Pasay, officially the City of Pasay (Lungsod ng Pasay; 'pasaɪ), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 440,656 people.
Due to its location just south of Manila, Pasay quickly became an urban town during the American colonial period.
Namayan and Rajahnate of Maynila
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). According to these legends, the ruler of Namayan bequeathed his territories in what is now Culi-culi, Pasay, and Baclaran to one of his sons, named Pasay, explaining the origin of the name.
In another version of the legend, it was Rajah Sulayman of Maynila who bequeathed the territory to his child - also named Pasay, but this time a daughter with the title of Dayang-dayang.
On May 19, 1571, Miguel López de Legazpi took formal possession of the Rajahnate of Maynila and its surrounding polities in the name of the Spanish crown.
Of the many religious orders that came, it was the Augustinian Order who would figure predominantly in the evangelisation of Pasay. 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 1727, the Augustinians formally took over Pasay and attached it to the Parish of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios in Malate.