barangays of the Municipality located along the national highway that is bordered on the South by a river.  It is believed that as early as 1616, the Augustinian friars, who worked for the establishment of the Bantay parish, frequented the place for their yearly Christian retreat due to the fresh air coming from the hills and fine scent of the mountains, combined with the cool breeze of the Abra river.

        It is said that during the Philippines-Spanish revolution, Barangay Paing served as headquarters and hideout of first Ilocano rebel Diego Silang and his wife, Gabriela, together with other revolutionaries, taking advantage of its terrains and strategic location being near the Abra river.

        Its estimated land area is about 1,054 hectares with a voting population of 785.  In the early days, the territorial coverage of this barangay was very extensive as it include Barangays Naguiddayan, Taleb and Banaoang, its former sitios. With the passage RA 3590 (1963, The Revised Barrio Charter, supra, at page 9) the aforementioned Barangays were separated from Paing due to expanding population and for better governance, but up to now, it is still collectively referred as ‘Barangay Paing’ by some of  its constituents. Some of the women residents are still into weaving abel iloco, while some men are into fishing because of its stretch of shoreline.  It is one of the only three Barangays of the town that is blessed with aquatic resources (aside from Brgys. Banaoang and San Mariano) and because a portion of its land lies in a coastal area, it has abundant quarry (aggregates) resources from its riverbeds. Most of its inhabitants are into farming but many have sought work or migrated abroad, hence, it is no surprise why enormous residential houses abound herein. There is also a private housing (subdivision) development project. During the dry season (summer) it is only here where the fruit tree - 'sarguelas' is harvested and paraded for sale along the national highway.

        Bantay is one of the very few towns in the country with two (2) established Roman Catholic parochial parishes. In here, lies Christ the King Parish- whose vicariate address is at Barangay Paing (but actually the parish site is at Brgy. Taleb, refer at page 71), which was inaugurated by Archbishop Santiago Sancho and Auxiliary Bishop Juan C. Sison, on December 12, 1953.  Some religious sect and worship houses of other denominations could also be found in this Barangay.