The Ghost in CCP and Metropolitan Theater

Old buildings are always associated with terror - that all of them have cruel past and unwanted memories of people who once lived there, but that is not absolute. As those buildings are also connected with ghosts - ghost of those people who really loved the place, it only mean that they didn't want to depart on the structure because of its dear significance.

Not all buildings can be compared or synonymously be pointed to the Manila Film Center, whose past became so tragic that the dead still haunts the place for vengeance and justice.

One of our readers gave me an idea about the ghost living in the Cultural Center of the Philippines.[a] As I was finding information about the CCP ghost, I found one story about the Metropolitan Theater. So I thought, it could be much useful if I combine both old theaters in Metro Manila. Thanks to the stories created by Luce and Clarence Tuvera in Yourghoststories.com. They gave me enough history of the ghosts.

So let's get started . . .

The Manila Metropolitan Theater

Before the creation of the CCP, artistic performances were held in public places around the country. The Manila Grand Opera House, which was constructed in mid-19th Century, housed the stage plays, operas and zarzuelas and other important events in Manila. Then, there came the creation of Metropolitan Theater (or MET as what others call it).

The Manila Metropolitan Theater was the first theater created before the Cultural Center of the Philippines. It houses the Braodway of the Philippines - an Art Deco building of Manila. It was constructed in 1931. Juan M. Arellano is the Filipino architect who designed the MMT.

During the liberation of Manila by the United States and Filipino forces in 1945, the theatre was severely damaged, losing some of its roofing and destroying some of the walls. After reconstruction by the Americans it gradually fell into disuse in the 1960s. In the following decade it was meticulously restored in 1978 but again fell into decay.[3]

The Cultural Center of the Philippines

The Cultural Center of the Philippines is a government owned and controlled corporation established for preservation, development and promotion of Philippine arts and culture. It provides local and international productions with stage performances and exhibitions. In addition to it, the CCP is also the venue for festivals.

Leandro Locsin was the designer of the structure. It was originally planned to be constructed in Quezon City when the Philippine-American Cultural Foundation (PACF) raised fund for this new theater. However, First Lady Imelda Marcos persuaded the PACF to relocate the plan to Roxas Boulevard in Manila. Executive Order No. 60 was issued by Pres. Marcos for formalization of the project.

The construction was objected by Senator Ninoy Aquino because the money used came mostly from public fund and it didn't have congressional appropriation, and the institution was branded for the elites.

Story

[Taken from Internet:[1]]

Who's that Girl? By: luce [ . . . ] That day, during dad's shift, their crew were informed that the president's first lady, Imelda Marcos, will be watching the play. The Presidential Security Group (PSG) thoroughly swept the place for anything and anyone suspicious. After that, my dad and the sound technician (let's call him Roy), went up to the control room behind the stage (it's elevated, think two story backstage) and started checking their equipment to get ready for the play. Their area allows them to see the stage without being seen by the audience. Imagine the recording studios with the glass panel - that's pretty much how it looks like. On the first level across them (still behind the stage) are two PSG men, stationed in that area. The play started without a hitch but during the intermission, the two PSG guys came running inside the control room. My dad and Roy got a little worried - during that time, getting in trouble with the Marcoses either mean torture or death. One of PSG guys spoke up and asked whether someone went through the room. My dad and Roy told them they haven't seen anyone go through the door. Unconvinced, the PSG guys pointed to a door on the right. Roy said that door has been locked for a long time but gave them the key anyway so they could check it themselves. They did and found the tiny room dusty and empty (no trap doors or anything). For a couple of tough guys, they started looking a little shook up. They told my dad and Roy that just a few minutes ago, before the intermission, they saw a lady with long hair and white clothes entering the room--running, then disappearing. My dad and Roy looked at each other, shrugged and told the PSG guys that it happens a lot there (the whole CCP in fact). Here's another tale I want to share with you guys about that place. In class, during high school, our teacher in English was discussing the details of our upcoming project. She then started sharing the woes of our upperclassmen (or women since I studied in an all-girls school) with their thesis. I stopped listening at this point, deciding to scribble doodles on my notebook but a picture being passed around piqued my interest. My teacher said it was taken in one of the hallways of the CCP (the hall with the huge mirrors). I can't remember if it's 3 or 4 of her students, but I can remember seeing 3 unwelcome images - one of a lady with long hair and a boy between 2 of her students, and a head of a man in front. The lady and the boy were in the mirror. Their images like smoke. The man in front is less discernible at first glance, it looks like it was super imposed. All in 35 mm of film. No, I don't have a copy of that picture. I was a broke high school student (remember, 'tis the age of nice old film cameras) and was not a huge fan of the supernatural back then.

Another story which gave me much interest is The Dame by Clarence Tuvera.

[Taken from Internet:[2]]

The Dame By: Clarence Tuvera [ . . . ] . . . Artistic Director Rolando Tinio received the invitation to join the festival, he gladly accepted it, taking it as an act of good will on the part of the CCP. He decided to mount his Filipino translation of Will Shakespeare's The Twelfth Night (Ikalabing-Dalawang Gabi), featuring his actress wife, the dame of classical theater in the Philippines, Ella Luansing Tinio in the role of Viola. A week before the start of the actual festivities, however, Ella Luansing suddenly died due to a tragic car accident. We half expected to receive a call from director Tinio saying he will withdraw his company's participation from the festival, but he didn't. He did call to inform us that his daughter, Victoria Tinio will be taking over the role of Viola, and that we were to make the necessary changes in the list of cast for the official festival program. I know many of the people in TP. I have worked with them backstage in at least two productions, one of which - Will Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (translated as Ang Trahedya ni Hamlet, Prinsipe ng Denmarka) - was when they were already at the MET. I went to visit them two days before their Technical Dress Rehearsal, partly on official business (Director Tinio was supposed to deliver a lecture on Stage Management to festival participants, and I came over to inform him of the exact venue of the lecture), and partly out of nostalgia. Even the whole stage design was tweaked to reflect the company's state of mourning, as shown by the black and white veils that hang from the battens and falls ever so gracefully down to the stage boards. An extra character was also incorporated into the performance - a lady in black, laced evening gown whose face is covered with a thin black veil - appearing at certain scenes on stage. This extra character was played by TP resident actress, Divina Fabrique Cavestany who bears a striking resemblance to the late Ella Luansing Tinio (same facial features, same piercing eyes, same posture, though younger by a decade.) This character was to appear whenever the actors on stage would recite a soliloquy from other plays that Tinio incorporated into the script. These soliloquies were from characters in other plays that the late Ella performed in. Needless to say, the rehearsal that I witnessed, as a whole, was creepy and depressing (considering that Twelfth Night is supposed to be a comedy of manners). Nevertheless, some of us who have worked with the company in the past decided to see the play on closing night (it ran for three weekends, excluding the actual festival week). That was to be TP's final performance, as Rolando decided to finally call it quits after 17 years of translating and producing classics of world theater for Filipino audiences. His main disciple and creative partner, Ella, is gone, and so he figured there was no more reason to continue. All TP alumni, on stage and back stage, were invited to a quiet dinner afterwards. During final performance, however, as Divina's character weaved in and out of scenes, something extraordinary happened. Another lady in black appeared on stage, much to everyone's horror. The face was veiled, and yet there was no mistaking those eyes that pierced through the thin fabric. Divina actually stopped her entrance from stage left, then walked right back out, as the other veiled figure stood at stage right. Being the professionals that they were, the actors proceeded with the performance as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. The audience, many of whom were regular TP fans and Classics of World Theater enthusiasts, was in complete silence: everyone knew the late Ella enough to recognize her presence. If it was a bad joke, it was done in poor taste. The apparition appeared several times that night, often stopping Divina on her tracks. At one point, it made an entrance while Divina was already on stage. Everyone saw the two women in black on the stage at the same time. It was unnerving. At curtain time, however, only Divina came out in her costume, sans the veil to take her final TP bow. As the curtain fell for the last time, the unnerved audience stepped out of the theater in such a hurry you would have thought there was a fire somewhere. I don't know if many of the cast and TP alumni stayed for the dinner after the performance. I know I didn't. [ . . . ] TP: Teatro Pilipino

