THE STRIP IS a stretch of roughly a little over one kilometer. Or it could be two, or even more. It intersects three well-known roads in Makati, namely, Makati Avenue, Sen. Gil J. Puyat Avenue (formerly known as Buendia) and Ayala Avenue. The street sign does not label it as a “street” or an “avenue” or a “boulevard.” Instead, it is designated as a “paseo”, a word of Spanish origin that is loosely defined as, or is equivalent to, a “passageway” or a “path” or a “walkway.” It was thought of that the word may have been derived from the Spanish verb “pasear”, meaning “to walk.” Come to think of it, there is no other road or street in the city of Makati that has the tag “paseo” except this strip.
Paseo de Roxas. We have at times referred to it simply as “Paseo.”
Some of the city’s modern buildings are located on both sides of strip. During rush hours, hordes of the city’s office workers populate the sidewalks of Paseo---they pass through the area on their way to their offices. Expectedly, Paseo becomes clogged by vehicular traffic; for this reason, the city authorities always man the area with traffic officers to enforce discipline on the motorists...
[Note: Read the complete story in the book "You Filibini?" Stories and Other Writings by Amador F. Brioso, Jr., published May 2010]
