The Tikbalang
Another creature that's included in the Filipino folklore is Tikbalang. They say that the Tikbalang is a half human and half horse just like a centaur but they stand like people. As what the elders said, it has a long legs, that's why if they squat, there knees is above their face. The face and the legs is in horse form, while the body is a human.
There's a superstition roaming around about the Tikbalang. Here is the two famous superstitious that is being passed on by our ancestors to the young generation.
If there's a rain but the cloud is clear and the sun shines high, this means that there's a Tikbalang marriage ceremony. If you are lost in a place where there's no people and seems like you're just go around and round, you are being mislead by a Tikbalang. You must reversed your dress so you can be back on the right way.
It cannot be deny that Tikbalang is the major character of every story telling of elders. And others do believed that you can tame the Tikbalang if you can ride on their back and you can get even one of the three hair that is like a "spine" on its nape, and you can used it like a charm.
But of course, we have to separate the fiction and the truth. The question: which one is the right and which is not?
One thing that is right is that, Tikbalang is a spirit being, just like the tree monster, elf, and aswang. To be more specific, it is one demonic spirit that manifest the half human and the half horse shape.
If we think, it seems like so scary if it is true that there's really is a tikbalang. But on the other hand, we better think that because he was a form of demon, this means that they are also afraid of Jesus Christ. And the good news for us who is a believer of Jesus is we have the authority and power against them. They are afraid of us if we face them "in the name of Jesus Christ."
And here is the Tikbalang story which is one of we can say have the truth in it. The minister got it from Banjo. Maybe many have grown in the city and don't believed in this. But there's no reason to doubt about Banjo's story since he knows him to be rational, intelligent and even more importantly, a devout Christian who is really into the Word.
This is the story:
His grandpa has a house in Quezon City. As often as possible, they visited him, especially on weekend. When he was a first year college student in Manila on 1978, he has a new classmate who lived near in his Lolo's house. In fact, he lived perpendicular to his grandfather's house.
Once, his classmate saw him walking in the street almost midnight. The next day he talked to him at school. He said, "I saw you walking along the street last night." And he said he was visiting his grandfather. He then warned him. "Oh, don't walk in there when it's night already." Curious, he asked why? And he told him his story.
"One night, we were coming home late. I was with my two brothers. As we were driving along that street, our attention was caught by "something" in front of the car. It's a bit far, but it was moving very fast, going from left to right, back and forth and crossing our path. From afar, we could not recognize what it was. It was blurry and dark. We just know it was big and tall. It appeared to be hairy too. We could see it's teeth. It continued to cross in front of our car as if taunting us."
Then our eldest brother, who was driving, said, "whatever it is, I will run over it." He accelerated and stepped on the gas pedal and intentionally attempted to hit the thing. But as the car supposed to hit it, we went through it and never touched it, as if it was not solid. Our car passes through it; or better yet, it went through the car. It penetrates! We all looked back and saw the thing sneering and smiling at us from the rear.
And after for about two weeks or so, his classmate told him that his brother was died in a drowning accident. To die like this was odd for his brother, who was a varsity swimmer of a well-known school. Not only that, when they recovered his brother's body, his brother's feet had grip marks on them.
In 2014, he visited his classmate who is now living in the USA. They had a mini-reunion. He again confirmed his story as told in 1978. Sadly this story. Especially the eldest brother not aware that the thing that he is trying to harm is one demonic spirit. No car, and there's no physical thing that can defeat it that Tikbalang. The only defenses that can defeat the demonic spirits is the most powerful name of Jesus Christ!
At this point, just to exhort you, the reader, on the importance of having a personal relationship with Jesus. How great it is to be in the care and protection of Him. He is the most powerful of all! In the name of Jesus every knee should bow, (Philippians 2:9-11. NIV) and it includes the knee of the Tikbalang.
Other creatures:
There are more other monsters that is part of Filipino spirit world. And some of the few had already encountered by the minister which he previously believed as non-existent, now he believes that some other monster that he does not yet see or encounter is true.
Well, regardless of what they are and in what form or shape they appear, there's a simple definition for all of these creatures. They are all demons. And if they are demons, that means that they all bow down to the name of Jesus!
