Paco, Manila

Paco is a district of Manila.

[edit] Landmarks

Dilao, was a settlement of 3000 Japanese during the Spanish era around the year 1600. The term probably originated from the Tagalog term 'dilaw', meaning 'yellow', which describes their general physiognomy. The Japanese had established quite early an enclave at Dilao, a suburb of Manila, where they numbered between 300 to 400 in 1593. A statue of Takayama can be found there. In 1603, during the Sangley rebellion, they numbered 1,500, and 3,000 in 1606. The Franciscan friar Luis Sotelo was involved in the support of the Dilao enclave between 1600 and 1608. The Japanese led an abortive rebellion in Dilao against the Spanish in 1606-1607, but their numbers rose again until the interdiction of Christianity by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1614, when 300 Japanese Christian refugees under Takayama Ukon settled in the Philippines. They are at the origin of today's 200,000-strong Japanese population in the Philippines. A Sikh Temple and Unilever Philippines is located at UN Avenue. There are car shops like Toyota, Ford, BMW, Hyundai, Nissan, Honda, and few other car shops. Presently, Dilao is traversed by the President Quirino Avenue. A loop road from President Quirino Avenue is named Plaza Dilao to commemorate the once flourishing Japanese community there.

In the district one can find Paco Park, the former municipal cemetery of old Manila, the city when it was still within the walls of the district of Intramuros and once contained the remains of Jose Rizal.