San Francisco (IPA: ]), officially the Municipality of San Francisco (; ), is a municipality in the province of Southern Leyte, Philippines. According to the 2024 census, it has a population of 12,897 people.
The town of San Francisco used to be part of Liloan, Southern Leyte and was created as a separate municipality on November 1, 1949 by President Elpidio Quirino through Executive Order No. 292.
People from Bohol were the early settlers that started in Habay river. They gave it the name Canlili-ug because the river's waters that time reached up to a person's neck (li-ug being the word for neck). Nowadays the river is only knee-deep.
During the Spanish period, the inhabitants became Roman Catholics and the place came to be known as San Francisco, after Saint Francis Xavier. Tradition holds that the inhabitants requested for an image of Saint Francis Xavier but got Saint Isidore's instead. At present, the town remains to be called San Francisco but venerates Saint Isidore as its Patron Saint.
On May 14, 1951, the Municipality of San Francisco was formally inaugurated with just seven barangays under its jurisdiction, namely San Francisco, Tuno, Pinamudlan, Napantao, Habay, Sudmon, and Santa Paz. Through the years, these barrios were subdivided to create new barangays, taking the total number of barangays to the current 22.
In December 2003, a landslide destroyed most of barangay Punta, killing 200 people.
The town's coastal waters are part of the Panaon Island Protected Seascape.
San Francisco is politically subdivided into 22 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.