Note: The stories above are summarized for briefing the whole original story. You can visit the source websites.

Afterword

The second story is proven true by the author himself. Though the incident happened in Metropolitan Theater, the ghost seemed similar to the CCP ghost. But I don't mean the Met ghost is the same ghost in CCP. What I mean is, ghost like them have unfinished business. Ella Luansing (the Met ghost), if she didn't die, she should have been one of the characters in the play.

Note: Try pointing your cursor on the underlined words or letters for an additional information or definition.

Sources:
[1]http://www.yourghoststories.com/real-ghost-story.php?story=12344
[2]http://www.yourghoststories.com/real-ghost-story.php?story=18857
[3]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_Metropolitan_Theater
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Center_of_the_Philippines
Image Source:
http://www.renegadetheatercompany.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ghost_light-palace_theater.jpg

The Yamashita Treasure

The uprising started in Europe on September 1, 1939, when Germany attacked Poland. The two were rivals ever since. Germany and Italy were allied countries in Europe. Japan is also included in their alliance. Their alliance was called Axis Powers. In 1941, Japan conquered Manchuria and Indo-China.

While the peace talk was still in progress in Washington D.C., the Japanese govenment declared war, then bombed the Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 8, 1941. Pearl Harbor was the base of Unted States Pacific Meet. Because of this, the United States of America declared war next against Japan. The Philippines, which was one of USA's allies, was involved in the said war. Germany and Italy declared war against United States and Great Britain. Thus, the Second World War started.

In the same date, Japanese airplanes bombed Davao, Tuguegarao, Iba, Tarlac and Pampanga. On the second day, they dropped bombs in Manila which put the city in their hands.

And the rest is history . . . . I actually love to study the history of wars in the world. Unfortunately, we're not talking about the World War II, we'll be discussing the legend about the Yamashita Treasure. Well, I thought it could be appropriate to start the article with an excerpt from my history textbook.

The Yamashita Treasure (also known as the Yamashita's Gold and Fort Santiago Treasure) is the given name to an alleged stolen valuables particularly in Southeast Asian countries by Japanese forces during the Second World War. Those valuables were looted from banks, depositories, temples, churches, other commercial premises, mosques, museums and private homes. Then, all were buried or hidden in caves, tunnels and underground complexes somewhere in the Philippines.

The said treasure was named after the Imperial Japanese Army general Tomoyuki Yamashita, who was the commander of Japanese forces in the Philippines in 1944.

There were rumors that account the Yamishita Treasure is still hidden, inspite of the fact that a Filipino treasure hunter named Rogelio Roxas claimed that he found it in 1971.

I was actually hesitant to create this article because of its broad story. Until now, many people believed that this treasure truly exist and still uncovered from the place where it was hidden. Treasure hunters from around the globe are still tracking the footsteps of the Japanese armies, especially Gen. Yamashita, who were involved in the concealment of such a very large and controversial treasure. The Philippines is an archipelago which comprises over 7,000 islands, and I estimate less than 1% of these islands are a possible suspect for being the site of this alluring room of golds. Fort Santiago is one of the suspected places, as well as Baguio City (I'm not sure where exactly in Baguio.) Even Rizal's monument in Luneta Park, Manila City was suspected.

The Story behind the Theft

According to the books written by Sterling Seagrave and Peggy Seagrave (The Yamato Dynasty: the Secret History of Japan's Imperial Family (2000) and Gold Warriors: America's Secret Recovery of Yamashita's Gold (2003)), the theft was organized by both the Yakuza Gangsters and the highest levels of Japanese Society, including the Emperor. The intention of the loot was to finance Japan's war effort.

Kin no yuri (Golden Lily) was organized secretly for this purpose. The Emperor himself appointed his brother, Prince Yasuhito Chichibu, to be its head.

The looting concentrated in Singapore, the stolen valuables were transported somewhere in the Philippines. From there, the Japanese planned to ship it to their country after the war. However, some of the Japanese merchant ships carrying the war booty sailed back to Japan. Unfortunately, some of them sunk during the combat in the Pacific Ocean against U.S. Navy submarines and Allied warplanes.

When the treasure was in the Philippines, they hid it in an enclosed area. According to some sources, as well as the Seagraves, they claimed that American military intelligence operatives found much of the loot, then they secretly cooperated with Emperor Hirohito and other senior Japanese figures for the concealment of the existence of the treasure. The said treasure was used to finance the American covert intelligence operations around the world during the Cold War.

Treasure Unearthed

Many individual persons and groups, both in the Philippine and from foreign countries, continued locating for treasure sites. A number of accidental deaths, injuries and financial losses incurred by treasure hunters have been reported. But one person successfully found the treasure.

In 1961, Rogelio Roxas, a Filipino treasure hunter, met a son of a former member of Japanese Army in Baguio City. The said son helped him mapped the location of the treasure. Another man, who served as Yamashita's interpreter during the Second World War, told him to visit an underground chamber which was the place where the treasure was enclosed. A few years after, he formed a group to search the for the treaure, and obtained a permit from Judge Pio Marcos.

