Philippine Mythological Creature: Ansisit (Ilokano)

He is referred to as Ansisit by the Ilokanos. He is an elderly man as short as a three-year-old. His mouth, nose, eyes, head, belly, and joints are all big. He owns all the land and resides underground. He also resides in anthills and caverns. Termites create anthills, which are mounds of earth. At noon, he takes a snooze on the anthill. He opposes farmers using tractors to till the land. He worries that his house will be destroyed by heavy tractor plowing. After the sun sets, he goes to people's yards. At lunchtime and after dark, he strolls beneath our houses. He doesn't want us to clean the floor or yard at that time. He might get dust in his eyes if we do that. Our skin becomes blue when he pinches us. He makes our toes twice as long by pulling them. He causes us chills, fever, and scabies.

Gemini said

Here is a detailed breakdown of the lore, characteristics, and fascinating trivia surrounding the Ansisit, the mischievous earth dwarf of Ilocano folklore.

What is the Ansisit?

In Ilocano mythology (from the northern Philippines), the Ansisit is a small, earth-dwelling elemental. It is the regional equivalent to the Tagalog nuno sa punso (old man of the mound) or the Spanish-derived duwende. They act as guardians of the land and are fiercely protective of their personal territory.

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Physical Appearance

Despite holding powerful, magical abilities, the Ansisit is notably diminutive and distinct in its features:

• Size: They are very short, ranging from the size of a human finger to an armspan (roughly the height of a three-year-old child).

• Features: They are typically described as old men with exaggerated facial features—a massive head, wide eyes, an oversized nose, and a gaping mouth.

• Physique: They are known to have large, prominent joints and a very big, protruding belly.

Habitat and Lifestyle

Ansisits are deeply tethered to nature and prefer dark, quiet places.

• Dwellings: They live in punso (anthills or dirt mounds), under large rocks, inside caves, along riverbanks, or amidst the roots of old trees in backyards.

• Daily Routine: They are known to take their daily naps on top of their anthills precisely at noon. They become highly active at dusk and prefer to wander in the dark.

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The Rules of the Ansisit: Friend or Foe?

An Ansisit's temperament toward humans is entirely transactional; they mirror the respect (or disrespect) they receive.

How to Befriend Them: If respected and offered treats or sweets (a practice known as atang), they can become helpful allies. Friendly Ansisits have been known to help around farms or assist children in finding lost toys and pets.

How to Anger Them:

They are invisible to the naked human eye, making them dangerously easy to accidentally kick or step on.

• Failing to say "Excuse Me": The most common offense is failing to ask for permission when passing by their territory. To avoid their wrath, you must chant "Bari, bari, apo" (the Ilocano equivalent of "Tabi, tabi po, nuno"), meaning "Excuse me, elder."

• Sweeping the Yard: The Ansisit absolutely despises people sweeping the dirt, especially at dusk. Folklore states that they are paranoid about dust getting swept into their massive eyes.

• Modern Machinery: In modern interpretations of the myth, the Ansisit is said to harbor a deep hatred for agricultural tractors, fearing the loud, heavy machines will destroy their land.

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Curses and Retaliation

If you step on their mound, destroy their habitat, or sweep dust in their face, they will swiftly retaliate. They are incredibly vindictive and use their magical spittle to cast curses. Punishments include:

• Mysterious Swelling: Unexplained, painful swelling on random parts of the body.

• Toe Pulling: An incredibly specific curse where the angry Ansisit pulls a victim's toes in the middle of the night until they swell to twice their normal size.

• Pinching: Unexplained blue bruises appearing on the skin, believed to be the Ansisit violently pinching the victim.

• Illness: Sudden fevers, chills, or outbreaks of scabies.

• Bizarre Afflictions: In extreme cases of disrespect, victims are said to vomit blood, urinate black liquid, or spontaneously grow excessive patches of hair on their backs.

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How to Break the Curse

Curing an Ansisit's curse usually requires the intervention of a mangngagas (Ilocano traditional healer) or albularyo, but folklore also dictates very specific DIY remedies:

• The Dusk Apology: The victim must return to the exact site of the offense at exactly 6:00 PM and offer a sincere, verbal apology to the creature.

• The Clam Shell Cure: To reduce the magical swelling, victims are instructed to dab the affected area every night using a piece of cotton soaked in water that has been stored inside a clam's shell.

Fascinating Trivia

• Craft Beer Tribute: The creature is so culturally beloved that a Philippine brewery, Alamat Craft Brew, once formulated an "Ansisit Session IPA." True to the folklore, the beer was marketed as being "friend or foe"—delivering a surprisingly bitter bite before settling into a subtle, sweet flavor.

• The Dust Connection: The Ansisit's specific hatred of brooms is a clever, historical parenting tool. Elders likely used the myth of the dust-hating dwarf to discourage children and servants from sweeping at night, a time when poor lighting made it easy to accidentally sweep up lost coins, jewelry, or valuables.

Source:

Philippine Demonological Legends and their Cultural Bearings and The Creatures of Midnight, Maximo Ramos, 1990, Phoenix Publishing

Philippine Mythological Creature: Laqui (Bicolano)

A frightening creature from ancient Bicolano folklore, this monster possesses the hair and hooves of a goat but the face of a hideous man. Although it dwells in the mountains and appears at night to startle travelers with its voice, it is generally considered harmless.

Here is a detailed breakdown of the Laqui (also spelled Laki), a fascinating and grotesque mythical creature hailing from the folklore of the Bicol region in the Philippines.

Rooted in the pre-colonial Ibalong myths, the Laqui serves as a cautionary figure of fear, transformation, and psychological terror.

Physical Appearance

Chimera-like Form: The creature is commonly described as a hybrid beast—a half-man, half-goat.

Grotesque Features: It possesses the hooves and coarse pelt of a goat paired with a terrifyingly ugly human face.

Stature: While it might visually remind some of Western satyrs or fauns, the Laqui is entirely monstrous rather than jovial. It uses its hideous visage as its primary weapon to frighten night travelers.

Origins: The Yasaw Connection

In Bicolano lore, the Laqui is not a naturally born species; it is the result of a curse or corruption. It is deeply connected to another mythological entity known as the Yasaw. Yasaws are short, dark, childlike creatures favored by Asuang (the Bicolano god of evil) that play mischievous, albeit harmless, pranks on humans under the moonlight.

A Yasaw transforms into a Laqui through two distinct mythological pathways:

Punishment for Laziness: If a Yasaw becomes lazy in its duties of frightening mortals, it is punished by being morphed into the hideous, hooved Laqui. It is then forced to spend its days aggressively seeking out people to scare to make up for its past idleness.

Corruption by Blood: In darker variations of the myth, if a playful Yasaw ever tastes human blood, the corruption twists it into a Laqui. In this version, the creature graduates from a mere trickster to a highly dangerous, flesh-eating monster belonging to the broader aswang classification.

Behavior and Characteristics

The Shriek: The Laqui is notorious for its vocalizations. It stalks the shadows of trees and lets out a deafening, high-pitched scream designed to paralyze unsuspecting forest wanderers with fear.

Harmless Harassment: Depending on the region's specific myth, the Laqui is often completely harmless physically. If it hasn't been corrupted by human blood, it lacks the ability to attack humans. Its entire existence revolves around the thrill of the jump-scare.

Psychological Terror: When its physical appearance isn't enough, the Laqui is known to be intelligent enough to use psychological tactics.

The Tale of the Fearless Girl: A popular piece of Bicolano folklore perfectly illustrates the creature's desperate need to terrify. In the story, a Laqui encounters a little girl who, instead of being scared by its ugly face or shrill scream, simply laughs and calls the creature "funny." Frustrated that its usual tricks failed, the Laqui hatches a dark plan. It gently picks up a cute, chirping songbird and shows it to the smiling girl. Without warning, the Laqui crushes the tiny bird in its hooves. The shock and gore finally send the girl running away screaming, leaving the Laqui satisfied, having learned that there is more than one way to scare a human.

Quick Reference Summary

Feature                                                  Folklore Details

Name                                                       Laqui / Laki

Mythology                          Bicolano (Ibalong Region), Philippines

Appearance                    Half-man, half-goat; features hooves, coarse skin, and an incredibly ugly human face.

Origin          A mutated Yasaw (transformed due to laziness or after tasting human blood).

Abilities       Piercing shrieks, psychological intimidation.

Threat Level    Usually physically harmless (relies purely on terrifying people), unless it is the variant that has tasted human blood.

Sources:

Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010 and Bikol Maharlika, Jose Calleja Reyes, Goodwill Trading Inc., 1992

Unknown Filipino Hero: Epifanio de los Santos

 

Epifanio de los Santos

Historian and Scholar

(1871 - 1928)

The famous highway named after him was just the acronym EDSA for most Filipinos but little did they know that this great man is an intellectual and patriotic the level and contemporary of Jose Rizal.

Epifanio de los Santos y Cristóbal, sometimes referred to as Don Pañong or Don Panyong, was a prominent civil servant, journalist, and historian from the Philippines. He was a prominent civil servant, journalist, and historian from the Philippines. In addition, he practiced law, was a philosopher, a bibliophile, a biographer, a painter, a poet, a musician, a literary critic, a librarian, and an antique collector. Some people considered him to be among the greatest Filipino authors of his era.

He also got involved in politics, representing Nueva Ecija as a member of the Malolos Congress from 1898 to 1899 and then as governor of Nueva Ecija from 1902 to 1906. In 1900, he was appointed district attorney of San Isidro, Nueva Ecija, and subsequently served as fiscal of Bataan and Bulacan provinces. He was appointed in 1918 as the Philippine Census's assistant technical director. In 1925, Governor General Leonard Wood named him Director of the Philippine Library and Museum, a position he held until his passing in 1928.

Childhood and Matrimony

On April 7, 1871, Epifanio de los Santos was born in Potrero, Malabon, Manila Province, to Escolastico de los Santos of Nueva Ecija and pianist Antonina Cristóbal y Tongco, who was well-known for her harp and piano skills. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Ateneo Municipal de Manila. Although he spent some time painting, music eventually became a part of his everyday life, and he was even given a professorship in the field. After completing his legal education at the University of Santo Tomas, he took the bar exam in 1898. He worked as a private secretary to a high-ranking Spanish official after graduating, a role that was somewhat like to that of a solicitor-general.

When he committed himself to collecting plants and flowers in Nueva Ecija during his college years, Rafael Palma (1930) observed that his collecting instinct was already apparent. He also sought out and spent time with rural communities during this period. "Nobody suspected that he would someday become a literary man" is how Agoncillo puts it. He became interested in Spanish literature as a young law student after reading "Pepita Jimenez" by Juan Valera and other available works. Later, after meeting Valera in Spain, he became friends with him.

Leticia, Fernando, Socrates, Federico, Hipatia Patria, Espacia Lydia, Glicera Ruth, and Margarita were the eight children Epifanio had with his second wife, Margarita Torralba of Malolos, while his first wife, Doña Ursula Paez of Malabon, gave birth to four children: Jose, Rosario, Escolastico, and Antonio. Jose, his first wife's son, went on to become a collector, historian, and biographer. In addition to being a pianist for silent films, his brother Escolastico wrote poetry and told realist stories for Philippine newspapers and magazines. His second wife's son, Socrates, went on to become a prominent aeronautics engineer for the Pentagon.

Scholarly and Literary works

Some people regarded Epifanio as one of the greatest Filipino authors in Spanish at the time. His memberships included the Spanish Royal Academy of History, the Spanish Royal Academy of Literature, and the Spanish Royal Academy of Language in Madrid. Marcelino Menéez y Pelayo was an admirer of his writings.

Epifanio, who wrote in prose under the pen name G, was a youthful associate editor of the revolutionary newspaper "La Independencia" (1898). Solon and a Malolos Congress member as well. La Libertad, El Renaciemento, La Democracia, La Patria, and Malaysia are among the other newspapers he co-founded. Algo de Prosa (1909), Literatura Tagala (1911), El Teatro Tagala (1911), Nuestra Literatura (1913), El Proceso del Dr. José Rizal (1914), and Folklore Musical de Filipinas (1920) are some of his works. Additionally, he wrote Cuentos y paisajes Filipinos (Philippine Stories and Scenes), Filipinas para los Filipinos, Filipinos y filipinistas (Filipinos and Filipinists), and Criminality in the Philippines (1903–1908). He is a linguist in Spanish, English, French, German, and Tagalog.

Lope K. Santos, Rosa Sevilla, Hermenegildo Cruz, and Jaime C. were among the active members of Samahan ng mga Mananagalog, which was founded by Felipe Calderon in 1904. He spoke Ita, Tingian, Spanish, English, French, German, and Ibalao with ease. Florante and Laura were translated into Castilian by him. He belonged to the Academia Filipina de la Lengua Española as an honorary member.

As a scholar, he contributed to early Philippine studies in anthropology, ethnology, archaeology, linguistics, and demography. He traveled to European museums and libraries to collect rare documents and artifacts from and about the Philippines. As a statesman, De los Santos was elected governor of Nueva Ecija in 1902 and 1904. He was the first governor of the province to be democratically elected. After his term, he was appointed provincial fiscal of Bulacan and Bataan. In 1925, Governor General Leonard Wood appointed him director of the National Library and Museum.

Collections

Epifanio de los Santos made a lot of trips in quest of rare Philippine documents. Almost 200 paintings and sculptures, musical compositions, records of operas, written materials, documents and manuscripts pertaining to the revolution, and historical photographs were all part of his collection. His collection of Filipiniana was well-known. In Europe, he was recognized as a philologist and biographer of Philippine subjects.

His collection includes certain printed materials and documents that are thought to be unique. W acknowledged his collections from Rizaliana. Austin Craig, James A. Le-Roy, and E. Retana. 213 materials or documents about the Philippine Revolution and 115 printed works make up his collection. Following his passing, the Philippine Legislature paid ₱19,250.00 to acquire de los Santos's library and collection under the Philippine Clarin Act.

Other Interests

He was regarded as a talented guitarist as well.

According to one story, Antonio Luna offered his guitar to the winner of a quarrel between de los Santos and Clemente Jose Zulueta. According to reports, De los Santos won and got Luna's guitar.

Serving the Public

Up until November 1899, Epifanio de los Santos was one of three delegates from Nueva Ecija in the Malolos Congress, having been elected in September 1898. He was named San Isidro, Nueva Ecija's district attorney in 1900. Later, in 1902 and 1904, he was elected governor of Nueva Ecija, a position he held until 1906. As a result, he became Nueva Ecija's first democratically elected province governor and the leader of the Federal Party. He was chosen to represent the Saint Louis World's Fair in 1904 as a member of the Philippine Commission. Later on, he was named Bataan's and Bulacan's provincial fiscal. In 1907, he penned "Electoral Fraud and its Remedies" (Fraudes Electorales y Sus Remedios) for the Philippine Assembly. He also spent time studying Philippine literature and history. Fires at his home in San Isidro, Nueva Ecija, destroyed a portion of his collection. Agoncillo and Palma claim that politics was not his main focus. Governor General Francis Burton Harrison appointed him assistant technical director of the Philippine Census in 1918. 

Following Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, de los Santos was named Director of the Philippine Library and Museum by Governor General Leonard Wood in 1925. Additionally, he became the first native-born Filipino to be elected as the third President of the Philippine Library Association (now known as the Philippine Librarians Association, Inc.). According to Gabriel Bernardo, he gave up "all his other avocations except music and bibliophile" in order to devote himself fully to his profession as director of the Philippine Library.

Death and Legacy

On April 18, 1928, de los Santos passed away while in office. The principal thoroughfare in Metro Manila, Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA), bears his name. In his honor, the National Library of the Philippines has named a number of schools, streets, a college, a hospital, a printing press, and an auditorium.

EDSA

On April 7, 1959. Highway 54 was officially renamed Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA). The name change was enacted through Republic Act No. 2140 to honor Epifanio de los Santos, a renowned Filipino scholar, historian, and jurist. The date of the law’s passage coincided with his birth anniversary. 

Before becoming Highway 54, the road was known as the North-South Circumferential Road (1930s) and Avenida 19 de Junio (1946), named after Jose Rizal’s birthday.

The name was assigned by the American military after World War II. It was commonly (though mistakenly) believed to be exactly 54 kilometers long.

While it was renamed in 1959, the acronym "EDSA" only became the dominant way to refer to the highway starting in the 1970s.

He was the first well-educated and cultured Filipino to draw his fellow citizens' attention to their own notable personalities as well as to their own poetry, music, art, and literature. And he did it critically, without being overly emotional or chauvinistic. However, he had faith in his people. At one point, he said:

"We Filipinos are the most promising people in the world. We have unheard of possibilities. There never has been a people similarly situated. Here we are in the Orient, with our Oriental thoughts and sentiments, but living amidst a civilization more Western than was ever known in the East. The Philippines is the only country where East meets West. The Filipino is a true cosmopolite. From him the world may expect something new and distinctive." - Epifanio de los Santos

Sources:

CulturED Philippines - https://philippineculturaleducation.com.ph/de-los-santos-epifanio/

The Kahimyang Project -https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/1060/today-in-philippine-history-april-7-1871-epifanio-de-los-santos-was-born-in-malabon

Munting Nayon - https://muntingnayon.com/102/102441/index.php

This very long stretch important main highway in Metro Manila is popularly called EDSA beginning only in the 1970s named in honor of this great intellectual and nationalist.

ILOILO IN 1941 RARE VIDEO

 

RARE VIDEO OF ILOILO IN 1941 JUST BEFORE THE ADVENT OF WORLD WAR II

NOTICE: The caryatids of Arroyo Fountain in front of the Iloilo Provincial Capitol are fully clothed now as demanded by the conservative locales of Iloilo.

Archival video of Iloilo, taken in 1941 by Herman George Eiden (1921–1942), machinist’s mate third class of the USS Houston, which is now part of the University of Houston Libraries Special Collections. It features life in the waterfront, street scenes on Ledesma Street, the Provincial Building of Iloilo and Muelle Loney, among others.

Philippine Mythological Creature: Bawa (Antique)

Supernatural beings known as the Bawa have lips that hang so widely that they conceal their faces. They can appear as a chicken and use the sound of a cackling to announce their presence. Additionally, they have the ability to change into a dog, pig, cow, or stone. If left alone, the Bawa are said to be harmless. However, they have the ability to wring a man's or carabao's neck, which makes them extremely vicious once injured.

The Bawa (or Baua) is a mythical, bird-like creature from Western Visayas (specifically Kinaray-a mythology in Antique) that lives in a sky cave called Calulundan, guarded by blue smoke. It causes eclipses by swallowing the moon when food is scarce, typically two or three times a year. 

Key Details about the Bawa:

Behavior: It is described as a giant bird.

Eclipse Belief: When the Bawa eats the moon, it causes a lunar eclipse.

Defense: People traditionally played music or made noise to force the creature to release the moon.

Distinction: It is distinct from the Bakunawa, which is a sea-serpent dragon, though both are associated with consuming the moon in Philippine folklore. 

It is not to be confused with the Popobawa, a shapeshifting, bat-like demon from Zanzibar. 

Sources:

"Bawa Philippine Mythological Creature Art". Reddit. May 15, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2026.

"Philippine Creature : BAWA – (Antique)". Youtube. May 31, 2025. Retrieved February 9, 2026.