Laguna de Bay

 

Laguna de Bay has taken its name from the lake that it surround on the northern part of the land. The province today is located southeast of metro Manila and is home to many tourists spots. The province is best known for the birthplace of the country’s national hero; Jose Rizal. Many of its tourists spots contain a lot of historical value.

 

 

In devotion to the country’s national hero, the Rizal Shrine is located in Calamba Laguna (not to be confused with the other shrines located in Intramuros, Manila). Rizal lived in the Calamba house until he started his formal studies in Binan. At the age of nine, he left for Manila to study at the Ateneo Municipal. Further studies would take him as far away as Europe. Yet throughout his life, during the many years spent in foreign lands and in exile in Dapitan, he longed for his home in Calamba. The Rizal House, now a shrine, recaptures the era of Jose’s boyhood. It is built along the architectural style of the Spanish period.The ground floor holds various exhibits, facsimile of Rizal’s manuscripts and drawings, meanwhile the second floor is devoted to the family’s living quarters. The gallery contain artifacts from the hero’s later years such as a fragment of the coat he was wearing when he was executed.

 

 

Another tourist spot worth going to is the pagsanjan falls. Probably the most famous natural attraction in Laguna. However, it is actually located in Cavinti, an adjacent town to Pagsanjan, and the falls' indigenous name is Magdapio Falls. Pagsanjan, Laguna is the jump-off point to Pagsanjan Falls. According to history, the Pagsanjan Falls is rich in legendary lore. Long, long ago, recounts one legend, there were no falls. There were only the foliaged highlands, the twin rivers called Bumbungan and Balanac, and the alluvial delta where the town of Pagsanjan now nestles.   

 

 

The underground cemetery is a historical landmark of spanish colonial architecture. Fr. Vicente Velloc supervised the establishment of the cemetery. He made it as a resting place for the people of the town while the cemetery below the cathedral will house the spanish friars and prominent people at the time. During the Philippine Revolution, the cemetery served as a meeting place of revolutionary leaders of the Katipunan in 1896. Pedro Paterno and Gen. Severino Taiño of the "Maluningning" command held a meeting at the cemetery where they planned the historic Pact of Biak-na-Bato in 1897.