What is the history of the Panama City, Panama area of San Francisco?

The borough, or district of San Francisco in Panama City, Panama, was founded about a century ago. It takes its name from the discovery of a statuette found by local fishermen. After some deliberation, they identified it as the effigy of Saint Francis of Assisi, who also gave its name to San Francisco, California, and a church was built to enshrine it. Once when I was living in the Peninsula of Azuero, a similar rumor spread like wildfire: a miraculous statuette had been discovered...

The borough, or district of San Francisco in Panama City, Panama, was founded about a century ago. It takes its name from the discovery of a statuette found by local fishermen. After some deliberation, they identified it as the effigy of Saint Francis of Assisi, who also gave its name to San Francisco, California, and a church was built to enshrine it. Once when I was living in the Peninsula of Azuero, a similar rumor spread like wildfire: a miraculous statuette had been discovered by a group of children from a poor area of town, near Chitré. I was immediately on the scene and hundreds of people had started gathering around a little plaster statue of Jesus. Enterprising neighbors were already collecting funds to build a shrine. I interviewed the children, separately, and they were very excited. Unfortunately, due to a lack of rehearsal, their accounts differed wildly. Basically, the statuette had showed up, out of nowhere. After I was given the privilege to handle it respectfully, I searched in vain for a "made in China" label. The local priest was soon on hand. When asked about the miracle, he answered cleverly: "The most important thing is to have faith in God". The shrine failed to materialize. Perhaps due to a lack of funding, or to a lack of faith, I'll never know.