There are possible explanations on the origins of the city's name:
A legend suggested that it may have been named after Dayang-dayang Pasay, a princess of the Kingdom of Namayan and daughter of Kingdom of Maynila ruler Rajah Sulayman. She inherited half of her father's lands, which encompasses the present-day city, and founded the present-day city.[5][6][7]
Another legend suggested that it was named after Pasay, one of the sons of a ruler of Namayan who inherited his territories that also includes the present-day city.[8]
There's also a romantic legend where a man named Jose loudly cried out "Paz-ay!" at the grave of his wealthy love interest, Paz, symbolizing their forbidden love and Paz's eventual death due to loneliness. In tribute, Paz's parents named their hacienda Paz-ay or Pasay.[5][9]
Some historians believe that the city is named after the medicinal plant named pasaw (Pseuderanthemum reticulatum) that once grew abundantly there.[9]
According to American historian Austin Craig, Pasay was known as Javan Pasar, a corruption of the Arabic word bazar as the town was a marketplace.[7]: 117
Map of Namayan (colored pink) in 1470 under the rule of Lakan Tagkan. Pasay is shown as a part of Namayan, which was gifted to Tagkan's illegitimate son Pasay.[10][11]
In local folk history about the period before the arrival of Spanish colonizers, Pasay is said to have been part of Namayan (sometimes also called Sapa), a confederation of barangays which supposedly controlled territory stretching from Manila Bay to Laguna de Bay, and which, upon the arrival of the Spanish, eventually became known as Santa Ana de Sapa (modern day Santa Ana, Manila).[8][12]
Of the many religious orders that came, it was the Augustinian Order who would figure predominantly in the evangelisation of Pasay. Having control over Pasay, they converted the area into an extensive agricultural estate known as the Hacienda de Meysapan.[9] The parish of Pasay was governed from the old Namayan capital, since renamed Santa Ana de Sapa, which was under the jurisdiction of the Franciscans. The promise of space in Heaven prompted early native converts to donate their possessions to the Church, with folklore recounting how a baptized Pasay on her deathbed donated her vast estate to the Augustinians. Most of Pasay went to friar's hands either via donation or by purchase; many natives were also forced to divest of their properties to cope with stringent colonial impositions.
In 1862, notable residents of Pasay submitted a petition to handle their political and religious matters independently, proposing to rename the town "Pineda", in honor of Don Cornelio Pineda, a Spanish horticulturist who was their benefactor. On December 2, 1863, with the recommendation of Manila Archbishop Gregorio Melitón Martínez Santa Cruz, Pineda was granted its own municipal charter, and this date is celebrated yearly as the city's official foundation day.
Pasay produced numerous heroes during the Philippine Revolution. The Katipunan, the organization founded by Andrés Bonifacio that spearheaded the revolution, had a chapter in Pineda organized by Pascual Villanueva, Jacinto Ignacio, and Valentin Ignacio. Several women also fought for the cause of the Katipunan including Marcela Marcelo. The execution of José Rizal, who authored the novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo (considered seditious by the colonial government) on December 30, 1896, fanned the flames of the Revolution.
