Like neighboring Antique and Capiz in Panay Island, Iloilo province has its share of aswang stories. Dueñas in Iloilo is reputed as the home of aswangs and its variants, the sigbens (similar to Mexico’s chupacabra, with spotty fur and large fangs) and tik-tiks (giant prowling bats or birds that suck blood from pregnant women with long proboscises. Other sources describe it as creatures that land of rooftops at night and are able to extend their tongue and pierce thatched roofs and ceilings to get to the stomach of a sleeping pregnant woman and eat the baby in the womb) are not unheard of in some parts of Iloilo such as Dumangas and Dadiangas. A chilling trademark of the tik-tik, named for the distinctive sound it makes when it is on the prowl, is its ability to project a loud sound when it is far away and a faint one when it is close at hand. Worried? Holy water and agimats (amulets) are easily found if you ask around, and good old dependable garlic is a basic aswang repellent, and can be eaten when you’re done tramping through the dark forest.
Culled from Seair InFlight Magazine, October-November 2009 Issue • Text by Chip Childers, art direction by Jocas See, photography by Oggie Ramos
