Saturday, July 05, 2008 Feared 'sigbin' is just a dog
KIDAPAWAN CITY -- Villagers here, armed with bolos, guns, and bangkaw (local term for bamboo spear), killed on Thursday night one of the alleged “mystery” animal killers, three days after starting a 24-hour roving patrol in their area.
The "killer", according to Albert Anima--one of the caretakers of the farm lot owned by the University of Southern Mindanao (USM) here, turned out to be a dog.
Raul Centillo and a certain Edgar, both USM guards, claimed to have killed the dog using 12-gauge shotgun around 11:45 p.m. Thursday.
It was the second time the village guards in barangay Sudapin killed such an animal.
On June 27, they killed one of the four dogs believed to be among those that killed three goats owned by a certain Cielo Alonzo and a flock of 23 sheep owned by USM, a state university. The dogs, according to Sonny Camos, feasted on the inner organs of the animals.
"We were so sure the animal killers were stray dogs, not vampires. But residents here were saying otherwise," Anima said.
Some of the villagers even doubted Anima's claim that the slain dog was the real killer.
"He did not even see the actual killing of the farm animals," said Rose, one of the residents of Manongol village.
When Manongol village chair Beatriz de Villa sought support from her constituents to join her in the 24-hour patrol, residents -- most of them armed with bangkaw or bamboo spear -- joined the "manhunt".
"Epektibo gid ang bangkaw para patyon ang aswang (A bamboo spear is very effective in killing the 'aswang')," a villager said in Ilonggo dialect.
Many villagers in Sudapin and Manongol believed there is such a "beast" that lives nearby.
The "beast," they said, is one that can transform itself into different shapes such as a woman, man, dog, cat, depending on which one he meets first when he comes out for a nightly prowl.
But City veterinarian Dr. Eugene Gornez urged residents not to believe in the existence of such beast or "aswang."
"Strictly speaking, it is not solidly formed and it can be said that it's only based on folklore, thus, there is no such a thing," he said.
