Buenavista, Quezon

The municipality of Buenavista is located in the eastern part of Quezon Province at the base of the Bondoc Peninsula. It is bounded on the northern part by Guinayangan, on the south by the town of San Narciso, on the western part by Lopez and Catanauan, and on the east by the Ragay Gulf facing Bicol Region. The municipality is about 226 kilometres (140 mi) southeast of Metro Manila and about 114 kilometres (71 mi) southeast of provincial capital, the city of Lucena.

Piris was its former name. It was a mere hamlet of the municipality of Guinanyagan, province of Quezon and remained as such for quite a number of years until it finally became a municipality. Buenavista is now its official name which means beautiful view. Its original name was Piri as engraved in the oldest church bell which was donated by one Don Jose Casal in the year 1866. It used to be located in the Sitio of Pinagbayanan situated in the western side of the Piris River which is about one a half kilometers away from the present town site. This place became the choice of the founders who were a mixture of Bicolanos and Visayans to enable them to easily escape the Moro raids that were prevalent during the olden times. When the raids finally subsided, the barrio of Piris was transferred to its present location. The word Piri was changed to Piris and later re-changed to Piris.

In October 1936, some civic minded residents launched the proposition of making the place a municipality. They signed a petition for the separation of Piris from the municipality of Guinayangan. A group of seven members was formed and was commissioned to undertake a delegation to the Office of the Secretary of the Interior for the purpose. The group was composed of then Don Feliciano Roldan, Mariano San Jose, Honorio Hutamares, Teodorico Dosto, Ciriaco Parraba, Antonio Pasta and Francisco San Jose. The outbreak of the second global war marked the failure of the offices concerned to convert the place into a regular municipality.

After the election of Gaudencio V. Vera to the Office of the Congressman for the second district of Quezon Province, Francisco San Jose, a native and public teacher of the place, was instructed by Congressman Vera to help prepare the necessary papers pertaining to the separation of Piris from Guinayangan. When the papers were prepared, House Bill No. 83 was passed by both houses of Congress and became Republic Act No. 495 under Proclamation No. 201 by President Elpidio Quirino, the corporate existence of Piris in the name Buenavista the 37th municipality of Quezon province, was fixed on 26 August 1950. An inauguration was celebrated by the town people under the leadership of Domingo Reyes and Yao Ching Kio, wealthy businessman of the place, with Congressman Vera as the guest of honor. When the municipality of Buenavista was inaugurated on August 26, 1950, it belonged to the seventh class. Six months thereafter, due to some increase in revenue, it rose to sixth class. Francisco Falqueza was appointed Municipal Mayor and held office beginning August 26, 1950, up to December 31, 1951, and on November 13, 1951, local election Primitivo Pasta Sr. becoming the first elected mayor.

The main dialect is Tagalog, although the Bicolanos, Visayan and Ilocano dialect are commonly used in the barangays.

List of former mayors:

• Francisco Falqueza (appointed) Aug.26, 1950–Dec.31, 1951
• Primitivo Pasta Sr. (first elected Mayor) 1951–1955
• Eustaquio Cawa 1955–1963
• Domingo Reyes 1963-1986
• Edgardo San Juan (elected Vice Mayor acted as OIC-mayor early 1982-1986)
• Alex Ang (OIC-Mayor) 1986-1987
• Vicente Cawa 1988-1995
• Florencio Villamater 1995-2001
• Ramon Reyes 2001-2007
• Ma. Remedios Rivera 2007-2016
• Alexander Rivera 2016–present

• Buenavista Profile at PhilAtlas.com
• Philippine Standard Geographic Code
• Philippine Census Information
• Local Governance Performance Management System