Pinoy Urban Legends

I was talking to a friend about urban legends in the Philippines and I decided to compile a list of legends I've heard before.

Robinson's Mall half-man half-snake
It was rumored that one of Gokongwei's child who is the twin brother of daughter Robina was born a mutant, a half-man half-snake named Robinson. The mall was built so that Robinson can have a place to hunt. The rumor goes that if you visit the mall, you should be careful when entering the fitting room as you may never come out because you'll fall into a trap door and be eaten by the mutant. This is especially so if you happen to be a woman or child

Pusa sa siopao (cat in steamed bun)
There was rumor that one of the shops in Ongpin (Chinatown) was selling siopao (steamed bun) using cat meat. Instead of the usual pork, they used cat they found along the street. Ewww...

White Lady at Balete Drive
According to Wikipedia.

Balete Drive is a street located in New Manila, Quezon City, Philippines. It is known for apparitions of a white lady and haunted houses which were built during the Spanish Era (19th century).

New Manila has an abundance of balete trees, which, according to legend, is a favorite spot of wandering spirits and other paranormal beings. Paranormal experts believe that the white lady was raped by Japanese soldiers during the Second World War, which differs from the movie (see below).

Witnesses of the white lady, advise motorists to avoid the street at night, especially if they are alone. If it is necessary to travel the route, they advise that the backseat of the car is fully occupied and that no one should look back or look in any mirrors. The apparition wears a night gown, has long hair but has no face or one covered with blood.

Bongbong Marcos is not the real Bongbong Marcos
The son of Ferdinand Marcos, Bongbong Marcos was rumored to have died while he was in London as a teenager when he was stabbed in a fight. After his death, they searched for a replacement and had that person undergo plastic surgery to replace Bongbong.

Of course, Bongbong Marcos denies this in recent interviews.

Manananggal

A Manananggal is a mythical creature in the Philippines described as being a hideous, scary vampire-like creature (as opposed to an aswang), capable of severing its upper torso in order to fly into the night with huge bat-like wings to prey on unsuspecting, pregnant women in their homes; using an elongated proboscis-like tongue, it sucks the hearts of fetuses or the blood of an unsuspecting, sleeping victim.

This legend used to come out every election time. Whenever there's an election, there's always a rumor that a manananggal is roaming the city looking for pregnant women to eat their fetus.

The manananggal is popular in the Visayan region especially in Capiz, Iloilo and Antique.

Manila Film Center Tregedy
This is not really a legend since it actually happened. But the story about the haunting is the legend.

It was told that Imelda Marcos had the grandiose notion of turning the Philippines into the Cannes of Asia by starting an international film festival. They decided the venue to be held beside the Cultural Center of the Philippines and had a date set for January 18, 1982.

Despite the downhill trend of the Philippine economy, Imelda plodded along with her grandiose schemes. She also ignored some bad omens. When she first decided to launch her International Film Festival, she had built a huge building that was designed on the lines of the Parthenon.

As usual with her last-minute projects, the building was still under completion when it was nearing time for the festival, and construction was rushed, round the clock. The cement was not given time to dry properly. On November 17, 1981 shortly before 3:00 a.m., an entire floor collapsed and caved in on the floor below. According to the Marcos-controlled press, 28 workers were killed in the accident. Rumor had it than 168 had died.

Betty Benitez (wife of Imelda’s Assistant Minister, Conrado Benitez), who was in charge of the project for the First Lady, was called to the scene. The mothers and wives of the men who died had come to claim the bodies. But the building was due to open for the festival, and Betty ordered, “Pour the cement.” The bodies of the dead workers were thus covered over so that the relatives could not claim them. The women put a curse on her.

A few months later Betty Benitez was herself killed in bizarre accident. She was a passenger in a car driven by O. D. Corpus, a former president of the University of the Philippines. They were on their way to Tagaytay at night. (It was never made clear why they were out driving in the middle of the night away from their respective spouses and families.) Betty was killed instantly when the car ran off the road on a curve and smashed into a tree. Corpus survived.

Manilans soon said the film festival building was haunted, and many refused to work there or go inside to see films. Imee Marcos called in a medium, who was said to be able to communicate with the dead, and brought him to the film festival building. The medium went into a trance. Normally, he spoke only in his native dialect. But in the trance, he suddenly spoke on in English: ‘Now there are 169,’ he intoned. ‘Betty is with us.’

Here's a video of the opening of the Manila International Film Festival but it's in Italian.


Source with photos: designKultur

I'll post more urban legends when I find some more. If you know any, please share.