American colonial period
General Emilio Aguinaldo meanwhile declared the independence of the First Philippine Republic on June 12, 1898, and issued decrees providing political reorganization in the country. With this, Don Catalino became Pasay's first Presidente municipal (equivalent to present-day Mayor).[citation needed]
Pineda was made the command outpost of the Primera Zona de Manila under Gen. Mariano Noriel, but Gen. Wesley Merritt appealed that the Pineda outpost turned over to the Americans so that they could be closer to the Spanish lines. Thinking Americans were allies, Noriel left Pineda on July 29, allowing American General Greene to transfer. When Intramuros was finally captured, the Filipinos were denied entry to the walled city.[citation needed] Since then, tension simmered between Filipino and American troops, with both sides assigned respective zones but neither observed boundary lines. On the night of February 4, 1899, four Filipinos crossed the American line in Santa Mesa, Manila, and shots were exchanged, triggering the Philippine–American War.[citation needed]
On May 19, 1899, General Noriel was given command again of Pineda. In June, Noriel together with General Ricarte almost defeated the American forces had they exploited the exhaustion of the enemy in the Battle of Las Piñas. Instead, their forces were attacked by American reinforcements and bombarded by warships. The assault forced them to abandon Pineda to occupation by American forces.[citation needed]
Pasay beach, Manila, oil on board by Fabián de la Rosa, 1927Aerial view of Pasay, circa 1930s
On June 11, 1901, Pineda was incorporated into the Province of Rizal. Pascual Villanueva was appointed as municipal president. On August 4, 1901, the Pineda municipal council passed a resolution petitioning that the original name of Pasay be returned. On September 6, 1901, the Philippine Commission, acting on the request of the townsfolk, passed Act No. 227 renaming Pineda back to Pasay.[13] Two years later, on October 12, 1903, Act No. 942 merged Pasay with the southern municipality of Malibay, expanding its territory.[14] With a population of 8,100 in 1903, Pasay was placed under the fourth-class category together with 9 other municipalities.
Friar lands, then nationalized, were turned into subdivisions. Soon, the Pasay Real Estate Company offered friar lands as residential lots for sale or for lease to foreign investors. Postal, telegraph, and telephone lines were installed, and branches of Philippine Savings Bank were established. In 1907, a first-class road from Pasay to Camp Nichols was completed. Others were repaired including the old Avenida Mexico, now called the Taft Avenue extension. Transportation services improved. Among the first buses plying routes to Pasay were Pasay Transportation, Raymundo Transportation, Try-tran, and Halili Transit.
By 1908, Meralcotranvia (electric tram car) lines linked Pasay to Intramuros, Escolta, San Miguel, San Sebastian, and San Juan. Automobiles took to the streets, testing their maximum 20 km/h (12 mph) speed on Taft Avenue.[citation needed] On April 11, 1914, Cora Wong, a nurse at the Chinese General Hospital, became the first woman in the Philippines to fly as a passenger on a flight with Tom Gunn in a Curtiss seaplane off Pasay Beach.[citation needed]
Pasay eventually became a suburban area of Manila during the American occupation period. From a population of 6,542 residents, the town had a population of 18,697 by 1918, where 163 of them were Americans. Pasay was developed to be a residential area for prominent Filipino families and Americans, including future president Manuel L. Quezon. By the 1930s, the former rural town had become a suburb of the capital city.[15]
Map of the City of Greater Manila in 1942, depicting the northern part of present-day Pasay included, while the southern portion is under the Sakura Heiyei military reservation.
World War II came and on December 26, 1941, General Douglas MacArthur issued a proclamation declaring Manila and its suburbs (Caloocan, Quezon City, San Juan, Mandaluyong, Makati, and Pasay) an open city. On New Year's Day 1942, Quezon, while in Corregidor, established the City of Greater Manila, wherein Pasay, along with other nearby towns of Rizal, was merged with Manila and Quezon City.[16][17] He called his secretary Jorge B. Vargas and appointed him by executive order "the Mayor of Greater Manila". The mayor of Pasay was then Rufino Mateo, who was concurrently the district chief of Pasay under the City of Greater Manila, governing a town of more than 55,161. During the WWII, many Pasayeños joined in the fight against the Japanese. Jose P. Maibag, born and bred in Pasay, laid out underground networking. Carlos Mendoza, a resident of Barrio San Roque, together with 14 others, formed a mobile broadcasting station called "The Voice of Juan dela Cruz." On July 11, 1942, Japanese military police captured the group. Carling Mendoza, alias Juan de la Cruz" and other members of the group were brought to the old Bilibid Prison and were tortured.
