Bugkot
Are you familiar with the word, “bugkot”? It was a supernatural event where a human is
kidnapped by a supernatural creature. It is said that that person never really left, but we just cannot
see them, it’s like they are in the same place but in just a different dimension.
I have heard stories about bugkot and the most famous one was the story of a woman that
was allegedly disappeared and was said that she was binugkot. It is said that this woman is really
beautiful and a kapre fell in love with her and kidnapped her. Stories said that the two are living
in the home economics building of Astorga Elementary School. One night, while my mother was
going home from our Lola’s house, she saw white clothes that were laid on bushes of santan, she
just thought someone left their laundry, but when she looked at it again, the clothes were moving,
and they are heading towards the H.E building. Years passed, the people said that the two moved
to the barangay hall. Beside the barangay hall was a sari-sari store, the owner of that store always
says that every night she hears footsteps inside the barangay hall, sometimes she can also hear the
splashing of water, it’s as if someone is taking a bath in the bathroom. The barangay secretary
during that time also shared that she encountered some unusual events inside the hall when she is
working at late night. She would hear footsteps and there’s no one there except her. One night,
when she was making a barangay clearance which is needed urgently, she is sure that she would
type the name of the client, but when she printed it out, the paper showed a different name, it was
said that it was the name of the girl who disappeared years ago, this scenario happened three times
until the secretary cried and pleaded to just let her print one decent copy.
Until now, that story is still known, and they say that they still live in the barangay hall,
and the two had a baby because passersby would hear a baby crying. During typhoon Yolanda,
almost all the classrooms and houses in our barangay were destroyed, but the barangay hall
remained unscathed, and it was warm inside. It was believed that it was protected by the dwellers
in it.