Monday, March 5, 2012

Mercedita - An Engkanto of Binangonan, Rizal

Stories


[Taken from a social networking site [1]:]


Mag-ingat, baka mapag laruan ka ni Mercedita!

Pag sapit ng ala-sais ng gabi ay huwag na daw paghuntahan si Mercedita, dahil naririnig niya ang usapan at maaring sumagot siya. Kung hindi ka pa takot, kukwentuhan kita.

Si Mercedita ang sinasabing engkantada sa kweba sa Batasin, sakop ng Wawa, Libis. Napakalinaw ng tubig sa parteng ito ng Laguna de Bay, kaya paboritong labahan ng kababaihan. Pag may dalagang naglalaba ay may kasamang manliligaw na binata. Tulad ng eksenang napapanood sa penikula nina Vilma Santos at Edgar Mortiz, kung hindi mo na inabot ang panahon nina Carmen Rosales at Rogelio de la Rosa. At si Mercedita ay nagpapakita sa mga lalaking lumalapit sa kweba.

Sa di kalayuan sa kweba daw natagpuan ang labi ng dalawang binata mula sa kilalang angkan na nalunod sa Lawa nuong Dekada 60’s. Ang ipinagtataka ng marami ay kabataan at atleta ang nasawi, sanay na lumangoy sa Lawa. Ang bulong -bulungan ay dinala daw ni Mercedita ang magkaibigan sa kanyang daigdig. Sa mga hindi maniniwala sa engkanto, itinuturong dahilan ang maghapong pagbabasketball ng mga nasawi at ang posibilidad na pinulikat sila at naghatakan palalim sa Lawa.

Mapaglaro daw si Mercedita. Parang napagti-tripan ang taong napapadpad sa kanyang lugar.

Hindi pa malimot ng mag-asawang taga-Calumpang kung paano ang kanilang bangka ay umikot-ikot lang sa lawa, isang umagang isinama nila ang sipuning anak upang makasagap ng sariwang hangin. Sa kanilang pagkabahala, itinaas ng Tatay ang bata at nakiusap sa engkantada na hayaan na silang makadaong sa lupa, alang-alang sa batang nuon ay nag-iiyak sa takot. Sa isang iglap umusad ang bangka, at iyon ang pinakamabilis na pagsagwang ginawa ng ama sa kanyang buong buhay.

May mga basketbolistang taga-Maynila na naglaro sa Rizal Cement Company, kabilang na ang asawa ng nuo’y sikat na telebisyon talk host. Apat silang nagkayayaang mamangka sa Lawa. Ganoon na lamang ang kanilang panghihilakbot dahil mula sa Wawa hanggang sa makadaong sa RCCI Compound, ay inabot sila ng walong oras! Sa paikot-ikot ng kanilang bangka at marahil sa gutom na rin, parang hilong talilong ang mga atleta na pamula nuon ay isinumpang hindi na babalik pa sa Binangonan.

May kwento na si Mercedita daw ay may mortal na kasintahan, isang albularyo na binigyan ng engkantada ng kapangyarihang makapagpagaling ng maysakit. May kumontra naman na propaganda daw lang ng manggagamot iyon upang simikat ang kanyang paghahagod, pagtatawas at iba pang paraan ng pagtataboy ng karamdaman at masamang espiritu sa katawan.

May sabi-sabi rin na si Mercedita ay kadaupang palad ng isang banyagang pari na naging Kura Paroko ng Binangonan. May lihim na lagusan daw sa likod ng altar kung saan sinusundo at inihahatid ni Mercedita ang pari kapag tinawag niyang mag-misa ito sa kanilang daigdig.

Ang mga engkantong kasama ni Mercedita ay umaahon daw dito sa bayan at namimili sa palengke. Kapag malingaw ang nariring o ingay ng salitaang hindi mawari, hudyat na may taga ibang daigdig sa tabi-tabi. Kapag nakakita ng babaeng pantay ang nguso, o walang linyang parang kanal mula sa ilong hanggang sa labi, iyon ay kasama ni Mercedita.

Sa mga hindi naniniwala, at laging humahanap ng paliwanag, binangit nila na tutuo ngang may bahay na bato sa Batasin at marahil ito ang sinasabing kweba. Pag-aari ng dayuhang pamilya na ang negosyo ay ospital at paaralan sa Maynila, ang bahay na bato ay naging tirahan ng isang kaanak na pinanawan ng bait. Inilayo sa lipunan sa kung ano mang pampamilyang dahilan. At marahil, ang paghahabi ng kwentong engkanto ang babala upang huwag lapitan ang bahay na ngayon ay abandonado na at kinatatakutan.

