Tayabas

Tayabas lies inland in southern Luzon, among rivers and the slopes below Mount Banahaw. Before Spanish rule its people lived in scattered barangays led by chiefs and councils of elders. The colonial town became a religious and administrative centre for the surrounding country, with a church dedicated to Saint Michael.

Franciscan missionaries Juan de Plasencia and Diego de Oropesa began forming a Christian town here in 1578. Under the policy of reducción, people from dispersed communities were gathered into a planned centre. A brick church built in 1600 replaced the earlier structure of lighter materials, but an earthquake destroyed much of it in 1743. Tayabas served as the capital of the province that bore its name from 1605, and its church and convent remained prominent features of the town.