In 1971, they found the chamber on state lands near Baguio City. There, they found bayonets, samurai swords, radios, and skeletal remains dressed in a Japanese military uniform. They also found the 3-foot-high golden Buddha and numerous crates. He opened one of the crates and it contains gold bullions.

They went out with the golden Buddha and one box of twenty-four gold bars. Then sealed the chamber fo safekeeping until the time he will be able to remove the crates from there.

However, an unfortunate event happened next. He sought potential buyers for the golden Buddha. There were two individuals who represent a prospective buyer, they examined and tested the metal in the Buddha and reported it was genuine - a solid 20-carat gold. After that, the President (Ferndinand Marcos) learned the discovery of Rogelio Roxas. He ordered him arrested and beaten. The Buddha and the remaining gold bullions were taken.

Roxas alleged that in retaliation to his vocal campaign to reclaim the Buddha and the remainder of the treasure taken from him, Ferdinand continued to have Roxas threatened, beaten and eventually incarcerated for over a year.

When he was released, he puts claims against President Marcos which at that time lost the presidency. In March 1988, he (Rogelio Roxas) and the Golden Budha Corp. held ownership rights to the treasure stolen from him, then filed lawsuit againsts the Marcoses in the state of Hawaii court seeking damages for the theft and the surrounding human rights abuses committed against him. But on the eve of trial, Roxas died. Before his death, he gave the deposition testimony which could be used as evidence. In 1996, Roxas and the Golden Budha Corp. received $22 Billion with interest increased to $40.5 Billion. This lawsuit concluded that Roxas found the treasure.

Well, I don't know what happened to the remaining crates still in the chamber, whether they were unearthed by Marcos or still in there.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamashita's_gold/
Kasaysayan ng Pilipinas: Pagbabago para sa kaunlaran at kapayapaan by: Dr. Florida C. Leuterio

Tasaday - Hoax or Genuine

Have you heard about the Tasaday Tribe? (The one which people considered as a Stone Age Tribe.) If yes, do you think this tribe is real? Or just a hoax? If they were not true, then someone was behind this greatest scandal.

Actually, till now no one knows who to believe - the debunkers or the believers. The Tasaday people are the only one who know if they were really true or just paid actors by Manuel Elizalde. Like what Ethnologist Thomas Headland said,

.... the Tasaday were a hoax when viewed as a group of paid actors that paraded around the forest wearing leaves.
.... they were authentic if they were viewed as a forest-dwelling group of people caught in the midst of the media.

For the sake of this discussion, let's think they were in the middle of true and fake. NO BIAS.

About the Tasaday Tribe

The Tasaday tribe is an indigenous people of Mindanao, island South of Philippines. They are considered belonging in the Lumad group together with the other indigenous people found in the same island. These group of people were believed to be living in the caves of the Philippine rain forest, secluding themselves to the others, and are not aware of their surroundings. They were wearing only orchid leaves and have their diet with fruits, fishes and insects. This tribe was called Stone Age Tribe because of their way of living which resembles that of the Stone Age people from the past, and, of course, they use stone tools.

Tasaday language is distinct from that of their neighboring tribes - Manobo in the east and Tboli in the west. They even don't have in their dialect the words war, hate, enemy, conflict and the like. However, in the mid-1980s, according to Linguistics Anthropologist Carol Malony their language was 80% similar to Manobos'.

As of 2008, their population is only 216.

Discovery

On June 7, 1971, a local Manobo hunter from the village of Blit told Manuel Elizalde about their accidental encounters with this primitive tribe. A month later, he released the discovery in the media. Visitors were very excited in seeing them. But weeks after announcement of the news, the visitors were blocked by PANAMIN guards. They only allow important visitors to meet them.

By the way, Manuel Elizalde was at that time the head of the government agency PANAMIN, which protects the interest of cultural minorities. He also took credit in the discovery of Tasaday Tribe.

In June, 1971, Elizalde with his bodyguard, helicopter pilot, a doctor, a student, named Edith Terry, and a local tribespeople for interpreting purposes, met with the Tasaday people in the edge of the forest.

In March, 1972, another meeting was held, this time in the home site of the tribe, between Elizalde, and members of press and media including the Associated Press and National Geographic Society.

Being brought out to the world, Tasaday became so popular that they caught the attention of all medias, famous anthropologists and celebrities like Charles Lindbergh and Gina Lollobrigida.

Ethno-botanist Douglas Yen, Linguistics Anthropologist Carol Malony, and Father Sean McDonaugh studied the newly discovered tribe.

Anthropologists Zeus Salazar, Gerald Berraman, Alan Barnard and Swiss Anthropologist Journalist Oswald Iten told the media that the tribe was an absolute fake, that they were just making a great show to the whole world.

Studies of the Believers and Debunkers

Ethno-botanist Douglas Yen studies the ways of different cultures in how they utilize plants. He was also a strong believer that the tribe was definitely a genuine Stone Age tribe. He lived with them for about a month and what he found out was that they actually live resembling that of the Stone Age people. Also, according to him, they live by just eating relatively a low carbohydrate and protein foods.

He made an experiment using rice plants. He asked some children about it, and no one had an idea. This proves that they have no exposure to outside world. The rice grow outside there place and yet no one of them discovered it. Tasadays eat a different variety of rice, different from his sample, but they call it in other names. Tasaday was a hunting and gathering civilization and they never planted rice, so children never know it unless they plant some.

Linguistics Anthropologist Carol Malony studied the tribe's language if they were related with others. According to her, their language was 80% similar to Manobos'. Thus, it only mean they have contact with each other or they came from only one tribe but didn't lived longer and evolved together. The media concluded that the two split off around 1200 A.D., meaning they weren't Stone Age Tribe. And this specific conclusion brought out many speculation that the tribe is FAKE.

She also approved to what Yen said that Tasadays had no borrowed words from other languages. If they had, they are good in faking themselves to not saying by a fault any of those words. She also added that upon conversation with children, she found her discovery very strong. It seemed that their language is genuine. There are plenty of rooms for children to come out even a single borrowed word from their mouths in a conversation.

According to Father Sean McDonaugh, he followed them for twenty years, and he had Tboli tribe members with him to examine them. The Tboli tribe found that they were not related to each other.

In 1986, (the time when Marcos government was overthrown) Swiss Anthropologist Journalist Oswald Iten came back to the rain forest accompanied by Joey Lozano, a Filipino reporter, and Datu Galang Tikaw for an unauthorized investigation to the Tasaday cave, they are with six Tasaday for two hours. He saw the cave empty, then Tasadays were wearing T-shirts and jeans, and had footage that they were living in houses (huts). This became the basis of another story of Tasadays - that it was a hoax.