Pasay had to redo the signs all over town, with Filipino was ordered to prevail over English. The national language became a core subject in the secondary school curriculum, while Japanese was taught as well at all levels of education. On October 14, 1943, Japan proclaimed the Second Philippine Republic. In the meantime, food had become so scarce that prices soared. Pasay residents began to move away from the city to the provinces outside. The Japanese occupation forces dissolved the City of Greater Manila in 1944 with the establishment of the Philippine Executive Commission to govern occupied regions in the country,[16] thus separating the consolidated cities and towns, with Pasay returning to the province of Rizal. In the middle of February up to early March 1945, as the combined Allied forces began to converge on the way to the Manila area northwards from the south, Pasay suffered enormous damage during the month-long Battle of Manila, and many residents perished either by the Japanese or friendly fire from the combined Filipino and American forces.
On February 27, 1945, General MacArthur turned over the government to President Sergio Osmeña. One of Osmeña's first acts was to dissolve the Greater Manila Complex. He then appointed Juan Salcedo Jr., born in Pasay in 1904, as Director of Philippine Health, and then as executive officer of the Philippine Rehabilitation Administration in charge of national recovery from the devastation wrought by the Japanese occupation. Osmeña appointed Adolfo Santos as prewar vice mayor of Pasay, in place of incumbent Moises San Juan who died during the war. He also issued an executive order that would dissolve the City of Greater Manila effective August 1, 1945, thus reinstating Pasay's pre-war status as a municipality of Rizal.[18]
Ignacio Santos-Diaz, a congressman from the first district of Rizal, pushed for the conversion of the town into a city and it to be named after Rizal. Republic Act No. 183 was signed into law by President Manuel Roxas on June 21, 1947, officially establishing Rizal City,[19] named after José Rizal, with Mateo Rufino as mayor and a population of 88,738. As of June 1948, the city had revenues of ₱472,835 (equivalent to ₱58,504,230 in 2021). But the residents could not get themselves to call their city by its new name. After two years, eight months, and twelve days of trying, the force of habit prevailed and Eulogio Rodriguez Jr., Santos-Diaz's successor, filed a bill returning the city to its original name. On June 7, 1950, President Elpidio Quirino, once a resident of Pasay himself, signed into law Republic Act No. 437, which changed the name of Rizal City to Pasay City.[20]
It was also in the 1940s when houses of faith were constructed in different parts of Pasay. Among them was the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, the Libreria de San Pablo Catholic Women's League, Caritas, the nutrition center, and the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes. In 1951, two parishes were established: the Parish of San Isidro Labrador and the Parish of San Rafael. By that time, the city was once more the aviation center of the country when what is now Ninoy Aquino International Airport opened its doors in 1948.
On June 14, 1955, Pasay regained its power to choose its leader. Pablo Cuneta ran against one-time Mayor Adolfo Santos and became the city's first elected mayor. In 1959, he campaigned again and won against his former vice mayor, Ruperto Galvez. On December 30, 1965, Ferdinand Marcos was sworn in as President of the Philippines, with Fernando Lopez, a resident of Pasay, as vice president. From that moment, Imelda Romualdez Marcos, the then First Lady, became involved in national affairs. On the northern boundary of Pasay, she started filling the waterfront on Manila Bay to build the Cultural Center of the Philippines. In the later decades she would add three more architectural showpieces on reclaimed land in Pasay: the Folk Arts Theater, Manila Film Center, and the Philippine International Convention Center, and later on the PhilCite Exhibition Hall, the basis of what is now Star City. The city, though, was also being groomed as a television center for the country, for in 1958, ABS-CBN had opened its brand new television studios on what is now Roxas Boulevard with state-of-the-art equipment, the studios, with color-ready equipment and cameras from Japan plus a number of video recording equipment, were handed over in 1969 to the Radio Philippines Network, which used them until a 1973 fire which ruined the studios, as ABS-CBN had moved northward into Quezon City with the opening of its current studios and offices.
In 1967, Jovito Claudio won the city elections as chief executive against Pablo Cuneta. In the following year, an assassination attempt occurred in Pasay when a Bolivian surrealist painter lunged at Pope Paul VI, with a knife grazing his chest. In 1971, Cuneta was re-elected as city mayor of a growing city of almost 90 thousand people.
