The municipality of General Emilio Aguinaldo used to be a separate Catholic parish in the town of adjacent Maragondon. It was founded by virtue of a decree issued on August 28, 1857 by Archbishop Fray Aranguren, OSA, of the Archdiocese of Manila. The decree separated the barrios of Batas and Guyong-guyong from the town of Maragondon, naming the new parish "Bailen". It is recounted that a group of citizens from Barrio Batas petitioned Spanish Governor-General Fernando Norzagaray to convert their barrio into a municipality because of its distance from the town proper. Giving due course to the petition, the Spanish Governor approved the request on August 2, 1858.