San Francisco, officially the Municipality of San Francisco (), is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Quezon Quezon, officially the Province of Quezon () and historically known as Tayabas, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon Regions of the Philippines, region on Luzon. Lucena, a highly urbanized ci ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 62,097 people. San Francisco was formerly called Bondo from its establishment as a town in 1938 to 1940 and Aurora from 1940 to 1967. Its name was derived from Spanish for Saint

Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone ( 1181 – 3 October 1226), known as Francis of Assisi, was an Italians, Italian Mysticism, mystic, poet and Friar, Catholic friar who founded the religious order of the Franciscans. Inspired to lead a Chris ...

. It is formerly known as Bondo (from the Tagalog word ''bundok'', meaning "mountain") and later Aurora (after First Lady Aurora Quezon).

History

The origins of the municipality of San Francisco, formerly known as Barrio Bondo, are unclear prior to the arrival of the Spaniards in 1521. It was a forested, mountainous area with early Chinese influences, evidenced by artifacts from the Ming and Sung dynasties found along its shores. In 1784, Barrio Bondo was established under leaders Juan de Torres, Manuel Cuyo, and Gregorio Palacio. Frequent Moro pirate raids forced villagers to relocate to higher ground at Sitio Kampana for protection. In 1898, Barrio Bondo briefly became the independent municipality of San Emilio, but financial constraints led it to revert back to being part of Mulanay by 1904.

Establishment as a municipality

In 1936, a group of eight men, led by Andres Castillejo, formed the Dakilang Mithi Association with the goal of separating Bondo from Mulanay to become an independent municipality. After the 1937 elections, Bondo natives gained control of the Mulanay Municipal Council and passed a resolution supporting Bondo's independence. On April 16, 1938, Don Venancio Queblar, along with councilor Jose Allarey and Dakilang Mithi secretary Miguel Gutierez, invited President

Manuel L. Quezon Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina (, , , ; 19 August 1878 – 1 August 1944), also known by his initials MLQ, was a Filipino people, Filipino lawyer, statesman, soldier, and politician who was president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1 ...

to visit barrio Bondo. Quezon accepted the invitation and, on April 27, 1938, declared Bondo an independent municipality on April 30, 1938, through Executive Order No. 152. The establishment took effect on July 1, 1938, with Queblar appointed as the first mayor. The town originally consisted of barrios Bondo, Cawayan, Inabuan, Ilayang Tayuman, Ibabang Tayuman, Kasay, Mañongon, Pagsangahan, and Silongin, with Bondo as the seat of municipal government.

Renaming

By virtue of the first municipal resolution, Bondo was to be renamed to Aurora, in honor of First Lady Aurora Quezon, the wife of President Quezon. On May 11, 1940, the town was renamed to Aurora by virtue of Commonwealth Act No. 527. Later, the Aurora Municipal Council sponsored Resolution No. 2, series of 1962, seeking to the change of name to San Francisco, in honor of the patron saint

. The resolution was eventually sponsored by Quezon 2nd district Representative Eladio Caliwara, and on June 17, 1967, Republic Act No. 4977 was enacted to finally rename Aurora to San Francisco. The renaming finally distinguished it from Maria Aurora, a municipality in Quezon established in 1949, before the creation of

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

province, where Maria Aurora is now located.

Geography

Located at the southernmost part of the Bondoc Peninsula and of the province, it is from

Lucena Lucena (, American Spanish: , European Spanish: ), officially known as the City of Lucena (), is a highly urbanized city situated in the Calabarzon region (Region IV-A) of the Philippines. The city is the largest urban center and capital of ...

and from

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

Barangays

San Francisco is politically subdivided into 16

barangay The barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as ''barrio'', is the smallest Administrative divisions of the Philippines, administrative division in the Philippines. Named after the Precolonial barangay, precolonial po ...

s, as indicated below. Each barangay consists of

purok A ''purok'' () is an informal division within a barangay in the Philippines. While not officially considered a local government unit (LGU), a ''purok'' often serves as a unit for delivering services and administration within a barangay. ''Pur ...

s and some have

sitios A ''sitio'' (Spanish language, Spanish for "site") in the Philippines is a territorial enclave that forms part of a barangay. Typically rural, a ''sitios location is usually far from the center of the barangay itself and could be its own bar ...

. * Butangiad * Casay * Cawayan I * Cawayan II * Don Juan Vercelos (Utod) * Huyon-Uyon * Ibabang Tayuman (Busdak) * Ilayang Tayuman * Inabuan * Mabunga * Nasalaan * Pagsangahan * Poblacion * Pugon * Santo Niño * Silongin

Climate

Demographics

Economy

San Francisco Quezon Fish Port - panoramio

Churches

*San Fransisco de Asís Parish ''(est. 1954)'' *Divina Misericordia Parish ''(est. 2008)''

References

External links

San Francisco Profile at PhilAtlas.com
* Philippine Standard Geographic Codebr>Philippine Census InformationLocal Governance Performance Management SystemWebsite of San Francisco, Quezon
{{Authority control Municipalities of Quezon 1938 establishments in the Philippines Establishments by Philippine executive order