Gumaca, officially the Municipality of Gumaca (), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Quezon, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 71,942 people. It is located at the mouth of what is now known as Pipisik River and nestled at the foot of the Sierra Madre range. The town is widely known as a heritage town due to the many ancestral houses and old structures that abound in the area, including a fortress from the Spanish era. The local government is currently conserving these heritage structures for future generations. Gumaca is from Lucena and from Manila. History Formerly known as Bumaka (meaning "the one who fought"), the present town of Gumaca was a settlement founded at the southern bank of Palanas River in the 14th century by a group of settlers from Borneo and the Malay Peninsula. It is in fact only 11 years younger than the “Noble and Ever Loyal City of Manila”. The earliest known ruler was Lakan Bugtali. His sovereignty extended over the regions bordering Gusuan, now called Lamon Bay, from Gamao point to the North, to the island across the bay or now known as Alabat Islands, to the south-west passing the north-eastern part of the present town of Calauag, the source of Talolong, which traverses the town of Lopez, and Pandanan Rivers and on the north-west as far as the upper Kalilayan River. Thus when the first Spaniards arrived in this settlement in 1574 led by Fr. Diego de Oropesa, they found a group of barangays with their own culture and government. Gumaca, writes Juan Álvarez Guerra in Viajes por Filipinas: De Manila á Tayabas (2nd printing 1887), is first mentioned in the Franciscan register of 1582. This is the same year given by Huerta (1862). Fray Diego belonged to the batch of pioneering Franciscans under Juan de Plasencia who were assigned to explore the area presently the provinces of Rizal, Laguna and Quezon to determine future mission sites for the Franciscans. They introduced Christianity to the people with San 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 to the present.). From