On December 7, 1972, almost two months after martial law was declared, an assassin tried to kill Imelda Marcos. The event took place in Pasay, on live television, while Mrs. Marcos was distributing prizes to the winners of the National Beautification and Cleanliness contest. She suffered some wounds and broken nails but on the whole, she emerged unscathed from that close encounter. On the second anniversary of martial law, Marcos issued Presidential Decree No. 557, declaring every barrio in the country as barangays.[21] Not long after the decree had been put into effect, the Metropolitan Manila Commission and the Department of Local Government instructed Pasay to create its own barangays. Mayor Cuneta, in response, ordered the creation of 487 barangays. Upon the firm suggestion of Local Government and Community Development Secretary Jose Roño, the number of barangays was cut down to two hundred, organized into several zones.
On November 7, 1975, Marcos appointed the First Lady, Imelda, as governor of Metro Manila. The federation consolidated 13 towns and 4 cities including Pasay, which was removed from Rizal province.[22]
Pasay was the host city of Miss Universe 1974, the first time this event had been held in the morning and in the Asia Pacific, and thus was in the international spotlight in the leadup to the pageant day.[23] Half a decade later, the city's first family would become famous nationally in the music scene: Sharon, the then young daughter of the mayor, broke out into the spotlight as a singer with the release of the LP DJ's Pet.
On December 22, 1979, along with Manila, Quezon City, Caloocan, and other cities in the country, Pasay became a highly urbanized city.
In 1981, LRT Line 1 opened its Pasay stations, including its Baclaran terminal on the Parañaque border, marking a return to rapid urban rail.
The situation changed in the city in the immediate aftermath of the People Power Revolution. Cuneta left his post to be replaced by two acting mayors, Eduardo Calixto and Norman Urbina, only to be reelected in 1988 and serving for three more terms, before handing over to Jovito Claudio in 1998. Upon the end of his term, he was the city's longest ever city mayor. Claudio, himself replaced by the then vice mayor Wenceslao "Peewee" Trinidad in 2000, saw the building of the MRT Line 3's southern terminus in the city, linked to the LRT Line 1 along Taft Avenue, and the Pasay City General Hospital and Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 were both opened to the public. All these and other projects spurred a new era of growth in the city that continues to this day. The EDSA Entertainment Complex, located just to the city's west along EDSA, just miles from the Baclaran, Parañaque, for many years now is very well known for adult entertainment, including prostitution.[24][25]
Contemporary
Aerial view of Pasay, 2015
In 2006, the SM Mall of Asia, the largest shopping center overall in the country, was opened, and the area around this mall began to grow into the city's business center in subsequent years that followed, followed by the opening of the city's biggest sports venue, the Mall of Asia Arena. Two years later, the NAIA Terminal 3 opened its doors in July 2008, and within two years, progress blossomed in the vicinity with the opening of yet another residential and entertainment hub, Newport City, strengthened by the construction of the NAIA Expressway in 2016.
In 2007, then-Acting Mayor Allan Panaligan carried a plan to construct a new city hall located at the Central Business Park-I Island A along Macapagal Avenue.[26] However, the plan has not come into fruition until now.[clarification needed]
In 2021, Mayor Imelda Calixto-Rubiano announced that the city government was planning to build a new hospital facility in the city.[27] An appropriate location for the new hospital is still to be determined given the city's geographically small area and dense population.[28]
Geography
Zones and barangays of Pasay
Pasay covers a total land area of 18.64 square kilometers (7.20 sq mi),[29][30] making it the third smallest political subdivision in the National Capital Region and fourth in the whole country. It borders the capital city of Manila to the north, Parañaque to the south, Makati to the northeast, Taguig to the east, and Manila Bay to the west. The city can be divided into three distinct areas: the city's urban area with an area of 5.505 square kilometers (2.125 sq mi); the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) complex, which includes Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and the Villamor Airbase, with an area of 9.5 square kilometers (3.7 sq mi); and the existing reclaimed land from Manila Bay with an area of 4.00 square kilometers (1.54 sq mi).[31] The under-construction Pasay Harbor City and new SM Prime land reclamation projects are expected to add 6.25 square kilometers (2.41 sq mi) to the city's total land area.[32]
Aerial view of Pasay with land reclamations
Pasay is composed of two districts, subdivided into 20 zones, with a total of 201 barangays.[33] The barangays do not have names but are only designated with sequential numbers. The largest zone, with an area of 5.10 square kilometers (1.97 sq mi), is Zone 19, which covers barangays 178 and 191. The smallest zone with an area of 10 hectares (25 acres) is Zone 1, covering Barangays 1 to 3 and 14 to 17.[31]
Pasay is governed primarily by the city mayor, the vice mayor, and the city councilors. The mayor acts as the chief executive of the city while the city councilors act as its legislative body. The vice mayor, besides taking on mayoral responsibilities in case of a temporary vacancy, acts as the presiding officer of the city legislature. The legislative body is composed of 12 regular members (6 per district) and representatives from the barangay and the youth council.