According to him, the Tasaday people were just farmers of Manobo and Tboli tribe, and were forced to live like cavemen by Manuel Elizalde in exchange of payment.

"We didnt live in caves, only near them, until we met Elizalde," they said. "Elizalde forced us to live in the caves so that we'd be better cavemen. Before he came, we lived in huts on the other side of the mountain and we farmed. We took off our clothes because Elizalde told us to do so and promised if we looked poor that we would get assistance. He gave us money to pose as Tasaday and promised us security from counter-insurgency and tribal fighting."

Manuel Elizalde was accused of promising food and clothing to the tribe if they will cooperate with him. He was also rumored that the reason why he made it is just to take their land. (But he was proven to had acquired some lands from other tribes.)

A few weeks later, a team from Dern Stern went there accompanied by the original discoverer of the tribe. There, they saw them again wearing leaves in the cave, with clothes under those leaves. This was supposed to disprove their authenticity.

Anthropologists Zeus Salazar who also believed that Tasaday were not true. He studied the tools that the Tasaday were using. He found out that those tools were not made just like that used by people in Stone Age, that those tools cannot be used in daily activities. With these discovery he concluded that they were fake, and was just used as props for the show.

Anthropologists Gerald Berraman also studied their stone tools. He didn't found any remains of old tools in the cave. Tasaday tribeman told him that after 1970s, they stopped creating stone tools because they were given knives by explorers who visited them. However, this reason, for Barraman, was unbelievable because if they started to use these tools at around 1970s then there should be any remains of their old tools somewhere. He also found out that these people don't have hunting tools nor any rituals and folklores which for him, was an important ways in survival.

Ban to Visitations

In April 1972, (same year when Martial Law was declared) Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos (at the behest of PANAMIN and Lindbergh) declared 19,000 acres (182 km²) of land surrounding the Tasaday's ancestral caves as the Tasaday/Manobo Blit Preserve. By this time, eleven anthropologists had studied the Tasaday in the field, but none for more than six weeks, and in 1976, Marcos issued a decree to close the preserve to all visitors in ... protecting the Tasaday and other unexplored cultural communities from unauthorized entry. This declaration was rumored that Elizalde persuaded Marcos to do such.

One of the reasons for the closing was a number of suspicions that arose. Apparently, their dead were left in the forest under a layer of leaves, yet no bones, compost, or the like were found. Secondly, although the Tasaday had claimed to be living in the jungle at their cave shelter full time, there was no garbage or sign of human waste. Elizalde claimed that among the 24 remaining Tasaday, there was no wife-sharing, adultery, or divorce. Their diet was claimed to be all forage, i.e., wild fruit, palm pith, forest yams, tadpoles, grubs, and roots. The calories in such a diet are less than the amount needed for survival, so they should have been paper thin. The apparent yams that they survive on were experiencing a shortage around the area where they lived. When dietitians and health advisors suggested further research, they were promptly banned from the Tasaday's home. An anthropologist reported seeing soldiers slipping cooked rice to the Tasaday, and he was banned as well.

Prior to the closing of the preserve to visitors, PANAMIN funded essentially all efforts to find, visit, and study, the Tasaday, with most of the money used to "protect" them coming from Elizalde and his family, with a lesser portion provided by the Philippine government. As contact between the Tasaday and the world outside their forest virtually ceased with the banning of visitors to the preserve in 1976, so did expenditures on the Tasaday by PANAMIN.

Rise of Controversy

In a TV program (ABC Televion's) 20/20 two young Tasaday, named Lobo and Adug, told the interviewer, through their translator Datu Galang Tikaw, that they were indeed not Tasaday. Because of this claim, the hoax of Tasaday became the headline worldwide.

Two years after them, in BBC Documentary, they interviewd again the same Tasaday. They showed the video of their interview with the 20/20 program together with other Tasadays. They confessed that what they said in the interview was not true, Galang told them to say those words in exchange of cigarettes, clothing, and anything they wanted. But Galang confirmed those statements.

Others

At the time when Swiss Anthropologist Journalist Oswald Iten came back to the rain forest and found Tasaday wearing clothes and living in houses, it was about 15 years later from the time they were discovered and televised, and had contact with outside world. So in those years, it is possible that they had changed their ways. It doesn't mean that they were cavemen, will be cavemen forever; they were wearing leaves, and will wear leaves forever.

And at the time a team from Dern Stern came back after Iten's encounter, they saw them wearing leaves again. Its not a problem if they wanted to go back in wearing leaves again. Especially, if some of them find clothes irritating (just like Tarzan when he wore a cloth).

Lawrence A. Reid (U. of Hawai'i, Dept. of Linguistics, Emeritus) writes that he spent 10 months with the Tasaday and surrounding linguistic groups (1993–1996) and has concluded that they probably were as isolated as they claim, that they were indeed unfamiliar with agriculture, that their language was a different dialect from that spoken by the closest neighboring group, and that there was no hoax perpetrated by the original group that reported their existence. In his paper 'Linguistic Archaeology: Tracking down the Tasaday Language' Dr. Reid states although he originally thought that an individual Tasaday named Belayem was fabricating data, he later found, after a detailed analysis of the linguistic evidence, around 300 of Belayem's forms were actually used in Kulaman Valley, Manobo (Manobo languages), that Belayem had never visited and did not even know about. Reid also concluded that the Tasaday had not been isolated for a thousand years. He speculated that they split off from the Kulaman Valley Manobos, perhaps about 150 to 200 years ago. They might had fled into the jungle to escape any of disease, and war.

Ethnologist Thomas Headland says that the Tasaday were a tribe that was caught in the midst of a changing world. Headland edited a book composed of all the anthropological articles and data analysis along with the various arguments about the Tasaday and reached the conclusion that the entire Tasaday episode was the result of exaggerations and miscommunications among the media. He said that he doubted the accusations that the Tasaday were paid to live half-naked in the rain forest as dwellers and that he does believe they were a discovered tribe, but not a Stone Age tribe.

According to Headland, the Tasaday tribe incident was the result of the noble savage attitude toward a newly discovered tribe that came during the late 1960s resulting from the wars and the need for peace in the world. Headland also said that the Tasaday were a hoax when viewed as a group of paid actors that paraded around the forest wearing leaves. He said they were authentic if they were viewed as a forest-dwelling group of people caught in the midst of the media. Anthropologists instantly worshipped the Tasaday because they were seen as a new area of study. During this time, everyone thought this tribe was unique because the tribe had no words for war and hate in its society. This belief made way for the conditions of self-fulfilling prophesies that the researchers experienced causing them to only record data that related to their individual theories.

