The Best Wingman: Full Story
Read the article on The Best Wingman: Intro to learn about courtship and flirting in the early 20th century Philippines.
This article contains spoiler from the podcast. Please listen to the entire episode before scrolling down.
Filipinos would announce themselves in the household they are visiting by shouting, tao po. “Tao Po!”, literally means, “I’m a living person”, often used by local folks to announce their arrival or to let someone know that someone outside your home is seeking an audience. It is also understood as “asking if someone is home. Using “tao po”, seems polite or harmless when used. But a century ago, it is used to announce that you are indeed human and not aswang to the household you are approaching. Aswang is either a man or a woman who possessed a preternatural power of metamorphosis and had an insatiable appetite for human fetus, blood, and flesh of a newly dead. They either acquire their powers thru pact, implicit or explicit thru evil spirits and/or magic.
One of the reasons why male suitors also go through paninilbihan (servitude), is to observe her family and the woman he is planning to marry. Paninilbihan is part of the courtship that for a predetermined time and period that a male suitor will served the female’s home either by chopping wood, fetching water and helping out your future father-in-law in his livelihood. Parents would prefer to know the families of a potential suitor or a visit from the entire family of the man thru pamamanhikan before they agree to marrying both their sons and daughters. This is one of the reasons why communities kept to themselves—for fear of having an aswang invade their community by marrying off their son or daughter to a known aswang. If you ask someone where aswang comes from, they would point out that it’s most likely from a different community or a neighboring village—but never from inside their community. In the 1950’s, the American used this tactics to potentially identify rebels (Hukbalahap) by telling communities that they should report any outsiders because there is an Aswang who currently resides in the nearby jungle.
Asuwang or Aswang was derived and influenced by Hindu mythology, Asura (Sanskrit: असुर “meaning divine”). Asuras were initially good, virtuous and powerful in Indian Mythology. The Asuras evolved to become proud and vain. They started neglecting their roles—from violating sacred laws, not visiting holy places or cleansing themselves from sin. Eventually, they became envious of devas (gods) and torture other human beings, therefore, the devas decided to destroy the Asuras. The Asuras gradually assimilated the demons, malevolent spirits and ghost. But the Hindu influence didn’t reach our shore thru India, it came along in the 9th century via Indochina and Malay. Coincidentally, our Alamat of the Aswang add link in the Bicol region has a similarity to the story.
When Christianity arrived during the late 1600s, the aswang was relegated to a superstitious belief by the Church. It was considered the work of the devil and must be destroyed. Thus, the Christian cross became part of the lore that can ward off Aswang. Additional lore was added during their arrival, with tales of the devil (demonyo), dwende (dwarf), vampire, witches, kapre (cafri), etc. Most of the native’s religion was demonized and systematically destroyed by the friars. Observed that the natives are superstitious, the Spanish priest used that to their advantage to lay the blame to their old gods for their misfortunes to fully eradicate their native’s old religion.
Types of Aswang
There is a multitude of different Aswang. According to Maximo D. Ramos, the author of The Aswang Complex in Philippine Folklore, the aswang concept is most usefully understood as a congeries of beliefs about five types of mythical beings identifiable with certain creatures of the European tradition:
the blood-sucking vampire
the self-segmenting viscera sucker
the man-eating weredog
the vindictive or evil-eye witch
the carrion-eating ghoul
Thus when Philippine folk speaks of the aswang, they generally refer to the physical traits, habitat, or activities of these five types of mythical beings, and sometimes also of other mythical entities like a demon, dwarf, etc. This transfer of traits and functions is the characteristics of oral traditions. Aswang in folklore is beautiful and fair-skinned people by daytime. They are extremely attractive and charming. Most of these descriptors are relagated as Aswang since most of the stories about this mythical creature was passed on via word of mouth. No stories about Aswang was written thus the need to classify different types of Aswang.
In our story, there are two types of Aswang present. It’s the self-segmenting sucker known as manananggal and the three sisters which are a family of a carrion-eating ghoul. We’ll focus on Manananggal for now since we’ll have more opportunity to tell a story on ghouls next time and deepy dived into their mythology.
A female Manananggal showing off her The Smiths-inspired shirt, Meat is Murder. Illustration by Aries Cayabyab
“Fun Fact: 19th century Ilocos region has no knowledge of Aswang.”
