San Francisco, Quezon

The name of the town was derived from Spanish for Saint Francis of Assisi. It was formerly known as Bondo (from the Tagalog word bundok, meaning "mountain"), and later renamed as Aurora (after First Lady Aurora Quezon).^[8]

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 to being part of Mulanay by 1904.

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 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.^[9] 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.^[10]

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.^[6]

Later, the Aurora Municipal Council sponsored Resolution No. 2, series of 1962, seeking to change the town's name to San Francisco, in honor of the patron saint Francis of Assisi. The resolution was eventually sponsored by Quezon 2nd district Representative Eladio Caliwara,^[8] 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, also a municipality in Quezon at that time, before becoming part of Aurora province in 1979.^[7]

Located at the southernmost part of the Bondoc Peninsula and of the province, it is 185 kilometers (115 mi) from Lucena and 315 kilometers (196 mi) from Manila.

San Francisco is politically subdivided into 16 barangays, as indicated below. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.

Poverty incidence of San Francisco

Source: Philippine Statistics Authority^{[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]}

• San Francisco de Asís Parish (est. 1954)
• Divina Misericordia Parish (est. 2008)

The San Francisco Schools District Office governs all educational institutions within the municipality. It oversees the management and operations of all private and public, from primary to secondary schools.^[25]