By Loreto S. Amante Situated 82 kilometers southeast of Manila , about 500 feet above the mean sea level, San Pablo City is a fascinating blend of atural beauties and timeless history. Dubbed as te “City of Seven Lakes,” lies in the apex of the heart-shaped Province of Laguna , fanned by the swaying coconut breeze, nesting among the foothills of Mount San Cristobal and Mount Banahaw . Archeological diggings undertaken before World War II by the late Don Arsenio M.Escudero reveals that it is a thriving community that had existed long before the coming of the Spanish. From a big settlements (or barangay), Sampalok, of the town of Bay, the Augustinian fathers made it into a parish in 1596, then into a town or pueblo under a gobernadorcillo in 1647, and renamed it San Pablo delos Montes, after Sain Paul, The First Hermit, at first under the Province of Laguna, later under Batangas for 100 years, then back to Laguna before outbreak of the Philippine-Spanis...