Laguna is now “a land of opportunity and enterprise.” It has eighteen industrial parks, yielding various products that range from foodstuffs, handicrafts, semi-conductors, home appliances, and automobiles. Indeed, it is a place for business ventures and investment, endowed with abundant natural wealth and diverse human talent.

      Although Laguna has maintained its agricultural lands that generate ample fruits, grains and vegetables, and awesome sceneries that draw local and foreign tourists, it is far fetch in contrast to the Laguna, Captain Juan de Salcedo discovered when he explored the largest freshwater lake in the Philippines and second in Asia, in August 19, 1571 Laguna de Bay.

      Salcedo, grandson of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, the Philippines’ first Spanish designated governor sailed on the lake through the Pasig River to discover populated communities on its shores. The lake might be nameless then. Tagalogs (literally “Taga-ilog” or from the riverside) residing on the lakeshore must have referred to the lake “Lawa,” “Looc” or “Baybay.” The Spaniards called it Laguna, Spanish for lagoon or lake. Since Salcedo chose to land in Bay, (could have been “Baybay” meaning lakeside) he named the lake “Laguna de Bay,” where the province got its name “La Provincia de la Laguna De Bay” until March 5, 1856 when Regent Queen Maria Cristina of Spain issued a royal decree that created and classified 19 civil provinces in the Philippines.

      At the time of Salcedo’s sojourn in the villages by the lake, Laguna de Bay and Pasig River were the natives’ expressway to Maynilad (Manila). This body of water was also the trading route of Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese merchants bartering their potteries and other goods with local products in the 14th and 15th Century.
The natives must have spent several hours or so paddling on the lake and river water to reach Manila, and the Chinese junks to sail from Manila Bay through the Pasig to reach the villages around the lake. Today, we only need 30 minutes of comfortable travel via the South Luzon Expressway to reach the province once called “La Provincia de la Laguna de Bay.”

      Let us travel back in time and discover the beginnings of the once small villages around the lake that has grown into progressive towns and cities of the province now called… LAGUNA