Antique’s capital town of San Jose de Buenavista grew from settlements that started out as a visita.

Small communities that were visited by the priest of the parishes they were attached to were called visitas during Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines.

In the case of San Jose, it was once attached to the town of Antique that was founded in 1745.

It was called Malaiba when it became a sitio of what was then the town of Antique. Sometime from 1787 to 1790, Governor General Berenguer de Marquina granted the whole Mailaba estate to Agustin Sumandi.

Not long after that, in 1972, Malaiba was turned into a town and Sumandi became the first gobernadorcillo.

Since the place was dedicated to San Jose, it was decided the town should adopt the name of its patron saint. During the ceremonies creating it into a township, government officials and dignitaries were so taken in by the view of the place from the sea that they added “de Buenavista” to its name of San Jose.

Upon a petition from the people, San Jose became the capital of Antique in 1802. It started out with the pueblos of Guintas, Hamtic, and San Pedro.

Hamtic was later separated from San Jose through an executive order issued by President Ramon Magsaysay in 1945.