This story is from my cousin who graduated from PCS in the late 50's. (she's about 20 years older than I am ... kung baga siya yung panganay ng clan, ako yung latak) To give you an idea how old she is (and how much younger I am compared to her) she was a batchmate and very good friend of the late Mrs Carpio, OUR guidance counselor.
When the Philippines was still a commonwealth of the US,(they called it 'peacetime') There was this young woman who lived in a remote town in Bicol. Though a daughter of a fisherman, she preferred to be in the mountains than by the sea. She'd rather be among the coconut trees, nipa palms, the bobcats (for there were still some then) the pili trees, the rattan grasses, and the banana-look-alike abaca trees.
When she was about 16, (and ripe for marriage in those days) in one of the town fiestas, she met an out-of-towner who, to her pleasant surprise, was also more interested in "a kingdom up the mountains" rather than "a kingdom by the sea." (No, her name was not "Annabelle Lee!")
The next visit found them up the mountains, building dreams about "nipa houses, abaca hammocks, coconut milk ... ooops" ... Blah, blah, blah. You know what follows.
Samakatuwid (o, sabaluktot) sila ay nagsumpaang magmamahalan hanggang sa walang hanggan. And as a token of their love, they wove this 'love knot,' -- an elaborate concatenation of sheepshank, bowline and figure o'eight knots, akin to the Celtic ring of forever, precursor, perhaps, of the present-day love beads. This they created from the abaca fiber that they themselves combed, smoothed and twined, ... even as they twined their bodies and souls as one!
But there was a complication (as there always is to any good love story): the girl's father has already arranged for her to be married to his kumpare's (also a fisherman) son, whom (as you already might have guessed) she didn't love.
The lovers planned to elope before the unwanted day of the girl's pre-arranged wedding. They would flee town, climb every mountain (YES, that's right, just like in "The Sound of Music!") and live out their dreams. 
"As a token of their love, they wove this 'love knot,' -- an elaborate concatenation of ... knots, akin to the Celtic ring of forever...even as they twined their bodies and souls as one."
But that day never came. War broke out and the out-of-towner never came back. The war came and went. The young woman's father thought it was time for her to settle (she is an old maid in her early 20's after all)The day was set. And still, the young woman hoped that her true love would come for her.
Then she heard (through the grape vine ... or should I say, the rattan vine?) that her love, had been, all this time, in Manila, trapped there and couldn't return because of the war.
She knew what to do. The next train brought her to the Tutuban station. She had a cousin who had a place in Paco, and who was a seller of candles near the Paco de Dilao church. (AND YOU WONDERED ALL THIS TIME where the hell is the connection???)
Her cousin knew some of the clergy who were running the parochial school, Paco Catholic School (ah ... and you thought, I'd never mention it!) and got her a job as a cleaning lady for the church and for the school.
Everyday, she would hope and pray to get word from her lost lover; and one day it was answered. An old friend from the barrio came to her and her cousin's house. He was brief and straightforward. Her lover had joined the guerillas and had been killed by the Japanese. Before he died, he gave something to this old friend (who was also a guerilla) who now handed it to the young woman: the love knot from the abaca mountain.
The young woman's sorrow was unfathomable. (No wonder she had an aversion to the sea ... it would mirror her tears on this fateful day). Still she went about her business, as though everything was proceeding as normal.
The following night, she didn't come home from work. The following morning, her body was found hanging from the ceiling of the elementary girl's bathroom on the right side of the church. What served as the noose was the love knot untangled, forever tying her now to the love she has found and lost ... and found again, in death.
And so the legend goes ... that if you are in the elementary girls' bathroom, and while you're half-squatting, doing your thing ... you feel a wisp of fiber, as though a rough strand of rope ... or hair, brushing against your nape or back ... don't turn around! Instead, pull up your diaper.. I mean, underwear, whistle or sing ... and as fast as you can say "nakupo!" get your a... out of there!!!  the celtic ring of forever |
