Amanikabli
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Depending on what book you read, Amanikabli (Amanikable or Aman Ikabli in other sources)
could either be the ancient Tagalog patron of hunters or god of the sea.
In the book Barangay by William Henry Scott and the 1936 Encyclopedia of the Philippines by
Zoilo Galang, Amanikabli was identified as the Tagalog anito of hunters who rewarded his
worshipers with a good game.
The chief protector of the sea, on the other hand, was Aman Sinaya (or Amanisaya in other
references), who “gave his devotees a good catch.” In the same book by William Henry
Scott, Aman Sinaya was described as the deity called upon by believers “when first wetting a net
or fishhook.” He was also identified as the father of Sinaya who invented the fishing gear.
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The works of anthropologist F. Landa Jocano beg to differ. According to his relatively more
modern version, Amanikabli was one of the lesser deities assisting Bathala in Kawalhatian. He
was described as “the husky, ill-tempered ruler of the sea,” whose hatred towards mankind
started when a beautiful mortal woman, aptly named Maganda, rejected his love.
Since then, the sea god had made it his personal agenda to send “turbulent waves and horrible
tempests every now and then to wreck boats and drown men.”