Now the tribe is okay. They are gaining population again, and they learn how to farm.

And its up to you if you believe some of the above information.

By the way, I had watched a documentary by Kara David in I-Witness (GMA): Tasaday Revisited 30 years. She asked Lobo if Tasaday truelly were Tasaday, and he answered a big YES, that they were.

For more about them, click here

Sources:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasaday_people
www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,452856,00.html
http://jamesjr.tripod.com/index-3.html
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/permalink/the_stone-age_tasaday

Malacañang Palace

Malacañang Palace is the home of the President of Republic of the Philippines, the symbol of the nation, and also his/her official office. It is located at 1000 José P. Laurel Street, San Miguel, Manila. The house was built in 1750 in Spanish Colonial style. In Spanish Era, it is also the home of Governor-General of the Philippines. It was purchased from a Spanish Aristocrat named Don Luis Rocha, and was purchased by a Spanish Colonel and again purchased by the state, thus became the home of the representatives of Spain in the Philippines.

Yes! It is true. The building was built since the Spanish time. So, it might be true that there is an unknown entity there. Then, what are they?

Male and female figures disappearing into walls. Pianos playing by themselves in the dead of night.

Empty chairs turning, heavy curtains parting, plates vanishing from where you put them. --- Philippine Daily Inquirer

Pres. Noynoy Aquino once said,

No one wants to live in Malacañang proper, because of the eerie environment.

Actually, he prefer to live in the other side of Pasig River - on Bahay Pangarap.

I don?t like the ambience of Malacañang Palace. There's this big balete tree in front [of the state entrance] ... And the guards say sometimes, the pianos start playing by themselves and someone is [heard] marching [down the hall].

Story

[Taken from a News Website:]

Strange things The strongman's son, Senator Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr., narrated tales of ghostly goings-on during the family's 20-year stay in the Spanish-era Palace. There's no doubt about it, many strange things are really happening there, the senator told the Inquirer. Everybody who lived in the Palace, during and after [our stay], including the security and the staff?everybody has experienced something, he said. Eduardo Rozon, chief steward during the Marcos regime, and Bernardo Barcena Jr., a guard posted at the door to the private quarters of the then first family, vividly recall both frightening and hilarious encounters with the unknown in Malacañang. From their stories recounted to the Inquirer last week, it appeared that ghosts haunted not only the numerous state rooms but also the Marcoses? private quarters, and even the adjoining building known as Kalayaan Hall. The chandeliers clanked, the plates in the china room tinkled, and staff members felt their hair rising. The ghostly occurrences always happened in the wee hours?between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m., when the Palace was quiet and deserted, according to both Bongbong Marcos and Barcena. During that witching hour, it was common for the staff to see figures appear at the Reception Hall, the massive corridor framed by pictures of all Philippine presidents, and the Ceremonial Hall, the biggest room in the Palace where the most important state functions are held and which served as balcony during the Spanish and American eras. Never their faces You just see them. You think they're your colleagues but they're not. And they always had their backs to us; we never saw their faces, said Barcena, who is now on his second term as barangay councilman in Bagong Nayon in Antipolo City, the housing project awarded by the Marcoses to their household staff. Barcena once walked up to who he thought was a colleague leaning on a panel in the Ceremonial Hall: I was just a few meters from him when he vanished. Frightened, Barcena hurried to tell his colleagues about the experience. Rozon, who supervised the Palace waiters, recalled one night when he was at the Reception Hall and noticed that the door to the Music Room was ajar. (A bedroom during the Spanish time, the Music Room has since been used by first ladies as a sitting room for important state guests.) Rozon said he wondered to his companion what would happen if the half-open door would suddenly close. Then the door did close! We ran downstairs! he said, laughing. Barcena swore that in the same room with no one else around, they heard the piano play and saw the first lady's chair turn by itself. Intrigued by the stories, Bongbong Marcos and his friends decided to go ghost hunting in the courtyard of the private quarters, which had a fountain in the middle. Knock, knock A friend reached for a doorknob, but the door opened before he could touch it. They scrambled upstairs, the senator recalled with a chuckle. It was also common for the family members to hear someone knocking on their doors, always at around 2 a.m. During the renovation of the Palace, Bongbong Marcos said, he used a room adjacent to the State Dining Room as his temporary quarters. (The State Dining Room, originally a ballroom during the Spanish and American times, has three Commonwealth-era chandeliers and 40 carved chairs around a long dining table. It is now where Cabinet meetings are held. Its large French mirrors were installed in 1877, according to the book Malacañan Palace, The Official Illustrated History.) Knocking awakened Bongbong Marcos one night, and when he opened his door, he saw no one there. Suddenly, one of the antique chairs stacked leaning against the dining table righted itself! I couldn't sleep anymore that night, he said. The ghosts also apparently liked telephones. The senator said his mother Imelda had been roused from sleep by the ringing of the phone in her bedroom, also during the wee hours. The next morning she would ask who called her at that time, and of course nobody did, he said. Rozon said the ringing phones even sparked quarrels among the guards, each suspecting his colleagues of pulling a prank. Seeing things It was President Marcos who reportedly kept seeing people who were not actually there. Coming home from school once, Bongbong Marcos and his two sisters were told by their father about an experience the previous night in the President?s Study, which once served as Quezon's bedroom. A household aide walked into his office past midnight, and Marcos ordered him to fetch something. When the aide did not return, Marcos asked the guard where he had gone. Sir, there is no one here, the guard said. Rozon told another version of that story of Marcos wondering why a household aide was still in his study well past midnight. He peered through his glasses to look closely at the aide, who disappeared into the wall, Rozon said. Bongbong Marcos said his sister Imee had also seen Quezon's ghost in one of the state rooms. Undersecretary Manolo Quezon of the Malacañang communications group recalled a story of how his grandfather's ghost paced the Palace during times of crisis. (But ?no one I have met, or heard this story from, ever described him as menacing, or cursing, the grandson said.) He said it was supposedly one of the reasons the Marcoses had the Palace reconstructed in 1979, doubling its original size. Another story from the current staff in the Palace is they sometimes see the lights on late at night in the Quezon Room (now the Executive Office) in Kalayaan Hall, he said. The ghosts may be the lost souls of people slain during World War II, Bongbong Marcos said, adding that the Japanese Army used Malacañang as headquarters and that people were killed in some of the rooms there. Father Brown et al. One person believed killed by Japanese troops was an American priest whose ghost has since haunted the Palace as ?Father Brown? and who, Bongbong Marcos said, was wont to wake dozing Palace guards with a variety of tricks. Then there is a Chinese manservant who has appeared to Palace staff and guests. Bongbong Marcos said a guest from Italy recounted being awakened by a Chinese servant at around 3 a.m. and told to attend Mass with the Marcoses. The first family asked around and was told that the ghost had been known to appear as early as the time of President Manuel Roxas. The ghosts are apparently a mischievous lot. Said Elmer Navarro, whose father Federico, now deceased, was a household aide during the Marcos years: The ghosts played tricks on him. When he put down the plates and turned away, they would be gone when he looked again. Then he would find the plates elsewhere. Barcena said he and his colleagues reported their experiences to their superiors, and were told, with a shrug: Those are house guests. Mr. Brown The most popular of the Palace ?guests? is the benevolent kapre said to inhabit the balete tree that makes President Aquino uncomfortable. Rozon, now 69, said the kapre had been known as Mr. Brown (perhaps confused with Father Brown) since Quezon?s time, but that some staff members also referred to him as Mr. Jones. Mr. Brown was not bad. He didn't harm people, Rozon said. The story goes that household aide Mariano Dacuso, now deceased, was relaxing and reading the papers in the Tea House (where a mosque now stands) when he found himself being lifted along with his chair. He was lifted almost to the ceiling so he told the kapre, Please put me down. Then he ran to us, Rozon said. Then there was a cabbie who got the scare of his life when he asked for a light and looked up to see the kapre chomping on a cigar. Shaking in fear, the cabbie ran to the quarters of the servants, who told him he had found Mr. Brown. Rozon also said that when the social secretary's staff worked overtime typing letters, they would hear someone else typing in the next room, which was empty. Whenever something mysterious happened, it was always blamed on Mr. Brown, he said. Elmer Navarro, who lived in the old servants? quarters as a child, said the kapre was feared even by the military. Sometimes, he recalled, ?you could see smoke wafting from the tree.? Bunye's story Ignacio 'Toting' Bunye, now a member of the Monetary Board, has his own story to tell: From Day One of my assumption as press secretary in 2002, I have been warned about creepy happenings in ... Malacañang. Not being the superstitious type, I readily dismissed such stories. But it is not uncommon to hear about various offices being blessed every now and then, supposedly to ward off any unwanted unearthly visitors. One senior official even had the windows and doors of his office plastered with small medallions of the Blessed Virgin as added insurance. And then it happened! One night after a late dinner at the Ceremonial Hall, I passed by my office to pick up some stuff before going home. It must have been past 9 [p.m.]. My office, at that time, was ... what used to be [Marcos?] bedroom. To reach it from the Ceremonial Hall, one passes through a series of doors and hallways, starting with the Music Room, then through the Ramos Room, another connecting room, and finally the Marcos bedroom. As I walked to my office, I had a funny feeling that somebody or something was following me. I could feel my hair rising and my heart ... [pounding] faster. In the still of the evening, the footsteps on the wooden floor were very audible. As soon as I reached my office, I locked the door behind me (as if it would have mattered). The Thing Bunye said the footsteps slowly but progressively moved closer. He continued: Then I heard the doorknob turn and I felt the slight push on the door. After a while the footsteps started to move away, but seemingly in circles. What I have heard is now happening to me! I quickly said three Our Fathers, three Hail Marys and three Glory Be's. Somehow, I felt emboldened and I decided to leave in a hurry. I told myself: Mr. Ghost, you can scare me but you cannot hurt me! My first view of The Thing from a distance was of a white-haired man wearing a dark suit. The Thing must have sensed my presence because he immediately turned around. He said: Toting, paano ba lumabas dito (How do you get out of here)? Secretary Raul Gonzalez seemed as relieved as I was. The then newly appointed justice secretary had followed me through the secret door and somehow had gotten lost in the Palace labyrinth. The two men later learned it was Gonzalez?s footsteps, and not those of a ghost, that Bunye had heard. Real or imagined, ghosts have the run of Malacañang, making it truly a place not for the faint-hearted.

