Chapter 7: The Revelation

I can't believe it. Bryan, my intelligent, rich, Manila-raised Filipino-Chinese friend, called me in the middle of the day saying that the "Aswang" was true! "Noel, are you still there?", asked Bryan. I replied, "Oh, yes Bryan. I'm listening.".

Bryan continued, "Noel, I am here with a friend of mine who sells security gadgets like alarm systems, metal detectors and those kind of stuff. He also supplies at Tablas, Romblon!".  Okay, so he went to Romblon as well. I was waiting for Bryan to say that his friend too got a visit from those creepy creatures in that island. "Noel, my friend said HE KNOWS THEM. He knows the Aswangs", saying it with emphasis. "Oh? How does he know them?", I asked. "He actually knows the entire family, Noel.  It is an Aswang family!"; Bryan said with much eagerness. 


I paused. I couldn't believe what Bryan was saying.  Now, I felt that I was the Bryan who was stuck in the concrete jungle of Manila hearing some weird stories from a Noel who is fresh off the boat from Romblon. "When was that incident again, Noel?".  "Huh? Oh you mean that incident at Calatrava?".  "Calatrava is the town, Jun", said Bryan in the background talking to someone. "And when was that?", Bryan followed up. "It was last February, Bryan. around 11:00pm", I replied.  "February daw pare (February he said)", Bryan said to his friend.  A few seconds of pause and I was still waiting for some reply on my cellular phone. "Wait Noel, he is going to call him.  The father of the Aswang family".  I can hear Bryan asking Jun, his friend, if Jun's Aswang-friend's phone was ringing already.

I was open ears with Bryan as he was waiting for Jun to make the heart-pumping call. "Hello, sir. How are you?", Jun greeted the person he called from his cellular phone. Speaking in Tagalog dialect, Jun continued; "I am here in Manila. I may go there to Tablas, Romblon next week.", Jun continued as I can hear him from the background of Bryan's cellular phone. "Sir, a friend of mine told me that something fell on the roof of his staff-house in Calatrava last February.  He is from Manila and was there on a project.  Did you happen to go to Calatrava sometime that month?", Jun said in Tagalog dialect.  Then about a twenty second pause. "Okay, sir. I will tell him.  Thank you. I will see you soon. Please give my regards to "kumare" (fellow-godparent). Bye!", Jun concluded his call.

I was still waiting on my cellular phone.  What could have that guy in the other line with Jun said? I couldn't wait.  I felt that I was the topic of that phone convesation. I can hear Bryan in the background talking to Jun but I couldn't hear the details well.  I still waited for a while before Bryan started talking to me again.

"Noel, Jun already talked to him, the Aswang.  He was in Calatrava that night.  He dropped on your roof because your house was near the house he was going to go to. He also said that he knew you were not from there and he knew you wouldn't believe it was an Aswang on your roof.  So he chose your house among the rest of the houses around that area.   He left soon after because the dogs were howling too loudly which awakened the people living in the house he wanted to go to.  He tried to go again the next day and during the weekend.  He sends his apology to you and your staff for scaring you that night.  He never had any interest on you or your staff. Sorry for the inconvenience he might have caused you.  He also saw you in Odiongan walking from the town's intenet cafe at around 9:30pm one night.  Where you with a foreigner?", Bryan asked.  Huh, I have never mentioned this to Bryan! Not my boss! "Uhh, yes, I was with my boss, Mr. Pons. He is a Filipino-Spanish guy.", I explained.  Bryan continued, "He knew that you were living inside the compound and he knew that you felt some weird presence.  The compound you lived in was only a few blocks away from his residence.", Bryan said.

I was so shocked! I couldn't believe it.  I thought that I was away from it all when I left Calatrava only to bring myself a "jump" away from the Aswang's residence!  I sat down. I didn't know how to respond.  "Man, are you okay?", Bryan laughed.  "Jun said that the family is his friend.  He got to know the guy during a baptismal of Jun's friend in Odiongan.  They were both godparents.  People in Tablas get these Aswangs as godparents so they won't eat their children", Bryan explained.  I was numb.  I was lost. I could not react to what was being narrated to me by this guy who told me that he never believed in this folklore.

"So, now you know it, Noel. Any schedule trips to Romblon? Jun can introduce you to them.", Bryan said with a giggle after.  "Bryan, are you crazy?!!", I shouted.  Bryan laughed.  "Got to go man.  Let's talk later".Bryan ended.

I couldn't say anything for about five-minutes.  I was sitting on the drive-way of our office while all these revelations came to me.  It now tells me the whole story of this five month saga of Romblon.  I will never stay put on that island even at gunpoint. 

I know what you are thinking.  This is all folklore.  I do not blame any of you.  To me, I knew what it was and I know that somethings are beyond scientific explanation.  Somethings are beyond what science have confined us inside this box of logical reasoning. Somethings are beyond our comprehension which only concludes how we may still fail to see the dark side of the unexplained. The side we do not wish to dwell in.

I end my story here.  As much as I love and cannot forget the beautiful beaches and friends I made at Tablas, Romblon, I will leave that permanently in my past.  At least in that way, it may be safer for me.  So to all of you who do not believe in "Aswangs", do not force yourselves to.  Despite the fact that many who have read this blog have already confirmed these creatures' existence and have their own stories to tell, just do one kind favor for me.  When some heavy thing drops and crawls onto your roof at night that sounds heavier that the usual cat, dog, monkey, leopard or tiger, just stay inside your house. Start praying to your Creator.  Maybe that way, you will still end up like me.  A crazy guy writing a blog about some weird creature called - "Aswang".

THE END