Ang matatanda ay may paraan upang pigilan ang likas na pagka-makilot at pagka-gala ng bata. Ang panakot: may engkanto sa tabing dagat, may nuno sa punso sa bukid, may kapre sa kaingin pag gabi.

Katulad ng sinasabing lihim na lagusan sa likod ng altar. Ayon sa kaibigang nuon ay sakristan ay paraan ng taong simbahan upang huwag nilang inumin ang alak ng pari patago duon sa likod ng altar.

Si Mercedita ay isang walang katapusang kwento na manganganak pa ng maraming kabanata mula sa malikhaing isip at malagong dila.

by: CKH Chef
july 6, 2010
CKH Chef
July 6, 2010
Beware, Mercedita may play on you!

As 6 o'clock in the evening, never talk about Mercedita, because she may hear your conversation and she may answer you. If you are still not feared, then I tell you more story.

Mercedita was the said engkantada of the cave in Batisan, part of Wawa, Libis. The water here in this part of Laguna de Bay is very clear, thus became the favorite laundry place of women. When there is a maiden washing clothes, she is accompanied with her suitor. Just like the scene in Vilma Santos and Edgar Mortiz's movie, if you weren't born yet at the time of Carmen Rosales and Rogelio de la Rosa. And Mercedita appears on men who went near the cave.

Not far from the cave, they found the two bodies of young men, from a well-known family, who were drowned in the lake last Dekada 60's (1960's). The mysterious thing people thought was, the two are both young and athletes, both were skilled in swimming on lakes. According to the stories, Mercedita brought the two to her world. While to those who didn't believe, the said cause was the over playing of basketball and the possibility of having cramps which leads them to pull each other deeper unto the lake.

They said, Mercedita is playful. As if, those who passes or walks through the place will be played at.

A married couple from Calumapng can't forget the time how there boat just moved riduculously round at the lake, one morning when they brought with them their catarrhing child to breathe some fresh air. Of there fear, the father raised his child and pleaded to the engkantada to let them go offshore, for the sake of the child which that time was crying of fright. In just an instant, the boat moved, and it was the fastest rowing the father had done on his entire life.

There were basketball players from Manila who played at Rizal Cement Company, one of them is the husband of a popular television talk show host. Four of them persuade each other to go boating on the lake. However, they were frightened because, from Wawa to the RCCI Compound, they spent almost 8 hours before they got off the lake! Of there boat being uncontrolled, and also because of hunger, the athletes got dizzy which started on that time, they pledged not to go back in Binangonan anymore.

There was a story that Mercedita got a mortal suitor, an albularyo which the engkantada gifted the power of healing diseases. But there are others saying that it was just his propaganda to be famous in his massage, tawas and other treatments of driving away sickness and bad spirits in the body.

There was another rumored story that Mercedita was a companion of a foreign priests which became the parish priest of Binangonan. There was a clandestine passage behind the altar where Mercedita fetch for a mass on their world, and accompanies him to that passage when he goes home.

The engkanto friends of Mercedita sometimes go offshore going to the village and buys in the market. If you hear some kind of noise or words you can't understand, it symbolizes that there are unknown beings somewhere. If you see a woman who don't possess a philtrum, she may be Mercedita's companion.

To those who don't believe, and always seek explanations, the said stone house in Batasin is true, which perhaps the cave they are talking about. It was owned by a foreign family, whose businesses in Manila are hospital and a school. They once lived in that house but they became insane, and they were hidden in public for some family reason. And, maybe, the creation of engkanto story is a warning not to go near the stone housev - now, abandoned and frightening.

Elders knew ways on how to avoid children's being mischievousness and rovingness. Scary warnings: there is an engkanto on the seashore, there is a nuno sa punso in the field, there is a kapre at night.

To the said clandestine passage behind the altar, according to a sakristan friend, was just the church's way to warn people not to drink the wine of the priest secretly behind the altar.

Mercedita was one of the infinite story which becomes wider to many chapters as time passes by, from playful minds and transmission of tongues.

by: CKH Chef
july 6, 2010
CKH Chef
July 6, 2010


Sources:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=130693470302612

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