Catanduanes Forum

Stories of El Pidio have always fascinated me since i was a child. I have always sat at the foot of my mother and my aunties in Pancayanan while they were in a hushed huddle telling stories about El Pidio.

As I gathered he seemed to be a very rich enkanto with a golden ship that sometimes dock in a murky swamp riverway along the ricefield stretch between Pancayanan and the town of Bagamanoc.

Mysterious disappearances have been reported. Mysterious behavior of supposed to be "mga naengkanto" have been observed and their stories heard. They tell of their adventures in the Elpidio land in various places in Bagamanoc which actually are either a mountain or a suba... but all secluded and uninhabited.

One very prominent son of Bagamanoc is said to have gotten rich having had favors from El Pidio. And to date stories are still told and perhaps will always be told from mouth to mouth.

It is sad to note that as El Pidio has always been, for a long time now, a part of the mystery of the beautiful town of Bagamanoc, yet I have yet to read a compilation of such stories for us to hand down over to our children.

I have one to tell...

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A distant relative of my father in Tilod, Baras, who has never been to Bagamanoc, acted differently one day some years back. She was sick in the mind and behaved what local folks noted as "naengkanto".

She was around 18 years old then and said to have not known much about my father's family, much more my uncle Jaime Templonuevo who then was still alive living in Panganiban Catanduanes. Tio Jaime has lived in Payo as a teacher and has come back to Baras rarely. I have not even learned that one of his daughters died years ago until this story surfaced.

Anyway, this young girl from Tilod was brought to a local faith healer who underwent "santiguar". Aparrently she was indeed a victim of an enkanto. The faith healer did a local ceremony called "bawi" and the young maiden came to with this story to tell.

Apparently, she was walking along the enchanted road between Moning and Tilod in Baras (i forgot the name) when she was met by a very handsome gentleman who made himself known as Don El Pidio. She was charmed by the gentleman and was ushered to a golden ship docked on the shoreline and brought to Minabobo city. She did not know where it is located. She was just introduced to the city with bustling city roads, high rise buildings and very modern.

She was brought to the El Pidio Mansion and met a lot of people in the city. One of them (i forgot the name which she mentioned to the amazement of everyone including my father) was the long time dead daughter of Tio Jaime who, apparently, was a young physician already. She introduced herself as the child of Jaime Templonuevo and told her lots of stories about her which later on was verified to be true.

She was supposed to be very happy already in that city when an old man fetched her. When she woke up she was back to Tilod where she told her stories of the different Cities she'd been to aboard the El Pidio Ship.

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I'm sure some of you can add up to the story above. You are most welcome to.