Sources:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20101031-300680/Mr-Brown-lives-in-RPs-most-haunted-house-Palace
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malacañan_Palace

The Coming of the Borneans to Panay

This story of how the Philippines was inhabited originated from the order of President Ferdinand Marcos - adding it on the Philippine History Books. But evidence of the existence of the ten datus had no records in Borneo, where they came from, neither in other neighboring Southeast Asian countries.

The Story

[Taken from a Book:]

...They came as the result of dissastisfaction with the rule of Datu Makatunaw, the chief of all datus in Borneo, a group of ten datus with their families and slaves fled Borneo to seek a new home. They were Datu Puti and wife Pinangpangan, Datu Bangkaya and wife Katurong, Datu Paiburong and wife Pabulanan, Datu Sumakwel and wife Kapinangan, Datu Paduhinog Ribongasapaw, Datu Domangsol and wife Kabiling, and Datus Lubay, Dumangsil, Dumalogdog, and Balensuela. These datus, together with everything they could take along, left Borneo on small sailing boats called Biniday (or, in various sources, Balangay, from which the word Barangay came from.). They sailed northward from Borneo along Palawan (Paragwa), which was at that time politically a part of Borneo. In due time they sighted Panay. Early records tell us that the first Borneans landed on the coast of Panay in 1394. They sailed along the Sirwagan River in the southern part of the town of San Joaquin, Iloilo, and in the Barrio Sinugbuhan. They sailed farther to Andona Lake and up the Sirwagan River. Upon the arrival of the datus, the local inhabitants of the islands, the Aeta, grew terrified but the diplomatic Datu Puti said to Marikudo, the chief of the native Negritos, that they had peaceful intentions. Later both parties entered into a trade alliance. Under the headship of Datu Puti, they asked Marikudo, if he was willing to sell Sinugbuhan (an island in Panay). The sale was concluded after Marikudo's consultation with his followers. The Datu paid them a golden salakot. The Borneans settled in Sinugbuhan and later in the coastal town of Malandug. When Datu Puti returned to Borneo, Datu Sumakwel took his place, because he was the oldest datu, besides being a man of good character. At once Sumakwel and the rest set improve three districts. Hamtik (Antique) under Datu Sumakwel, Aklan (Capiz) under Datu Bangkaya, and Irong-Irong (Iloilo) under Datu Paiburong.

The history of some civilization that we knew was based on written records of ancient historians. But this, which was considered as a legend, was based from spoken historical record, not from a written one. The story might be true, but as it was passed verbally to their children, the story might had changed. Being unreliable, this was eliminated in History textbooks.

