PAGSANJAN LAGUNA - A Rainy Day Walking Tour

Pagsanjan officially the Municipality of Pagsanjan is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Laguna, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 44,327 people.

Pagsanjan is the tourist capital of Laguna and is the home of the Bangkero Festival held every March. The bangkeros are tour guides who steer boats along the river to Pagsanjan Falls (also called Magdapio Falls), for which the town is well known but is actually in neighboring Cavinti.

Pagsanjan was the capital of the province of Laguna for 170 years (1688–1858) during which the town prospered as the commercial, cultural and learning center of the province.

Pagsanjan was originally a barrio of Lumban. In 1668, eight Japanese and Chinese traders, who were highly impressed by the strategic location of the barrio at the juncture of Balanac and Bumbungan, rivers founded the town. They established a trading settlement and engaged in the betel nut industry. In time, the barrio became the flourishing trading center of eastern Laguna and attracted families from the surrounding communities of Cavinti and Pila. On December 12, 1668, then-Governor-General Juan Manuel de la Peña Bonifaz issued a decree elevating its status to a town. In 1688, Pagsanjan replaced Bay as the capital of the province. It remained such until 1858, during which it bloomed as the cultural and commercial center of the province.

Source: Wikipedia