The Legend of The Sigbin
Legend from the Hiligaynon People
Explanatory Note: In the island of Panay is a town whose inhabitants are called Ibajaos, and the town, called Igbahay. It is a place of some two or three hundred men, who are herdsmen and sailors, although a considerable number though devote themselves to the soil. In that place, according to custom and tradition, it was usual in the year 1539 for certain of the men native thereof to have their left ear cut—a custom which is seen at times to this day. This came to be called the sacrifice of the guilang, according to the name given it later by others. Why was this? What was its origin? This is what we should relate in the following story.... In the town of Igbahay[1], there was once a man who was the quickest of the quick and the most evil of the evil. He was called Talagman. Such was that man that by his glance alone he caused harm. The people took counsel together to spy on that man, in order to discover why he was of such a nature. Accordingly, they spied on him, but for several nights they went away without finding anything. However, they did not become disheartened but continued to spy on him. After a long waiting, they finally discovered that the man disappeared every night at midnight. Where did he go? We shall know soon. That man rose from his bed at midnight, took a small flask, and which was a certain oil, anointed his armpits and then went flying through the air, leaving half his body in the house. The people went up into the house and examined it. There they found many curious and strange things. In the flask were several small horrors. What a creature it was! It had the form of a black crow. It's beak, which was very long, was as sharp as a knife. It had four very long feet, with sharp claws, long hair, and many spines. This was the uac-uac[2], the companion of the sigbin[3]. After a few moments they went into the kitchen to see what was there. They looked all over, but found no salt. Therefore, they inferred that the substance was not good for that man. At four o'clock In the morning they heard the flapping of wings, and beheld that sigbin returning to his house through the window. Then he united himself to his body, and presto! He was just as if nothing had happened. When he was returning he uttered certain sentences which the people could not understand, and then united himself to his body. How could a sudden change come about? Well, the people assert that the invocation he uttered had a certain meaning, namely that and his back with the government of (evil), he had been told that the creature which he kept shut up in the bamboo joint would aid him. This the people assert was the spirit of evil, which would aid him to become what they call sigbin. The sigbin was an evil man who was accustomed to cause harm from his hiding place whenever he wished and on whomever he wished by simply flying and making some sign with his arm on his mouth. Once there a very strong man who caught him in an evil act with one of his associates, and cut off his ear with a single splash of his sango. Accordingly, curious though it be, yet it was said that the pact with the evil spirit was broken from that time, for, since he was a man whose ear had been cut off, the evil spirit (which is called oag, or by some guang-guang— though almost always it is called oag— Which has been described above as the creature which gives the oil that is used persons when they become sigbin) will not enter into him. From Philippine Folk Literature Series: Vol. III, The Legends (2002), compiled and edited by Damiana L. Eugenio, published by The University of the Philippines Press (shopee, amazon)
Mod's Annotations
Looking up the town of "Igbahay" and it seems to be an alternative spelling to "Ibajay", a municipality in Aklan found in the island of Panay. It may be an error on the part of the author as the inhabitants are correctly called "Ibajaos" which would make more sense if the name of the town was "Ibahay".
The uac-uac seem to be another spelling for the wak-wak, a bird-like aswang that makes strange noises, often described how it's named. The creature is similar to the manananggal but cannot separate its torso from its legs.
In most descriptions of the sigbin, it is often portrayed as a goat-like or dog-like blood-sucking creature, somewhat like the chupacabra. They are often said to be pets of aswang families. This description of the sigbin in this story is much more closely related to the usual depictions of manananggals.