Sources:
Oriental History for Philippine High Schools by: Diosdado G. Capino, M.A. 1963. Fifth Edition. Manlapaz Publishing Co., Inc.
http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Legend_of_the_Ten_Bornean_Datus

The Legend of Ferdinand Marcos

Ferdinand Marcos, the 10th president, for me, is a lifetime famous influential politician not only in the Philippines but, perhaps, all over the world. Influential in a sense that he opened the minds of Filipinos for another unity (well the first was against Spaniards), although they always refer it to Aquinos, which also caused other countries to begin their protest against their own dictator or the like. Being a dictator for almost 21 years (1965 - 1986), he became the most powerful in the country. His wife, Imelda Romualdez-Marcos, became as well an influential first lady, known with her hundreds of pairs of shoes and sandals collection.

However we're not focusing on his own life as a leader, but we're going to talk about urban legends connected to him.

There was this legend that still persists in Ilocos Norte:

That Marcos is alive.

That he is kept living by embryonic fluid in some secret facility.

That his skin is nice and fresh and that he walks among us but does not look at all like the original Marcos.

That the "corpse" in Paoay is really just wax.

That his gold certificates are still being encashed, etc., etc.

Ferdinand Marcos is ALIVE?!

It was rumored that Ferdinand Marcos was still ALIVE. It was very outrageous! His devotees were making stories hoping that the dictator is still alive till now.

The wedding depicted here is unknown. I don't know who the persons here were.

[Taken from E-mail:]

A Woman in her forties was invited to stand as principal sponsor in a wedding to be held in one of the big churches in Manila. The bride and groom had told her not to be shocked when she sees one of thier special guests, who was supposedly a long lost kumpadre. So she went to the wedding and there she saw the man, walking very oh so slowly along the aisle. She thought then that if the man were really alive, she'd at least expect him to be confined to a wheelchair, either because of old age or his reported illnesses or both. But the man was walking all by himself, albeit a cane and some bodyguards surrounding him. Then came the signing of the marriage contract, and the woman had thought of checking if the man and his famous signature would match. They did. She later learned that his being alive is top secret, and is known only among the man's followers. The man is none other than Ferdinand Edralin Marcos.

Ferdinand Marcos is made of WAX?!

The corpse of the once powerful dictator now lies inside a refrigerated glass coffin in a mausoleum, wearing a barong tagalog and black slacks. He will remain there unless the government will sponsor a burial with military honor.

Anyway, in Filipino burial tradition, a corpse must not wear shoes, however previous Pres. Ferdinand Marcos wear black shoes, as if, its covering something. His whole body look like not a real biological body but a body made of WAX.

It was not true. His family claims that the corpse looks waxy because it has to be waxed periodically for preservation.


We're aware that his time is full of complicated and conflicting stories. If you will browse the whole blog, you'll find other urban legend and/or hoax having his name (or family name) involved.

Sources:
http://spoonlagoon.blogspot.com/2008/10/pinoy-urban-legends-20.html
http://lisawallerrogers.wordpress.com/2009/03/11/ferdinand-marcos-restless-corpse/
http://ph.news.yahoo.com/philippine-urban-legends-093005285.html
Image Source:
http://lisawallerrogers.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/imelda-kisses-coffin-of-ferdinand-marcos.jpg?w=300&h=227

The ghost of the Manila Film Center

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

About

The Manila Film Center is an abandoned auditorium by Manila Bay in the Cultural Center complex. A Korean company is currently making efforts rehabilitating the image of the center with a transvestite Las Vegas-like act. Now housing the "Amazing Philippine Theatre," the massive building is patronized nightly by dozens of Korean honeymooners who pose in front of the kitschy Egyptian Pharoah figure above the doorway before entering to enjoy the performance by the "country's prettiest gays." Most of the couples are completely unaware of its ghostly reputation, if one doesn't consider Filipino males with long hairless legs as apparitions.

It is haunted by the ghosts of angry construction workers. People hear cries and moans, see apparitions as well as bleeding walls and arms sticking out from under doors.

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.

Unfortunately, it appears that both Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, Imelda, began to change the building plans while the structure was being built, forcing construction delays. As a result, the center was being completed as quickly as possible in time for its inaugural film festival.

On November 18, 1981, shortly before 3:00 a.m., scaffolding and wooden support gave way while cement was being leveled on the sixth floor of the half-finished Manila Film Center, killing 26 construction workers and injuring 36 others. However, according to the Marcos-controlled press, 28 workers were killed in the accident, and some says 15 only. 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, therefore it was said that instead halting the project for a rescue attempt and digging out the workers, Betty ordered, “Pour the cement.”, thus, the bodies and some of the still alive people were burried on the spot in a rush to finish the building for Imelda Marcos' film festival and the Miss Universe pageant.

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.’

In a 2005 documentary produced by GMA Network Channel 7: i-Witness, all 169 workers were traced and the records show that not more than a dozen died. Furthermore all the bodies were retrieved and were given a proper burial.

Legend

Of course with a tragedy like this, there are going to be restless souls attached to the building and some of these ghosts have been spooking guests of nearby buildings.

In one story, a stranger approached a passer-by, who gives him a calling card and asked him to telephone his family and tell them that he was all right, and that he would be leaving soon. When the passer-by made the call, a startled voice explained that her husband was dead -- his body was one of those encased in the film center.

Source:
- Beth Day Romulo, Inside the Palace: The Rise and Fall of Ferdinand & Imelda Marcos. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1987: 167-68.
http://blogs.gmanews.tv/sidetrip/blog/archives/42-The-Manila-Film-Center-mystery-A-ghostly-place-or-an-urban-legend.html
http://asiaparanormal.blogspot.com/2009/12/haunting-in-manila-film-center.html

Philippine Bridges have bloody foundation

Bridges play a great role in a country. They connect two or more cities to each other and allows people to pass over obstacles under it. Those obstacles can be a river, a strait, or even a sea. They were created for many reason aside of being just a road. Actually, at the time of Spanish colonialism in the Philippines, bridges not only connects two barangays but it also indicates the border line of those villages.

An old man told me that lovers always meet and separate in bridges. Whenever a gentleman accompanies a lady home, they will separate in the bridge especially if the lady's parents are strict. Whenever lovers planned to cohabit, they will always meet in bridges. Well, that's an archaic scene of a Filipino love story.

In some movies, the bridges also appear as the last destination of a gentleman or a lady who failed in love. They commit suicide there. But actually, it doesn't only appear in movies, it also happens real-life. Thus, bridges become part of urban legends as a haunted bridge with a white lady roaming there every night.

On the other hand, people also perform rituals to strengthen the foundation of the bridge. They kill innocent children to scatter their bloods thoughout the whole bridge, and even mix their bodies on the cement. Thus legends about the bloody foundation of bridges rose.

