History of Barangay Cristo Rey

Formerly known as Camp O’Donnell, Cristo Rey used to be a naval Transmitting Facility by virtue of the 1947 Military Bases Agreement between the Philippines and the United States of America which is well-recognized in World History.

And because of the Mount Pinatubo eruption (June 1991), President Corazon C. Aquino issued the Proclamation No.813 “Reserving the Resettlement Site purposes of Mount Pinatubo victims a certain portion of Clark Air Base Military Reservation located in the Municipality of Capas, Province of Tarlac” in consideration of the urgent need to assist families affected by the Mt. Pinatubo eruption though providing them with suitable resettlement areas.

From this, the O’Donnell Resettlement Site (the biggest with a maximum capacity of accommodating 13,000 families) was established and gave refuge to many evacuees and victims of the eruption from different barangays of Concepcion and Capas. The community was divided into 147 blocks representing a cluster of settlers grouped according to their place of origin.

And come August 7, 2003, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan Members of Tarlac unanimously approved the Provincial Ordinance No. 004-2003, creating O’Donnell Resettlement Area in Barangay to be named Barangay Cristo Rey.

Today, the Barangay houses not only residents but also some commercial establishments such as the Northern Cup and the Philippines’ largest and best drug reformatory- the Capas Bahay Pagbabago.