On the list of largest running events in the world, based on the number of participants a record 209,000 registered running enthusiasts participated in 2012 Kahit Isang Araw Lang: Unity Run which started and ended at the SM Mall of Asia grounds.
The second edition of the race surpassed the Guinness World record of 116,086 participants posted in the Run for the Pasig River on October 10, 2010.[52]
Transportation
Airport
The majority of Ninoy Aquino International Airport complex, also known as Nichols Field, is situated in Pasay, with the airport's terminals 2, 3, and 4, falling under the city's jurisdiction; Terminal 1, the international cargo terminal, and the offices of airport ground servicing companies, are under the jurisdiction of neighboring Parañaque. The city is also the home of the Philippine Air Force's headquarters, Villamor Airbase.
Roads
Highways and main thoroughfares
View of Roxas Boulevard from the Libertad overpass"Pasay Rotonda", the intersection of EDSA and Taft Avenue
Jeepneys ply the city's arterial roads, and serve the city's populated areas and nearby cities.
Buses
Buses provide city (commuter) and provincial (intercity) operation on Pasay. Provincial bus terminals are mostly found near the Gil Puyat Station.
Rail
This city is served by two railway lines, the LRT Line 1 and MRT Line 3. LRT Line 1 has four stations in Pasay, namely Gil Puyat (Buendia), Libertad, EDSA, Baclaran, and has a depot located along Andrews Avenue. MRT Line 3 has only one station, named Taft Avenue, which serves as an interchange with LRT Line 1.
Other
Tricycles and pedicabs serve the barangays. Multicab services connect SM Mall of Asia with Baclaran in Parañaque, Buendia Avenue and Pasay Rotonda. Vans, especially UV Express, also provide service throughout the city and to other destinations in and around Metro Manila.
Education
City University of Pasay
The Schools Division Office (SDO) of Pasay City operates 18 public elementary schools and 8 high schools. Its operations are divided into four districts: Pasay North, Pasay East, Pasay South, and Pasay West. Special education is provided by the Philippine School for the Deaf and Philippine National School for the Blind, Pasay SPED Center, and one Alternative Learning System (ALS) center. Numerous private schools, including Catholic and parochial schools, also operate in the city, like the St. Mary's Academy, operated by nuns of the Religious of the Virgin Mary.
^Huerta, Felix, de (1865). Estado Geografico, Topografico, Estadistico, Historico-Religioso de la Santa y Apostolica Provincia de San Gregorio Magno. Binondo: Imprenta de M. Sanchez y Compañia.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Huerta, Felix, de (1865). Estado Geografico, Topografico, Estadistico, Historico-Religioso de la Santa y Apostolica Provincia de San Gregorio Magno. Binondo: Imprenta de M. Sanchez y Compañia.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Pante, Michael D. (2019). A capital city at the margins: Quezon City and urbanization in the twentieth-century Philippines. Kyoto CSEAS Series on Philippine Studies / Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University. Quezon City, Philippines: Ateneo de Manila University Press. pp. 39, 59. ISBN978-971-550-923-7.
^ ab"Historical Background". DENR - Environment Management Bureau - National Capital Region. Archived from the original on April 2, 2017. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
^"NAIA Pasay Climatological Extremes"(PDF). Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration. Archived from the original(PDF) on October 10, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
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