Long ago when the world was still young the good and evil gods were not yet enemies as they are now. They were friends, each living separately in a mountain (bolod, Bicol). One report even said that they were brothers. Gugurang, the good god, was living inside Mount Mayon, and Asuang, the evil one, inside [...]

Barom-Mai was an old and ugly king who lived in a kingdom called Calinan in the Visayas hundreds of years ago. Although he was powerful, he was helpless when it came to winning the love of his young bride, Madayaw-Bayho (daughter of Tageb, king of the pirates).

A thousand years ago, there was a rich maharlika, or nobleman, who spent his early bachelor days recklessly, wining and dining in the company of nobility. He drank the finest wines, ate the most delectable food and enjoyed the company of the loveliest, perfumed and bejewelled women of the noble class.

Rizal dedicated this poem to Josephine Bracken, an Irish woman who went to Dapitan accompanying a man seeking Rizal’s services as an ophthalmologist. Josephine, Josephine Who to these shores have come Looking for a nest, a home, Like a wandering swallow; If your fate is taking you To Japan, China or Shanghai, Don’t forget that [...]

When the goddess of the eastern sky Alunsina (also known as Laun Sina, “The Unmarried One”) reached maidenhood, the king of the gods, Kaptan, decreed that she should marry. All the unmarried gods of the different domains of the universe tried to win her hand to no avail. She chose to marry a mortal, Datu [...]

by Imelda Morales Aznar I sing because of your heart-shaped hands, I sing Because of the folds in your skin. They catch My kisses the way leaves drink sunshine and I sing Because you’re fragrant as a dream

by Vicente Rivera, Jr. ONE evening in August 1941, I came out of a late movie to a silent, cold night. I shivered a little as I stood for a moment in the narrow street, looking up at the distant sky, alive with stars. I stood there, letting the night wind seep through me, and [...]

Long ago in Agamaniyog, the best-known, wealthy couple were Solotan sa Agamaniyog and his wife, Ba’i sa Agamaniyog. They were so wealthy that they owned almost half of the land in Agamaniyog. They had large herds of cows, carabaos, and horses. One morning, when the couple went down to the lakeshore to pray, they happened [...]

Tausug Wisdom – To the Tausug, a proverb is masaalla, a word of Arabic origin. Some are pittuwa, or advice about life. Proverbs are part of daman or symbolic speech, which includes riddles and courtship dialogue. Some proverbs follow: Tausug: In lasa iban uba di hikatapuk.

Listen then while I narrate at length
The life of Lam-ang
Because his mother conceived him that month.
She did not abstain from any edible fruit:
Tamarind fruits tender and thin as bamboo strings,
Kamias, daldaligan,
Oranges and pomelos;