The Origin Of The Lake Bulusan

In the early days. Lake Bulusan was a village named Aguingay. It was ruled by Raja Pinangunay. a pirate from Malacca in his younger days it is said that he was a tyrannical and godless ruler.

One day, as he was looking out at the beauti- ful sea, he felt a strong yearning for his days out on the sea. So he gathered his kinsmen and set out to invade the coastal regions of the island of Samal.

Their invasion, proved successful. The old Raja and his party were able to capture much treasure. They also captured so many men. and young women that their vintas were overloaded. The weather was good. The wind blew favorably and San Bernardino Strait was but a short distance to cross between Samal and the tip of Luzon.

But halfway across San Bernardino Strait, a typhoon came. Waves lashed the overloaded vintas. The wind grew strong and the rain made it too dark for them to navigate. For the first time in the life of the old pirate, he was afraid. He saw some of his best men thrown overboard and swallowed up in the whirlpools of the strait. The waves and the wind lashed at them mercilessly. Many of his captives and men got lost in the angry sea.

Then the women started praying. Raja Pinangunay asked them what they were doing. They told him that they were asking Heaven for help. The pagan Raja promised them freedom if their prayers could stop the typhoon.

The women went on with their prayers and af- ter a while the wind and the waves started to abate. Then the angry sea became calm. The sun came out shining radiantly in the sky and the wind blew favor- ably toward Luzon.

However, half of Raja Pinangunay's kinsmen had been lost at sea, and this made him angry.

Late that afternoon, his fleet of vintas. loaded with captives landed safely on the shore of Binorongan seaport of Aguingay. Everyone was glad, and the women were happy because Raja Pinangunay had promised them their freedom.

But he changed his mind. He had them tied together and herded up in the mountain trail to his village. His captives walked all the way to his moun- tain hideout that night. When they got to the village. he had them locked up and given only little food to eat.

The following day the captives were taken out to the kaingin to work as slaves. They could not es- cape because ropes were tied around their waist. The followers of Pinganunay stayed in the village and the slaves worked in the kaingin for them.

This went on for sometime. One day, a woman slave went to see the powerful Raja in his palace. She reminded him about his promise to free his captives. At this, the Raja only laughed and said. "I was only lying. Now that Iam on solid ground, I am Heaven."

He had hardly finished saying when a water spout dropped from the sky and crashed down upon his palace. The sky opened up and it rained and rained until the village sank under water.

The village was turned into a lake. The rain did not stop until the lake overflowed its banks. Nobody was saved among the proud inhabitants of the village.

The slaves, however, had been working out in the kangin and were saved. Their guards ran into the forest for their lives and the slaves set themselves free. They settled down in the lower part of the district. They called their settlement Bulusan. In Bicol, Bulusan means the place where river flows. The settlement became the town of Bulusan, in Sorsogon, and the lake become Lake Bulusan.