One popular legend with the same story as like this is the San Juanico Bridge.

San Juanico Bridge Legend

The San Juanico Bridge, renamed from Marcus Bridge, was the longest bridge in the Philippines with a distance of 2,200 m (7,200 ft). The bridge stretches from Santa Rita, Samar to Tacloban City, Leyte crossing over the San Juanico Strait. The bridge is considered one of the most beautiful structure in the country with visually attractive views.

According to legend, it has foundation allegedly been made stronger by the blood of numerous street children (some say babies). When it was under construction, there happened coincidentally a kidnapping in Samar-Leyte areas. Thus, they theorized that the kids were offered to a pagan or demonic ritual to guarantee the strength of the structure. Imelda Marcos, being in charge with the building, was said to be the master mind of the said events.[1]

This is why, people say, the bridge is haunted by many lost spirits. Others say that the success of the bloody rituals done for San Juanico Bridge encouraged others to do the same for their bridges and buildings. Only one detail was constant: the use of street kids as sacrifice.[1]

[Taken from Internet (PinoyExchange.com):]

"Imelda Marcos was in charge of building the bridge. She consulted a manghuhula who said that the bridge would never be finished unless the blood of children [would be spilled on the foundation]. So Imelda ordered [street children to be kidnapped] and [their throats were] slit on the bridge's location. Their bodies were thrown into the river. A mermaid or diwata who resided in the river saw the plight of the children and was saddened by it. She cursed Imelda. So the First Lady grew scales on her legs and she smelled fishy. That was why she wore long skirts and bathed as often as possible."[1]

Variations

It was also said that instead of just spreading the blood on the bridge, the blood itself was mixed to cement by the construction workers.

Much scary version is, the bodies of the children are dropped to the cement mixer.

---

Urban legends really are deteriorated or altered versions of the true stories. If ever the legend about San Juanico Bridge is true, then the legend concerning the curse created by a mermaid or a diwata to Mrs. Imelda Marcos is definitely not real. Have you ever seen her legs? Or have you ever smelled her with a foul fish perfume?

The Other Bridges

The San Juanico Bridge might be the root of all the legends surrounding many bridges in the Philippines. Even the not-so-famous bridges became subject to this kind of ritual. Their similarities were the sacrifice of child's life. In some stories, it was not only the manghuhula who told the engineers what to do, but also the albularyos (shamans).

I tried to ask some people this question, Why not animals instead the innocent lives of children?. Their answers were almost alike, that life is so special, powerful and divine that it can strengthen the bridges' foundation against whatever catastrophy will try to ruin it. Thus, animals were not powerful for that. In addition, they don't know why they use children instead of adults. Perhaps, the reason might be similar to that of San Juanico Bridge - some of the street childrens have no parents, therefore no one would mind if they vanish suddenly. Or because children are innocent.

Actually, some bridges were not subject to this kind of sacrificial tragedies. Some of them, though have bloody foundation, was just haunted because the ghost was killed or killed themselves there. Others were haunted with unknown creatures of the dark. One example is the Malitangtang bridge. Actually, the bridge became haunted because the place where it was is home of the so-called engkantos (fairies).

Film

This urban legend was featured in the movie Shake, Rattle and Roll 6, starring Ara Mina, Lot-lot de Leon, and Aiza Seguerra. The story tells about the ghost of the child, named Mauro Flores, who was killed in the bridge, continuously haunts and induces other children to jump over the bridge then eventually dies. He was just doing it to have friends. The haunting stopped when they recovered the skeleton of the said child.

Sources:
[1]http://www.spot.ph/newsfeatures/41192/urban-legends-that-drove-pinoys-crazy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Juanico_Strait

Bongbong Marcos is just a Clone

Bongbong Marcos (real name Ferdinand "Bongbong" Romualdez Marcos, Jr.) was born on September 13, 1957. He is a Filipino politician, and now he is a senator of the Philippines in 15th Congress.

He is the only son and second child of former Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos and First Lady Imelda Marcos. The wife of Mrs. Louise Cacho Araneta, and a father to 3 sons.

The Legend

At the time of former Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos (1965–1986), rumors about their projects and doings, and even their lives were wide spread in the Philippines. Some stories about them were distorted, as for example the San Juanico Bridge Legend, where Imelda Marcos ordered children's blood be mixed on the cement as sacrifice; the Manila Film Center Legend, where 26 (or more or less than hundred) construction workers were allegedly been buried in the building and not rescued or been dug up just to meet the completion date set by Imelda Marcos; and Bongbong Marcos Legend, for which this article is about.

According to rumors, Bongbong Marcos was already dead, and the person we can see sitting in the Senate is only a clone of 'him'. The legend spread in late 1970s and in early 1980's.

First version of legend has it that Bongbong Marcos had a fisticuff with an Indian-national classmate. In the said fight, he was accidentally been stabbed by his classmate to death. Strangely, there was no news about his body been returned in the Philippines. Second version says, that he was killed in a road accident in Manila (other stories suggest, it happened in London) when he was a teenager. Third version has it that Bongbong was abducted by rebel armies from Mindanao, and he was killed there. In continuation of the legend, Imelda Marcos convinced one of his nephew, who closely resembles his son, to undergo in a plastic surgery and pretend to be Bongbong Marcos in replace.

Reason of Rumor in Circulation

No one knows who spread the legend or where this story came from, but the fact that the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos is powerful and eminent, and the declaration of Martial Law added much supremacy to his rule, people will eventually be scared. Thus, possibly the urban legend is in political nature. At that time, it is possible that his throne will be passed to Imelda Marcos and then be succeeded by one of their children. Bongbong Marcos is the only child who can succeed the rule because his sisters, Imee Marcos, had other interest, and the other, Irene, was too young that time.

Of course, if the rumor is true and Bongbong is really dead, then the dynasty and power of the Marcos Family will be cut short and be broken. Except if another Bongbong will replace his shoes, thus the family empire will still continue.

Conclusion

I personally believe that the Bongbong Marcos in the senate is the true Bongbong Marcos himself, indeed. The one who became the Vice-Governor; Governor; and Congressman of Ilocos Norte is him. No doubt.

If he is really a clone, and he underwent a plastic surgery, in his age right now, those traces of wound and cuts in his face will visibly be seen in his face. Take a look at him, the way he talks, the way he moves, and the natural resemblance of his face from his mother is an evidence.

If you still believe he is, just respect him. Their family is doing anything they can to help and serve the country in their own way. Give them a chance to prove themselves. The chance that the people who voted them gave them.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Marcos,_Jr.
http://northwatch.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/
http://www.spot.ph/newsfeatures/41192/urban-legends-that-drove-pinoys-crazy