Why the Philippines has many islands?

Written by: F. Landa Jocano

Revised by: Ailene F. Quinto

A long time ago, the Philippines was a huge giant landmass that extended as far as the tip of
northern Borneo. In the north part of this majestic place there lived a giant couple named Angalo and
Angarab together with their 3 daughters, Luzian, Bisaya and Minda, the family didn’t work, they also
didn’t cook their own food, they live their life by just picking up anything they could eat around them.
One day, Angalo and Angarab decided to leave their house to gather food, the couple reminded their
children to never go out of their house.

Angalo and Angarab began gathering clams together, however, when they opened up the clams
to pick its meat, they were shocked when they found a sparkling stone inside of it. The couple was
mesmerized by these beautiful stones, so they gathered more clams and removed all the stones inside
of them.

On the other hand, the daughters disobeyed the reminders of their parents, they were really
bored playing inside of their house so they decided to go out and play around the area. Meanwhile,
when the couple has gathered a fair number of stones they then decided to head back home. When
they are in the middle of the place, the couple questioned who should receive more pearls. This
question eventually leads up to a fight. The couple stamps their huge feet as they shouted at each other.
Their heavy steps and their angry shout shake the ground and sent the mountains and hills falling apart.
As the fight gets serious, big pieces of the land went flying in different directions, the huge landmass
became separated from each other.

The three young girls, on the other hand, were shocked and frightened when the ground begins
to shake, they all run around in panicked, however before they even reached their house, the land they
are stepping in begins to crack and open up, showing the deep ocean, the three girls lose their balance
and eventually fall into the deep water. Luzian, Bisaya, and Minda began shouting for help, however, no
one hears them. The poor girls slowly drown in the ocean.

On the other hand, after the fight, the couple notices that the land becomes separated from
each other so they immediately decided to head back home to check on their daughters, however to
their horror they didn’t found their daughters in their home. The couple went around the whole area to
look for their missing daughters but the three girls were nowhere to be found. Angalo and Angarab were
in great despair because they knew that it was due to their fault that they have lost their children and to
commemorate the memories of their lovely daughters they named the 3 biggest islands, Luz, Bisaya, and
Minda, and as the time passes the name of the three big islands became Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.