The riveting tale of La Castellana’s ‘hairy’ creature

Not even the news of Ces Drilon’s kidnapping and release grabbed the interest of Negrenses from the tale of mysterious “hairy” creatures that have invaded a barrio in La Castellana in southern Negros Occidental.

As usual with tales of disappearing creatures, a lot of speculations have surfaced, including tales of still unknown species that could even be semi-humans.

But the latest indicates that they may be monkeys. But the problem is that they are credited with having dismembered about 50 animals in the La Castellana barangay of Sag-ang.

Now, the police may finally be able to settle the mystery. Blood samples of a creature that attacked three residents have been submitted to the PC crime laboratory for examination to determine whether they came from animals or other creatures.

Sag-ang barangay captain Rudy Torres said the blood examination will determine once and for all whether the creature is an animal or a human being.

Eric Lasita of Hacienda Cabungbungan 3 of the barangay hacked the hairy creature several times Sunday.

Local residents have a name for the creature – “amomongo.” There were earlier speculations that the creatures may actually be monkeys who invaded the village from the nearby forests of the Mt. Kanlaon National Park because of hunger. They earlier had been spotted entering and ransacking homes for food.

But the question remains – how come the animals they had earlier attacked and eaten were disemboweled? A very strange thing that has given rise to talks about “aswang” or other prenatural creatures.

Two other residents, Eldas Galvez and Salvador Aguilar, showed local mediamen long scratch marks on their bodies purportedly from the “amomongo.” At the time, their attacker reportedly had companions nearby.

The barangay is virtually a ghost village after dark. Hardly anybody dares go out of his home for fear of being attacked by the creatures.

Some local foresters believe that they may actually be hunger-driven monkeys who invade homes of lowland villagers for food. This reportedly has given rise to tales of hairy creatures.

But if they are just monkeys, why are they described as “big as human beings”?

Well, we hope that forensic examination of the blood samples may be able to explain who and what these creatures are. And Negrenses are waiting for the results from the PC laboratory.

SJI alumni to put up 50 houses

Perhaps Gawad Kalinga may have started a trend. But the fact is that the Saint John’s Institute Alumni Association has taken up the challenge to provide homes to 50 poor families of Bacolod City.

Site of the Msgr. John Liu and Msgr. John Su GK Sua Hua Ming Project is the Bacolod barangay of Handumanan. It is to pay tribute to the founders of Hua Ming, as the St. John’s Institute is better known in Bacolod.

The housing project will be constructed on a property owned by SJI in Purok Mabinuligon.

The project will be under the supervision of GK and Couples for Christ-Bacolod. It will boast a multipurpose hall given by Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri and a training center as well.

The groundbreaking ceremonies will be held on June 24 to coincide with the Feast Day of St. John the Baptist and birthday of SJI founder Msgr. John Liu.

If that is a trend, soon Negros Occidental may be a province where residents themselves are building a lot of homes for the homeless. But with also morale-boosting courses and livelihood projects.

ADDENDA: Iloilo drivers ended their three-day transport strike yesterday. But they also threatened to boycott the city’s transport terminals, which did not faze Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas or councilor Edwin Plagata, chairman of the Sangguniang Panglunsod transportation committee. Federation of Iloilo Jeepney Operators and Drivers Associations president Processor Parreno said they are ready to face possible sanctions from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board for abandoning the transport terminals which were put up in 2005 to decongest traffic in the city. Provincial jeepneys are not allowed to enter the city. Plagata said the city council is firm on its stand… Iloilo’s Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office forest management specialist Antonio Laboza Jr. reported recently that the demand for corn has prompted several farmers to clean timberlands for concession to corn farms. CENRO’s Ernesto Arevalo of Sara said this has caused the denudation of forested areas in several communities in the town of Sara. DENR’s Valentin Talabero also informed Iloilo Gov. Niel Tupas that this economic trend has resulted in the destruction of northern Iloilo’s forest resources. The Sara CENRO took the initiative of filing criminal cases against several persons for violations of forestry laws. Well, what can one do with the stampede for more corn in the face of runaway prices of the cereal? That’s a real puzzler for government officials.