8. KALSADA IN PASAY

KALSADA IN PASAY

Dr. Troy Alexander G. Miano

7 December 2016

It is wise to travel early in the evening from Isabela to be able to reach Metro Manila before the dawn to escape the monstrous traffic of the metropolis. Waiting for a bus ride along AH26 (Pan-Philippine Highway, also known as the Maharlika Highway) in Cauayan City, one can see three most common signboards displayed on the window shields of provincial plying buses bound for Manila; Cubao, Sampaloc and Pasay. I will be gracing a three-day Consultation Workshop in Pasay City on the Preparation of Governance Reform Targets Required for 2017 Conditional Matching Grant to Provinces (CMGP) and Other Office of Project Development Services (OPDS) of the DILG Locally-Funded Road Projects. The CMGP is the Duterte Administration’s version of the KALSADA program of PNoy.

KALSADA, or Konkreto at Ayos na Lansangan at Daan Tungo sa Pangkalahatang Kaunlaran, is the performance-based devolution program launched by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to institutionalize good governance practices for local government units with respect to local road management. The program rehabilitates and upgrades provincial road networks and transfer these assets permanently to provincial governments for maintenance. Under the program, which was approved as part of the 2016 General Appropriations Act, the national government will spend 6.5 billion pesos and funds will be downloaded through the Local Government Support Fund. 

After reaching the venue of my official trip in Pasay City, I peeped through the glass window of the Atrium Hotel at the 20^th floor and saw an aerial view of the streets and main thoroughfares of Pasay facing the Manila Bay. I am always fond of researching the etymology of names of streets and places. These original names often provide a valuable and colorful window of the past preserving how earlier generations perceived a locality as distinct and noteworthy as a point of reference. I then decided to surf the net to secure some information about Pasay.

Dayang-dayang Pasay, princess of Namayan, is noted as having inherited the lands now comprising the territories of Culi-culi (now Barangay Pio Del Pilar of Makati City), Pasay, and Baclaran (now a barangay of Parañaque City) marking the area as subordinate to the sovereign of Namayan. The Kingdom of Namayan was a confederation of barangays which reached its zenith in the year 1175. From its royal capital in Sapa (now Santa Ana of Manila), the state had territory stretching from Manila Bay to Laguna de Bai. 

According to folklore, a baptized Pasay on her deathbed donated her vast estate to the Augustinians, one of the six Roman Catholic missionaries who arrived after the formal Spanish colonization of el adelantado Miguel Lopez de Legazpi (1502-1572) in 1571. Most of Pasay territory went to friar hands either via donation or by purchase; many natives were also forced to divest of their properties to cope with stringent colonial impositions. In 1727, the Augustinians formally took over Pasay and attached it to the Parish of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios in Malate. In that year, Pasay was renamed “Pineda” in honor of Don Cornelio Pineda, a Spanish horticulturist from Singgalong, Manila who responded to the request of the residents of Pasay to help and protect them from indigenous rebellion.

In 1862, a number of prominent citizens of Pasay sent a petition to the civil and ecclesiastical authorities asking that they be allowed to manage their own political and religious affairs. On December 2, 1863, Pasay became a pueblo upon the recommendation of the Archbishop of Manila, Gregorio Melitón Martínez Santa Cruz. On June 11, 1901, Pineda was incorporated into the Province of Rizal. On August 4, 1901, a resolution was approved by the municipal council headed by Pascual Villanueva calling for the return of the city’s name to Pasay and before the year ended the Philippine Commission approved the petition.

Congressman Ignacio Santos Diaz pushed for the conversion of the town into a city and it to be named after Dr. Jose P. Rizal. The Diaz bill, which became Republic Act No. 183, was signed into law by President Manuel Roxas on June 21, 1947. After two years, eight months, and twelve days, Congressman Eulogio Santiago Rodriguez, Jr. legislated renaming Rizal City back to its original name. On May 3, 1950, President Elpidio Quirino, once a resident of Pasay himself, signed into law the bill approved by Congress.

The most accepted etymology of Pasay City came from the name of the Namayan princess. Other versions, however, are considered. One of which, came from the wail of a broken-hearted swain. According to folklore, Jose and Paz were in love with each other and were intent on a life together but in those days, their love was forbidden for Jose's father was one of many tenants of the hacienda of the father of Paz. Jose was ordered to stay away from Paz. This misfortune and the misery eventually led to the death of Paz. Jose stood and gazed from a distance at her funeral and when everybody left, he dug a tunnel into the earth to be with her. Once joined, he let out a sharp and anguished cry "Paz-ay!" The parents of Paz, in sorrow and regret, named their hacienda Paz-ay and in time, the whole town came to be called “Pasay”.

Historians have another explanation to the origin of name of the city. It is said that the locality now known as Pasay was then thick with “pasaw”, a plant with an exotic aroma. It was said that a Spanish botanist, Antonio Pineda, frequented a place called Basal in the vicinity of San Rafael to gather “pasaw”. Researching on Philippine Medicinal Plants reveals that “pasau” is a shared common name of: 1. Pasau-na-bilog, saluyot (Corchorus capsularis)  2. Pasau-na-haba (Corchorus catharticus)  3. Pasau-na-hapai (Jussiaea linifolis) and 4. Pasau saluyot (Corchorus olitorius). The abundance of “pasaw” gave the name of the locality.

Local historian, Benjamin Bal’orom, a long-time city resident, said that Pasay originated from the reign of Rajah Soliman, then the head of Manila, who was ordered by the Sultan of Sumatra to fight the Sultan of Borneo, a feared wicked ruler. The Sultan of Sumatra promised that anybody who could bring him the head of the Sultan of Borneo would be allowed to marry his daughter. Soliman succeeded in defeating the Sultan of Borneo and as agreed upon, he married a Sumatran princess and bore two heirs, namely Princess Pasay and Prince Sowaboy. Before his death, Soliman divided his realm between his two children. Princess Pasay was named after Princess Dayang-dayang Pasay of the Namayan Kingdom. Princess Pasay inherited lands from her father now comprising modern-day Makati, Pasay and Baclaran, hence the name Pasay.

The KALSADA or CMGP is a vital program of the national government especially for the provinces. Infrastructures like roads and highways are key components for good economy and efficient transport system. Pasay City may not benefit from the CMG but improving the main roads and highways outside the metropolis would add to the development of the nation.

Namayan Princess, Dayang-dayang Pasay, is surely proud of the gigantic transformation of her domain from a rural swampy terrain into a busy urbanized locality with criss-crossed kalsadas like the Road Radial 1, Road Radial 2, Road Radial 3; C-3, C-4, F.B. Harrison Avenue, Arnaiz Avenue (formerly Libertad), Ninoy Aquino Avenue, Andrews Avenue, Mexico Road, NAIA Road, Domestic Road and Aurora Boulevard.