Native hunters used numerous cave-ins or trap-ins called "bitag" in the local dialect.

The first Spaniards who came to this place were the friars who established the first Spanish settlement in the area and began to Christianize the local population.

It became an independent municipality only in the year 1611, not by legislation, but by mutual agreement by and between the Spanish friars of both towns who were then the influential ruling class.

Mabitac was the site of a battle in the Philippine–American War, when on September 17, 1900, Filipinos under General Juan Cailles defeated an American force commanded by Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham.

The invasion of the Philippines started on 8 December 1941, ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor.