During our childhood days, I am pretty sure that some of our parents or grandparents have told us different myths or folklore in our place or in our country. It is undeniable, especially in the rural areas of the Philippines for most of the children born long before the modern era, that we enjoyed listening stories of different mythical creatures. Every time the night takes over the day, we were always told to stop playing outside of the house. According to my late grandparents, daytime was created for humans and nighttime was created for the other beings. Although scientifically unproven, some still believe of their existence. I list the most commonly heard mythical creatures that i could remember and according to my research. And by their definitions, i categorized them as follows:

Believed that can bring good fortune or bad fate:

Bathala
is the creator God in Filipino myths and is sometimes called Diyos or Apo. Native Filipinos of different tribes perform distinctive rituals to honor him

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Diwata
are lesser Gods and Goddess which guard natural creations such as rivers, forest, mountains and air. They are said to be the protectors and would punish abusive humans to nature.

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Engkanto
are male versions of diwata. They are believed to be living in the trees. Some folks sees big trees to be a Palace at night.

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Malakas and Maganda
are the filipino versions of Adam and Eve which believed to have originated from a bamboo tree pecked by a sarimanok. Some natives believed them to be the origin of human beings.

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Sarimanok
the word means 'a colorful chicken'; it is a bird believed to bring good fortune. It is also believed that sarimanok was the bird which pecked the bamboo tree where malakas and maganda came from

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Sirena
a Filipina mermaid believed to guard the seas. They are believed to be good at humans unless humans commits abusive behavior to the sea creatures.

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Dewende
are little creatures believe to live undergrounds. They are said to be playful with humans of their choice.

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Bungisngis
is a one-eyed giant; a playful cyclops believed to be living in the forests

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Believed to be Monstrous and Evil Creatures

Aswang
is a human which at night transforms into monstrous being to prey humans, especially pregnant women and babies; they can transform into cat, pig or black dog

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Tik-tik
it is a bird-like human form which also preys humans especially pregnant women and babies

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Mambabarang
is an evil human who summons insects to summon the targeted person in order for it to suffer and die eventually

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Manananggal
a human which can separate its upper part and lower part of the body. Its monstrous wings helps him/her in preying humans

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Mangkukulam
are philippine witches that uses black magic

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Multo
are the unrest souls of dead people which keeps on scaring and harming humans

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Santelmo
it appears in the form of a ball of fire and is also believed to be an unrest soul of a human

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Siyokoy
are mermen which drowns people when trespassing their territory in the seas

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Tikbalang
are half-man half-horse creatures believe to be raping women in order to give more birth to their kind

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Tiyanak
are believed to be dead babies that does not received baptism rites; also believed to be unborn babies caused by abortion. They come back to kill humans as revenge and signs of unrest

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Some myths are scary. However, science and legal bodies does not accept them as existent and deals with the hearsay as just myths. I hope you relate and enjoy the post though i am also scared during the typing :).