Native hunters used numerous cave-ins or trap-ins called ”bitag” in the local dialect. Hence, the place was referred to as ”Mabitag” meaning ”a place with many traps”. Mabitac is situated on the eastern side of the province of Laguna, 88 kilometres (55 mi) from Manila using Rizal Province on a winding road of Manila East Road, and Antipolo City or 123 kilometres (76 mi) via the South Luzon Express, Calamba and Santa Cruz, Laguna.
■ History
The first Spaniards who came to this place were the friars who established the first Spanish settlement in the area and began to Christianize the local population. The Spaniards, having difficulty in pronouncing the ”G” consonant, called this place ”Mabitac” whenever they mentioned this place. Eventually, the name found its way in the official records and maps of Laguna made by Spanish cartographers and mariners who chartered the coastal areas of Laguna de Bay. This town was formerly a barrio of Siniloan, an immediate neighboring town. It became an independent municipality only in the year 1611, not by legislation, but by mutual agreement by and between the Spanish friars of both towns who were then the influential ruling class. Mabitac was the site of a battle in the Philippine–American War, when on September 17, 1900, Filipinos under General Juan Cailles defeated an American force commanded by Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham.
□■ World War II and Japanese occupation
The Japanese occupation of the Philippines (Filipino: Pananakop ng mga Hapones sa Pilipinas； Japanese: 日本のフィリピン占領； Hepburn: Nihon no Firipin Senryō) occurred between 1942 and 1945, when Imperial Japan occupied the Commonwealth of the Philippines during World War II. The invasion of the Philippines started on 8 December 1941, ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. As at Pearl Harbor, American aircraft were severely damaged in the initial Japanese attack. Lacking air cover, the American Asiatic Fleet in the Philippines withdrew to Java on 12 December 1941. General Douglas MacArthur was ordered out, leaving his men at Corregidor on the night of 11 March 1942 for Australia, 4,000 km away. The 76,000 starving and sick American and Filipino defenders in Bataan surrendered on 9 April 1942, and were forced to endure the infamous Bataan Death March on which 7,000–10,000 died or were murdered. The 13,000 survivors on Corregidor surrendered on 6 May. Japan occupied the Philippines for over three years, until the surrender of Japan. A highly effective guerrilla campaign by Philippine resistance forces controlled sixty percent of the islands, mostly jungle and mountain areas. MacArthur supplied them by submarine, and sent reinforcements and officers. Filipinos remained loyal to the United States, partly because of the American guarantee of independence, and also because the Japanese had pressed large numbers of Filipinos into work details and even put young Filipino women into brothels. General MacArthur kept his promise to return to the Philippines on 20 October 1944. The landings on the island of Leyte were accompanied by a force of 700 vessels and 174,000 men. Through December 1944, the islands of Leyte and Mindoro were cleared of Japanese soldiers. During the campaign, the Imperial Japanese Army conducted a suicidal defense of the islands. Cities such as Manila were reduced to rubble. Around 500,000 Filipinos died during the Japanese Occupation Period. In 1942, Japanese soldiers entered and occupied Mabitac . In 1945, the Philippine Commonwealth Army troops of the 4th, 42nd and 43rd Infantry Division and 4th Constabulary Regiment of the Philippine Constabulary together with the recognized guerrillas defeated the Japanese Imperial forces during the Second Battle of Mabitac.
■ Geography
□■ Barangays
Mabitac is politically subdivided into 15 barangays:
■ Demographics
In the 2020 census, the population of Mabitac was 21,275 people, with a density of 260 inhabitants per square kilometre or 670 inhabitants per square mile.
■ Economy
■ Notable personalities
Juan Cailles (born Juan Cailles y Kauppama； November 10, 1871 – June 28, 1951) was a Filipino of French-Indian descent. A member of the revolutionary movement Katipunan, he was a commanding officer of the Philippine Revolutionary Army who served during the Philippine Revolution and Philippine–American War. He later served as a provincial Governor of Laguna and a member of the Philippine Legislature.

E 3.2Km	Famy
SE 3.4Km	Siniloan
SE 5.9Km	Pangil Church
SE 6.3Km	Pangil
SW 7.7Km	Mount Sembrano
SW 7.7Km	Mount Sembrano
SE 8.3Km	Saint Peter of Alcantara Parish Ch..
SE 8.5Km	Pakil
SE 9.2Km	Paete
SW 13.2Km	Jalajala

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