Gumaca, officially the Municipality of Gumaca (Tagalog: Bayan ng Gumaca), is a municipality in the province of Quezon, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 71,942 people.[3]
Formerly known as Bumaka (meaning "the one who fought"), the town of Gumaca was a settlement founded at the southern bank of Palanas River in the 14th century. The earliest known ruler was Lakan Bugtali.[citation needed]
Gumaca, one of the oldest towns in Quezon Province and only several years younger than the “Noble and Ever Loyal City of Manila”, was already a well-established community even before the Spaniards came. The community had a barangay government as early as the 14th century, Lakan Bugtali being the earliest ruler according to oral tradition and Lakan Gitingan being the last. The Barangay had for its territory much of the areas now under the territorial jurisdiction of the municipalities of Atimonan, Plaridel, Lopez, Calauag, Alabat, Perez, Quezon, Unisan, Pitogo, Guinayangan and Macalelon. Located at the mouth of what is now known as Pipisik River and nestling at the foot of Sierra Madre range, it was-as it is now-also the center of local trade and commerce.[5]
It is perhaps because of this Franciscan friar, Fray Diego de Oropesa, first set foot in the community and introduced Christianity to the people with St. Diego de Alcala being proclaimed as the pueblo’s patron saint. In 1582, the first “visita” was erected and 1686 marked the establishment of a full-pledged town with independent (civil) government, the earlier ones having been headed by the ever-present Spanish friars (the municipality boasts of a still complete line-up of chief executives from 1574 down to the present).[5]
From the early 1980s to the 1990s, there were calls to rename the town as Tañada, after nationalist and past Senator Lorenzo Tañada, with his son Wigberto Tañada proposing to have a poll once elected congressman of Quezon's fourth district; the renaming eventually did not push through.[6]
Gumaca is located at the mouth of what is now known as Pipisik River at the foot of the Sierra Madre range. It is 66 kilometres (41mi) from Lucena and 196 kilometres (122mi) from Manila.
Barangays
Former flag of Gumaca
Gumaca is politically subdivided into 59 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.
In order to spur development in the municipality, The Toll Regulatory Board declared Toll Road 5 the extension of South Luzon Expressway.[20] A 420-kilometer, four lane expressway starting from the terminal point of the now under construction SLEX Toll Road 4 at Barangay Mayao, Lucena City in Quezon to Matnog, Sorsogon, near the Matnog Ferry Terminal. On August 25, 2020, San Miguel Corporation announced that they will invest the project which will reduce travel time from Lucena to Matnog from 9 hours to 5.5 hours.[21]
On June 3, 2022, the Department of Transportation and San Miguel Corporation signed a Supplemental Toll Operations Agreement (STOA) for SLEX Toll Road 5 which was approved by then President Rodrigo Duterte 24 days later.[22]
San Diego de Alcala Cathedral, the seat of the Diocese of Gumaca
The San Diego de Alcala Cathedral is the seat of the Diocese of Gumaca and is considered as the largest cathedral in Quezon,[24] founded as early as 1582 as a visita by the Franciscan friars. The cathedral is under the patronage of Saint Didacus of Alcala (San Diego in Spanish).
Lucena (Administratively independent from the province but grouped under Quezon by the Philippine Statistics Authority. However, qualified voters of this city are still allowed to participate in the election of provincial officials as part of Quezon’s 2nd Sangguniang Panlalawigan district.)
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