The Transfer of Batangas' Capital from Balayan to Taal in 1732

In 1570, Spanish maestro de campo or master of camp (equivalent to Colonel in the present day) Martín de Goiti, the expedition commander, was sent by governor Miguel López de Legazpi to explore Manila from the Spaniards’ base in the Visayas. Second-in-command to de Goiti was Juan de Salcedo, de Legzpi’s own grandson.

The expedition first passed through Mindoro to ask for directions to Manila from among the locals and also to replenish supplies. From Mindoro, de Goiti and his crew anchored in Balayan Bay¹ while his second-in-command, Captain Juan de Salcedo, scouted inland toward Bombón (now Taal Lake), where he was wounded by a poisoned arrow² after his party was attacked by natives. The party later rejoined Goiti at Balayan³.

Balayan, a coastal town on the western side of Batangas, was already an existing community even before the arrival of the Spaniards.

AI-depiction of a progressive 18th century town in Batangas.

Later, after the seat of Spanish administration was transferred from the Visayas to Manila, Balayan was organized as a pueblo under Spanish administration, with a gobernadorcillo and principales overseeing tribute, local justice, and public works⁴.

The Augustinian friars, the first order to establish missions in Batangas, organized the parish and visitas, embedding ecclesiastical authority alongside civil rule⁵. Balayan’s deep harbor connected it to Manila and to Chinese and Southeast Asian commerce, entrenching the town’s prosperity in the late sixteenth century⁶.

In 1597, Balayan was designated the provincial cabecera, or capital, by the colonial government in Manila, making it the seat of the alcalde mayor — the title given to governors of “pacified” provinces — and concentrating administrative offices in the town⁷.

The order followed standard practice under the Governor‑General’s authority and the patronato real — the royal patronage system by which the Spanish Crown controlled church appointments and mission territories — aligning the capital with the strongest harbor and collection network.

Ecclesiastical jurisdiction in western Batangas later shifted: under agreements between the provincial religious superiors and diocesan authorities, the Franciscans assumed pastoral control of Balayan from the Augustinians, reorganizing visitas and parish oversight across the bay towns⁸.

Taal, founded by Augustinian missionaries in 1572 on a village called Balangon near what is now the Pansipit River, developed rapidly as a lake–river port linking inland fisheries with maritime routes to Balayan Bay and Manila⁹.

Its fertile hinterlands produced rice, sugarcane, cotton, and indigo, feeding a robust transshipment economy and enriching its principales¹⁰. The parish of San Martin de Tours expanded with substantial convent and church works, signaling Taal’s religious and cultural ascendancy¹¹.

By the early 1700’s, Taal had surpassed Balayan in wealth, population, and administrative influence, with its port functioning as the province’s key transshipment hub¹². Spanish administrative practice favored locating the cabecera where tribute collection, logistics, and ecclesiastical supervision were most efficient, and by 1732 Taal met those criteria decisively¹³.

The transfer of the cabecera from Balayan to Taal in 1732 was approved by the Governor‑General in Manila after reports from the alcalde mayor of Batangas and ecclesiastical input from the Augustinians, with orders to relocate provincial offices to the town¹⁴.

Local dissent from Balayan’s principales is plausible, given the loss of prestige, but the colonial hierarchy allowed little resistance once Manila decreed the change¹⁵.

Taal remained the capital until 1754, when the prolonged eruption of Taal Volcano from May to early December devastated the lake towns and forced the residents to evacuate away from the volcano and closer to Balayan Bay — its location to the present day. It would have been plausible to move the cabecera back to Balayan which was reasonably far from the volcano, however, the road to the pueblo was unpassable for sometime on account of the quantity of lava which had blocked the road¹⁶.

The authorities decided, therefore, the the then-town of Batangas on the shores of Batangas Bay would be a safer provincial seat¹⁷.