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Pasay

City in Metro Manila, Philippines

  • 22 min read
  • 11 chapters
View of Pasay City skyline from Manila Film Center, with CCP Complex open grounds
patrickroque01 · CC BY-SA 4.0

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Through Bazaar and Horticulture

Due to its location just south of Manila, Pasay quickly became an urban town during the American colonial period. It is now best known for being the site of most of Ninoy Aquino International Airport and of complexes such as Newport City and the SM Central Business Park.

Etymology

There are several explanations as to the city's name:

  • A legend suggests it may have been named after Dayang-dayang Pasay, a princess of the Kingdom of Namayan and daughter of Rajah Sulayman of the Kingdom of Maynila. She had inherited half her father's dominion, which encompasses the present city, which she donated to Spanish friars at her deathbed.
  • Another legend suggests the namesake Pasay was instead a prince, whose father was Lakan Tagkan of Namayan. He inherited territories that included the area of the city.
  • A romantic tale has a man named José loudly wailing "¡Paz-ay!" at the grave of his wealthy lover, Paz. She had died from loneliness after their love was forbidden, and in her memory her parents named their hacienda Paz-ay, later spelt Pasay.
  • Some historians believe the city is named for the medicinal plant pasaw (Pseuderanthemum reticulatum), a flowering shrub once abundant there.
  • 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.
  • In the colonial era, Pasay was spelt as Pasai, supposedly after the historical sultanate in the modern province of Aceh, on Sumatra, Indonesia.

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