## Manananggal Manananggal sprouts large bat-like wings and segment their bodies into half by their waist; leaving their lower appendage behind to hunt. It uses its elongated tongue to suck out phlegm or sputum from the sick or human fetus from pregnant women. Their tongue is syringe-like and hollow uses it to enter an opening in a human body. They use it to suck internal organs and fetus from pregnant women. Manananggal is what the Katagalugan calls this self-segmenting viscera creature. Most of Southern Luzon and most of the rest of the country, this is what a Manananggal looks like. The version of a self-segmenting viscera sucker in Balabac Island called Balbal and it flew like a flying squirrel. In Quezon Province, they segment from the waist down, and in most Visayas region, Cambodia, and Malaysia it's from the shoulder down. It uproots it’s entire head and uses its long hair or large ears to propel itself by air while the spine and internal organs are hanging from its head and neck. The tongue is elongated but thread-like material—used to suck people’s organs. How the creature does it with its small head, no one has an idea of how it works. But again, a flying head can do anything it’s put its mind to. Making it the undesirable creature of the demonological lore of South East Asia. In Bikol they call it *Aswang na Lupad* (flying aswang), Abat/Awok in Waray, Mangalok in Cuyanon/Hiligaynon, Silagan in Catanduanes, Wakwak in Surigao, and Boroka—from the Spanish term *bruja* (witch) among the Iloko, who have probably forgotten the original term they used in their native tongue. A viscera suckers can only be found in Philippine folklore and in Indochina, Indonesia and the long chain of the Pacific up to Australia in the South Pacific. When a Manananggal takes off, it leaves the portion of its body among the banana trees in her yard to conceal it since banana trunk can resemble the lower body’s outline. A Manananggal cannot join its lower body if it was moved from its original position or the top portion is contaminated with salt or ash preventing the upper body from connecting back. The design of Bahay Kubo is also designed in a way to ward off Aswang. The thatched roof center where it converges in the middle has a crisscross of spiked bamboo. Generally, Bahay-Kubo only has one or two rooms. The main room serves as their living room, receiving area, activity area, and also sleeping area. They lay down their *banig* (woven mat), blankets and pillows in the middle of the main area at night. They prevent positioning on the middle of the room as it is the most vulnerable area of a Bahay-kubo since the design of a bahay-kubo is trapezoidal, making it accessible for a Manananggal to drop it’s tongue in the middle of the room scouring for victims. This is why there is a distinct fear of sleeping at the center of the room or under a rooftree as it leaves you vulnerable to an attack by a Manananggal. They would hide under their blankets from head to toe to hide all openings in their body even in a hot weather. Some would draw a cross on their walls, or throw salt surrounding their house. One of the things I witnessed being used by a farmer in Pangasinan is a bottled algae that they hang in front of their doorway. They said that it’s proven effective in warding off a Manananggal that used to visit frequently when his wife got pregnant. Now, it became a tradition to fill it will fresh algae as much as making sure that their pot of clay is filled with water every night. Their only evidence of visitation of Manananggal is by hearing the sound of a wak-wak or tik-tik on top of their roof. Manananggal is said to be always accompanied by a wak-wak sound—a sound of flapping wings of a bird. Some said that the bird is a ward for the Manananggal—if the sound is loud that means the Manananggal is far, if the sound is faint that means the Manananggal is near. For some, the sound of iki (Tagalog) or wakwak (Visayan) bird serves as a warning, that a Manananggal is hunting within the vicinity. Some think that the flapping sound is made by the Manananggal itself. According to Dioscoro S. Rabor’s book *Philippine Birds and Mammals*, the iki or wakwak is a nocturnal bird that spends its day at rest in the swamp called Rufus Night Heron (*hycticorax caledonius Vigors*). At night, it shrieks with a sound like “wak-wak-wak…wak, wak, wak”. In turn, people’s suspicion and blame directly to another flying creature that can sound and look like our mythical creature, the Golden-Crowned Flying Fox, which is endemic in the Philippines.
One of the nine species of Flying Fox in Philippines. This photo is taken in a wildlife conservation area.
Flying Fox
The Giant Golden-Crowned Flying Fox (Acerodon Jubatus) is a megabat that resides in the Sierra Madre and Subic in Luzon, Mindanao, in Mindoro, Aklan, and in Capiz where people believed the Aswang originated from. They are a nocturnal mammal that eats fruits and help in the regeneration of the forest by propagating seeds in order to maintain biodiversity. There are nine species of Flying Fox that calls the Philippines their home. They can grow up to 1.2kg (2.65lbs) in weight and have a wingspan of up to 1.83 meters (6 feet). A friend recounted that in one of his visits in a remote barangay that they’ve recently killed a Manananggal/bruja that looks like a vampire cat. That’s when he realized that the description fits the Flying Fox.
Unfortunately, they are believed to be Aswang or Manananggal due to their enormous size. It is possible that the whole stretch of South Pacific—from Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Australia has a mythical winged creature like Manananggal because we all share the same inhabitants as the Flying Fox. But that’s not the only challenge our Flying Fox is facing. Due to deforestations and poaching, the Flying Fox is listed as an endangered species. Some folks hunt and kill Flying Fox for food and pelt. Sometimes they are treated as a pest on fruit crops but some farmers understood that the Flying Fox is also helping them propogate more of their fruit-bearing trees and thus should be welcomed rather than terminated. In Subic Bay in Luzon, the fruit bats used the entire 14,000 hectare as their habitat including the Water Reserve as well as the neighboring forest outside the area. The Subic Bay administration is ensuring their preservation due to their importance to their economy and indigenous culture. If you are curious in seeing them in the flesh, best way is to visit Subic Ecology Center. You can even see them roosting besides the highway. But please, do not disturb them in any way or attempt to touch them. They may not be blood suckers but some may be rabid. If you want to find out more about native fruit bats in Subic, you can contact the Subic Bay Ecology Center at ecology@sbma.com.
Modern Manananggal in the City
Even today, Filipino society is still perplexed with the idea of a Manananggal but most would swore on its existence. It molded our culture and heritage over the years. Parents still teach their kids to avoid going out at night and to be wary of stray dogs—lest they are Aswang in disguise. Large crowd of Filipino still talk loudly even at night to show strength and camaraderie. Overprotectiveness of pregnant women especially at night. We are still suspicious of any outsiders in our community that kept by themselves. There are still a large number of Filipinos who believed in the existence of Aswang even those who are sceptic are still open to the idea when a friend or a relative swore by it. Unlike talks of Yetis, Aliens, and Lochness monsters, Aswang is very much alive in our culture. They are not regarded as fairy tales but rather a real creature that lives amongst us. I am still filled with questions after months of research on our Aswang lore, particularly on the Manananggal. Is this creature evolved to what we know now from European influence or our imagination and fear of the dark has transformed the Flying Fox to a mythical creature called Manananggal. This also includes our way to explain how our pregnant women lost their unborn child to miscarriage despite of our stringent way of caring for our expectant mothers. Of course, if you ask me I’d like to find a concrete evidence of their existence, but my heart is set in believing on their existence as any other Filipino would attest. Peksman, mamatay man!
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