Maria Sinukuan

Locality /Origin: Mount Arayat , Pampanga

Appearance:

Her black hair naturally curled,reaches down to her ankles.Her eyes are framed by long black lashes. Her eyebrows are arched .Her nose which is beautifully neither too high or too flat is finely chiseled. Her lips are well formed.Her skin is a flawless brown. Her clothes are made of white lowing robe.

BACK STORY OF MARIA SINUKUAN

My sister screams as the thunder roars through the house. I don’t know why she keeps doing that, it’s not like it won’t happen again.

Our lives have always been like this, lola says we are cursed and things have to be this way to atone for what happened. She doesn’t let up, but the thunder is getting louder.

I look outside the window and the downpour is getting steadily worse, a few more hours and we may have to move to the second floor. I go and check on the food, making sure we have enough to last through the storm.I don’t remember a time when it wasn’t raining.

We moved to Cebu when I was born because of what happened with my mom, but it was raining even there.I always wondered why typhoons would follow our family around.She runs out the door and into the storm.“I’M SORRY LEAVE ME AND MY FAMILY ALONE!””

I go after her and drag her back to the house. “SHE’LL NEVER LEAVE US ALONE!”Her sobs get stronger and I hug her tight. She retells the story of her girlhood. How she went up Mt. Arayat and took something that belonged to Her, Mariang Sinukuan. 

Mom was pregnant with my sister then and she moved as far away as possible to protect her family. The storms always came.Mom calmed down after an hour and she held my hand.“Do you know what I stole?”I never learned the whole story of what happened.

I looked at mom and asked her what was taken.“A mango.”      THE END

Maria Cacao

Locality/Origin: Mount Lantoy , Cebu

Appearance:

She has magnificently fair skin and perfect aquiline nose, which is far from the look of a native Filipina. They likening her to a mestizo(half native,half Spaish) haciendera.

BACK STORY OF MARIA CACAO

In the legend, Maria Cacao is a diwata or a mountain goddess who lived in a cave on Mount Lantoy in Argao. She owns a cacao plantation where villagers from Argao source their cacao from. Each time Maria harvests the cacao, she and her husband, Mangao, would bring their produce to other islands and countries on a large golden boat. They would usually leave at dawn when the villagers were still sleeping.

Each time they pass through the Argao River, they would destroy the bridge on the river and cause it to overflow. Whenever this happened, the villagers would know that the two have already set sail with a boatload of cacao. When they came back, they would bring with them items from other places.Maria would lend these items to the villagers, who would simply write whatever item they want to borrow and leave the list at the entrance of the cave.

When the villagers return the next day, these items would be there. Maria lent different items, from clothes, spoons, forks, plates and other utensils, all of which were made of gold. But, people started to return the items already broken or they would never return them at all. Due to this, Maria Cacao did not let the villagers borrow from her anymore. She also did not show herself to the villagers anymore, and the people stopped believing in the existence of Maria Cacao. THE END

    Maria Ilaya

Locality/Origin: Mount Makulot , Batangas

Appearance:

She is know also as Mariang Pula because she is wearing red shirt.

BACK STORY OF MARIANG ILAYA

Manang Paula looked at the letter that Lolo Ambo left her. As much as she wanted to respect his wishes, times were hard. She had to sell the land to have enough money to move where it would be a better future for her family. Paula walked to the Balete tree in the edge of the field. There weren’t any lights in the branches tonight. She didn’t know if that meant the people in the tree were going toleave as well.

“I’m sorry.” The tears were starting to swell up in Paula’s eyes. “I know that Lolo Ambo promised that nothing would happen to your tree, and he asked all of us to keep that promise alive, but I have to choose what’s best for my family. Lila is sick and we can’t even afford her medicine anymore. Roberto can’t find a job. I I am a mother and I need to give my children the life they deserve.”

Paula wiped away the tears from her cheek, “Please forgive me.” There was no sign, nothing to tell Paula that the people in the tree heard her. She didn’t know what to expect, but she had hoped that they would tell her something. Anything.She waited by the tree until morning and afterwards, she went to her house and started packing.

Three months later, Manang Paula was looking at her children and she was happy for the first time in a long while. Lila was running around playing with her cousins, Manang Paula remembered how weak her little girl looked in the hospital bed and she said a soft prayer of thanksgiving. She sat down and started her morning tradition of reading the newspaper.

The headline read “Protesters Rally New Development” which wasn’t surprising; It was of a beautiful girl in red leading the protesters against a bulldozer.Manang Paula smiled. They could take care of themselves after all. THE END