During the Hispanic period, Pangil became a staging ground of the Spanish missionaries in Christian Evangelization drive in 1578 in the present-day provinces of Rizal, Laguna and Quezon (then known as Tayabas), until it gained recognition as a town through the Franciscan friars in the year 1579.

One of the revered myths in the town of Pangil is the belief that in the year 1724, Prince Carlos, the son of King Philip V of Spain, was banished from his country and was sent to the Philippines.

The young prince stayed in the town for three years and resided with the Franciscans in the adjoining convent of the Paroquia del Nuestra Señora de la Natividad Church considered then as the biggest in Laguna.

The prince was a known hunter and he enjoyed his stay in the Sierra Madre mountain range that was known as a good hunting ground for wild animals and fowls.

With his ascension to the throne of Spain as King Charles III, he ordered his emissaries to send the statue of Nuestra Seńora de la O (Our Lady of Expectation) and the statue of Santo Nińo de la O (Holy Child of Expectation) as a sign of gratitude and appreciation to the Pangilenians for the hospitality and kindness that was accorded to him.

Although this story is a source of pride among the Pangilenos, there is nothing in the historical records of the archives of the Franciscan Province in the Philippines or the Archdiocese of Manila, or the Ministerio del Ultramar in Madrid that could corroborate this folk history.