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Parañaque City

Parañaque
Highly-Urbanized City
Aerial View of Parañaque City
Aerial View of Parañaque City
Official seal of Parañaque
Seal
Nickname(s): The Fashion Capital of the Philippines
The City of Lights
The Bay City
Motto: Dedicated to God
Location within Metro Manila
Location within Metro Manila
Parañaque is located in Philippines
Parañaque
Parañaque
Location within the Philippines
Coordinates: 14°28′N 121°01′E / 14.47°N 121.02°E / 14.47; 121.02Coordinates: 14°28′N 121°01′E / 14.47°N 121.02°E / 14.47; 121.02
Country Philippines
Region National Capital Region
Districts 1st and 2nd District of Parañaque City
Founded June 11, 1580
Cityhood February 15, 1998
Barangays 17
Government
 • Mayor Edwin L. Olivarez (Liberal)
 • Vice Mayor Jose Enrico T. Golez (Liberal)
 • Sangguniang Panlungsod
Area
 • Total 47.28 km2 (18.25 sq mi)
Elevation 12.0 m (39.4 ft)
Population (2015 census)
 • Total 665,822
 • Density 14,000/km2 (36,000/sq mi)
Demonym(s) Parañaqueño-Parañaqueña
Time zone PST (UTC+8)
Zip Code 1700
Dialing code +63 (0)02
Website www.paranaque.gov.ph

Parañaque, officially the City of Parañaque (Filipino: Lungsod ng Parañaque), is one of the cities and municipalities that make up Metro Manila in the Philippines. It is bordered to the north by Pasay, to the northeast by Taguig, to the southeast by Muntinlupa, to the southwest by Las Piñas, and to the west by Manila Bay.

Like the rest of Metro Manila, Parañaque experiences a tropical climate with only two distinct seasons, wet (July to September) and dry (October to June). The city enjoys an annual rainfall of 1,822 millimetres (71.7 in) and an average daily maximum temperature of 34.4 °C (93.9 °F).

There are several accounts as to how Parañaque got its name. One such story stated that long ago, at the mouth of what is now known as the Parañaque River, there stood a balete tree that, when viewed from afar, looked like a majestic ship. This earned it the name Palanyag, taken from the term "palayag", which means “point of navigation”.

Another version of the story was that, before the Spanish colonizers came to the Philippines, there were some natives who lived close to the Manila Bay whose main livelihood was fishing or paglalayag. On the other hand, the neighboring place from the east called Muntinlupa had rice farmers who were referred to as taga-Palayan. One day, the fishermen and rice farmers had a feast and many got drunk from tuba or fermented coconut wine. One farmer suggested that they should name the whole place Palayan as a sign of cooperation and goodwill between them. However, a fisherman protested and stated that they should name it Palalayag instead. As a compromise, they agreed to merge these two words and came up with Palalanyag. However, another drunken guest shouted, “Mabuhay ang Palanyag at ang mga taga-Palanyag!” The rest liked this word better and ever since then, the place was called "Palanyag".

In another story handed down to generations, when the Philippines was conquered by the Spaniards, some soldiers riding a horse-drawn carriage asked to be taken to a certain place. However, the coachman did not understand the Spanish soldier’s pronunciation. When they arrived, one of the soldiers said, “Para aqui, Para aqui” meaning, “Stop here, stop here.” The coachman did not understand and kept going whereas the soldier also repeated his instruction, “Para aqui, Para aqui”. The coachman left the carriage and told the townspeople that, “These Spaniards are repeatedly saying para aniya ake... para aniya ake” to which the townspeople just laughed. The incident circulated and was repeated around for days and the term "Para Aniya Ake" stuck.


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