Plaza Dilao

In Spanish colonial times, Paco (originally Dilao) was home to one of two Japanese settlements in Manila, with the other in San Miguel.^[1] While the Japanese community of Plaza Dilao began with Dom Justo Takayama and his family settling in the surrounding area after they were exiled from Japan in 1615,^[2] most Japanese in Manila at the time were settled around the area now occupied by the Philippine Normal University.^[1] However, in 1762, the Japanese residents of Manila were later relocated here by the Spanish authorities, although after that, the community's population began to decline owing to reduced Japanese immigration to the Philippines and Japan's policy of sakoku.^[4] It is believed that the presence of the Japanese community around the plaza eventually led it to be called "Plaza Dilao",^[5] referring to the yellowish (dilaw in Tagalog) skin tone of the area's inhabitants.

During the American period, Plaza Dilao became a transport center with the construction of Paco railway station in 1915, directly across from the plaza. During World War II, the area was the site of an intense battle between Japanese and joint Filipino and American forces led by Cleto Rodriguez.^[6] The plaza is still considered a transport center: when former President Joseph Estrada became Mayor of Manila in 2013 and ordered a ban on city buses entering Manila, buses temporarily terminated at the plaza instead of their usual terminus at the Liwasang Bonifacio.^[7]

Aside from Paco railway station, two prominent organizations in the Philippines are headquartered near Plaza Dilao. The Philippine Columbian Association (PCA), the Philippines' oldest sporting club, relocated its headquarters to the plaza on April 1, 1979,^[8] while the Asociación de Damas de Filipinas (Ladies' Association of the Philippines) is located close to the plaza along Quirino Avenue Extension, having been in the same place since its establishment in 1913.^[9] The Paco substation of Meralco, a part of the Sucat–Paco–Araneta–Balintawak Transmission Line of National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), is located west of the plaza. The southbound off-ramp of Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 Plaza Dilao Exit is located around the plaza, particularly along Plaza Dilao Road.^[10]