As a young boy, I always craved the salty, sour, sweet and especially spicy (mild) dishes that my Mama used to make. On a good meal, we'd have rice with a sweet/sour pork adobo dish, a spicy mild bitter fruit dish, salty fish soup, and really sweet coconut pie dessert, with a tall glass of sweet/sour calamansi (lime) iced juice if it was really hot. Now that I'm older, I think I know what the reason really is..

There was a salesman who got lost in a distant barrio deep in the forests of Ilocos Norte. He had come from the city to sell some bottles of Listerine, upon hearing that some Ilocanos needed a better way to clean their teeth. Because he knew someone named Manolo, he decided to go to Manolo's nipa house on the way to the distant barrio.

"Manolo, Manolo, this is your friend Jun. May I sleep in your house tonight?" He was let in and led into the only room in Manolo's house. He noticed that there were many people in the house. One of them, a pregnant woman, was weeping inconsolably. Cradling her was an elder man who had a red towel around his head and wore an itak (large blade) around his waist.

"I did not know you had visitors. I must find another place," Jun apologized. "Nonsense, you stay here tonight. It is not safe out," Manolo explained. "The old man had just chased off an aswang with his itak. Looks like his itak clipped off the aswang a little bit, part of the blade still drips of the aswang's blood."

Jun felt the shiver up his throat now. The manananggal was a female aswang whose name means "to be detached from part of her body." Some say her head and stomach fly out at night, others say all of her upper body flies out while her lower body remains. She flies with her arms which turn into bat-like wings, perching on a roof to out the internal organs and blood of those in the house. Or she hangs beneath the open floor and s the rectum or sputum of the sick with her tube-like tongue which she can extend and control at will. She especially craves the unborn children of pregnant mothers.

"What can I do to help?" Jun asked. "We think we know who the mananaggal is. Tomorrow night, we will pay her husband a visit and ask to see if we can spend the night. If you like, you can come with us to help."

The next night, Jun, Manolo and the old man did as they planned and spent the night at the suspected manananggal's husband's nipa hut. When Jun was asleep, he was suddenly awakened by a putrid smell. The moon was full and bright as he decided to investigate the source of the smell. By the moon's light, he saw a human body in the living room balcony, cut through the waist with no head! He quickly roused Manolo, and with the old man, hurriedly sprinkled salt, vinegar and bawang (garlic) on top of the cut body.

They left the house and quietly rushed towards the pregnant woman's nipa hut. As they got to the woman's bedroom, they noticed the same putrid smell. Quickly the looked up the ceiling and saw a tube like entrail extending towards the sleeping woman's belly. The old man took his bottle of vinegar and some salt to sprinkle out of the bedroom's window. In a flash, the three men heard a shriek, with a "wak-wak-wak" flapping sound of wings, as the creature seemed to speed away.

On next day's light, the Manolo's folk headed towards the suspected mananaggal's nipa hut. By the sala where Jun had first seen the lower part of a human body, in its place now stood the ashen remains of a young woman. The husband had disappeared and had never been seen since.

Jun bid his friend Manolo, the old man and the barrio folk goodbye as he continued on his journey to Ilocos Norte. As a gift, Manolo's folk gave him some tawas (betel chew) and vinegar to bring him luck and protection on his long journey from the city.

Today, pork or chicken adobo still ranks as my favorite. Seeped and boiled in equal parts vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, bawang, and coconut milk for a sweet chaser, it makes for a very flavorful chicken or pork dish. Everytime I eat such a meal, I feel that doing so will somehow keep me safe from the visceral-suckers.