Bay () (), officially the Municipality of Bay (), and colloquially known as Bae, is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Laguna, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 67,182 people.
It is situated from Santa Cruz and southeast of Manila. It is also located at the east of Los Baños, west of Calauan, northeast of Santo Tomas and northwest of Alaminos. The patron saint of Bay is Saint Augustine of Hippo, whose his Feast Day is celebrated during August 28.
Laguna de Bay, the country's largest freshwater lake, is named after the town.
Etymology
In the old Tagalog language, the name Bay derives from the same phonetic roots as "baybay" (shore) and as "babae" (woman) and "babaylan" (priestess). The name can thus be thought of either as a reference to the shore of the lake, or to a great lady. In the case of the latter, it has been suggested that the great lady might be the same as Maria Makiling, as her mountain was within the scope of Bay's original territory.
History
Just like the rest of the archipelago, the town of Bay has no record before the coming of Spaniards in the 18th century. Bay existed long before the coming of Spaniards. The Chinese must have come to the lakeshore towns to trade as early as the 9th century. The earliest account of Bay appeared in the conquest of island of Luzon published in April 20, 1572. It was described a great lake of fresh water, 12-league wide and very deep. The villages around the lake had about 25,000 inhabitants when Captain Juan de Salcedo arrived in the area.
Bay is one of the oldest towns in Laguna province, and was the province's first capital. Its original territory covered the areas that are now known as Los Baños, Calauan, Alaminos and San Pablo (in addition to its current territory). The Spaniards pronounced the name of the town "Bah-ee" while the natives called it "Bah-eh." Either way, the similarity in spelling has led to the misconception that the town was named after Laguna de Bay. Instead, the Spaniards named the lake after this ancient Tagalog community.
The "official" recorded history of Bay, may be gleaned from Gaspar de San Agustin's Conquestas de las Islas Filipinas of 1963 and Fr. Joaquin Martines de Zuniga's status of the Philippine Islands in 1800. Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, after establishing the city of Manila on June 24, 1571, ordered the exploration and pacification of the surrounding villages and settlements. Martin de Goiti led a contingent towards Pampanga while Juan de Salcedo Legaspi's 22-year-old grandson led a contingent up to the Pasig River towards the inter lands of Laguna de Bay.
With him was Fr. Alonzo Alvarado, an Augustinian who was very zealous in converting the natives. From Taytay and Cainta in Manila, Salcedo proceeded to Bay, Liliw, Nagcarlan and Majayjay and to other towns where up-on Fr. Alvarado's intercession, the natives surrendered peacefully with Fray Diego de Espinar and 60 men. He followed the rugged trails of the mountainous village of Sampaloc towards the Bicol Region to look for gold which he found in the gold mines besides the Bicol River.
In 1571, Fr. Martin de Rada, the superior of the Augustinian religious order who came with the Legaspi expedition in 1565, started to build a bamboo and nipa church under the patronage of Saint Augustine along the lakeshore of Bay (i.e. Aplaya, now San Antonio). He became the first parish priest of Bay. On April 30, 1578, Fr. Joaquin de Zuniega stated in the Historical view of the Philippine Island that Bay was organized both as a town and a parish with Fray Juan Gallegos as the parish priest. On the same day, the village of Sampaloc (now San Pablo) was made a visita of the lake side village where it was believed that the tribunal of Ecclesiastical visitors of Bay was held. Fray Gaspar de San Agustin further wrote that in 1586, the Augustinian Fathers organized the visita into a convent with a priest. The provincial Fr. Diego Alvarez to handle the administration of the Christian natives. Thus, Sampaloc which came to be known as San Pablo de los Montes, ceased to be part of the Bay parish.
The powerful Gat Pangil was Datu of this already thriving community in 1571 when 18-year-old Spanish Capitan Juan de Salcedo landed with Augustinian missionaries Alfonso de Alvarado and Diego Espinar came to claim the territories for Spain. It was salcedo who took the name of the town and named the lake after it – Laguna de Bay (the Lake of [the town of] Bay). Eventually, the Spanish came to call the whole province "La Provincia de la Laguna de Bay."