Taytay was a settlement situated along the coastline of the eastern side of
Laguna de Bay that formed part of the
Kingdom of Namayan, also known as the Kingdom of "Sapa", which was ruled by Lakan Tagkan. The said territory is what we know now as the district of
Santa Ana, Manila. Upon the arrival of the Franciscan missionaries on July 2, 1578, in Manila, they proceeded to evangelize the inhabitants of Namayan and organized it into a
pueblo and named it
Visita Santa Ana de Sapa. It comprised the communities of Meycatmon, Calatongdongan, Dongos, Dibag, Pinacauasan, Yamagtogon, Meysapan (Pasay), Malate, Dilao (Paco), Pandacan, Quiapo, Sampaloc, San Miguel, San Juan del Monte, San Felipe Neri (Mandaluyong), San Pedro Macati, and Taytay. Thence, the district of
Santa Ana de Sapa became the Franciscan's central mission station. In 1579, Taytay was formally established as a town and Church in a symbiotic relation,
i.e., it presupposes that one could not have existed without the other. A church was built out of light materials and called it "
Visita de Santa Ana de Sapa". Taytay—now a larger village, a
pueblo, a town—came into being, as a juridical entity as well as an actual territorial unit. Saint John the Baptist has since been the patron of the town and the parish under the ministry of the Franciscans. The ecclesial jurisdiction of Taytay, including the visita of Cainta, which was an annex of Taytay, were transferred to the newly arrived Jesuit missionaries in 1591. They served until 1768—for 177 years. Fray Pedro Chirino, a distinguished historian, became the first Jesuit parish priest of Taytay. He celebrated his first Holy Mass as a missionary in the swampy resettlement area on March 25, 1591, the feast of the Annunciation. Due to incessant flood, the town was relocated to a higher ground. The people followed suit after the church was rebuilt atop a hill. Taytay town was dedicated to Saint John the Baptist and christened "
San Juan del Monte" [which means “Saint John of the Mountain”]. "
San Juan" got the "
del Monte" tag in reference to the hilly terrain of the new relocation site of the town. Nevertheless, the townspeople continued to call their town Taytay, and Taytay it has remained to this day. This is the same location where the present
St John the Baptist Parish Church still stands.
Encomienda in Taytay Adelantado Miguel Lopez de Legazpi enforced the
encomienda system into the Philippine Islands since his arrival in 1565. Taytay
encomienda alone had 500 natives in 1582. There were about 400 households in Taytay, while only 100 households in Antipolo in 1591 [both
encomiendas had already been granted to Juan Pacheco de Maldonado]; and in that same year, Taytay
encomienda also listed 600
tributantes and inhabitants of 2,400 to 3,000. The kinds of
encomienda were those of the Royal Crown
(encomienda de la real corona), and those of the private persons
(encomienda de perticulares). In 1591, the
encomienda of Taytay which was included in the vast district of
Santa Ana de Sapa, belonged to the Royal Crown. The lakeshore town of Taguig on the West was at the opposite side of Taytay on the East of Laguna de Bay. They were both
encomiendas under the scope of
Santa Ana de Sapa. They were separated by a narrow tip portion of Pasig town. Adjacent to Pasig was the area situated on the lakeshore of Barangay Santa Ana of Taytay. It was a tract of agricultural land considered as a "friar estate" which is still known today as "Lupang Arenda" which has now become a relocation and resettlement site.
“Arenda” is a lease of fixed assets or of prerogatives, such as land, or of special rights engaging in agriculture, mining, the collection of duties and taxes.
“Arenda” rights are directly associated with the
encomienda. According to former Taytay Mayor Felix M. Sanvictores (1925–1931), "Lupang Arenda" was donated by Don Juan Valerio Gonzales and Don Cristobal Paramdam to the
Municipio in 1740. Aside from their own farmlands, Taytay farmers were also benefiting from farming in the
arenda as well as fishing in the wide rivers flowing down the lake and in the vast flooded farmlands near the lake during the rainy season.” On February 23, 1853, a decree of the Superior Government created a district composed of the towns of Taytay, Antipolo, Bosoboso, and Cainta [from the Province of Tondo], and the towns of Morong, Baras, Tanay, Pililla, Angono, Binangonan, Cardona, and Jalajala [from the Province of La Laguna], with Morong as its capital town. It was later called
Distrito Politico-Militar de Morong.
Americans occupation Taytay suffered heavy casualties during the
Philippine–American War in 1899, with the church almost burned down and most of the town razed to the ground. During the Second World War, Taytay was occupied by Japanese forces in 1942. Local soldiers of the pre-war 42nd Infantry Division of the Philippine Commonwealth Army and 4th Constabulary Regiment of the Philippine Constabulary liberated and entered Taytay in 1945 to help the recognized guerrilla fighter units to defeat and attack the Japanese Imperial Army.
Philippine independence On November 7, 1975, by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 824, which created
Metro Manila, Taytay was among the towns that remained within the province of Rizal.
Contemporary era The National Competitiveness Council named Taytay as the "2nd Most Competitive Municipality (1st & 2nd Class) since 2016 until 2017", up from 10th place in 2014 and 3rd place in 2015. In The Year 2018, The Municipality of Taytay jumped from "2nd Most Competitive Municipality" to "1st Most Competitive Municipality (1st & 2nd Class) On the evening of April 28, 2023, human rights activists Dexter Capuyan and Gene Roz Jamil "Bazoo" de Jesus had just ridden a tricycle leaving the
SM City Taytay mall when they were kidnapped by armed men. 57-year-old Capuyan, a member of the indigenous
Cordilleran peoples, was previously accused of being a member of the
New People's Army, while 27-year-old de Jesus was a member of the Philippine Task Force for Indigenous Peoples' Rights who had pending court cases in
Cordillera and
Ifugao; both were alumni of the
University of the Philippines Baguio. In May 2023, the
Commission on Human Rights began an investigation into their disappearance, By August 2025, the
Court of Appeals also granted the writ of
amparo to Capuyan and de Jesus after declaring them to be victims of
enforced disappearance. ==Geography==