The Legend of Sibulan began with the passing of Tuglay and Tuglibong and all the mona into the land of the diwata. Only the children of Tuglay and Tuglibong were left in that place. Then a long drought came to pass upon the land so that the people could not plant their crops and famine soon stalked the highlands. The children of Tuglay and Tuglibong began to leave their home and travel to other lands in pairs. As soon as any pair found a place to their liking, they settled and begot progenies who became the ancestors of the other tribes in Mindanao.
One pair chose to remain in Sibulan. The name of the man is Malaki T’Olu K’Waig, which name literally means “man at the head of the river”. Malaki is also the mythological firstborn of Tuglay and Tuglibong and is the word for man in the same way that Bia, Malaki’s sister, is the word for woman. In a sense, Malaki and Bia are even more appropriate archetypes of first man and first woman in the legend of the founding Sibulan.
The couple stayed even as the parched land could no longer provide for them. Then, one day, as the man, too weak from hunger, hobbled across the barren fields in search of food, he saw a single stalk of plant growing lustily in the midst of a scorched earth. As he cut the plant with his bolo, fresh water gushed forth from its stalk and the flow did not cease until both the couple’s thirst and the earth were quenched and refreshed. From the plant’s abundant flow the rivers and the streams were once more filled with water until the rains fell to water the crops in the field.
The couple named the plant as “sibul”, which means something is coming out from something or to appear or occur unexpectedly. The couple called their place as Sibul but as time passes, it became Sibulan.
