Silay, city, northern Negros island, central Philippines. Situated on Guimaras Strait, just north of Bacolod, Silay is a busy commercial and fishing port and the site of a large sugar mill, which handles the crop of the Silay-Talisay area, one of the country’s leading sugarcane regions. The city is linked to other population centres on Negros by the main coastal highway. Inc. city, 1957. Pop. (2000) 107,722; (2010) 120,999.