This article provides an overview of Philippine mythology, noting that it reflects pre-colonial religious worldviews and needs to be updated to current scholarly standards. It discusses some key figures in Tagalog mythology like Bathala the Creator and notes that myths vary by region as the archipelago had no central government before Spanish arrival. The myths were passed down orally and attempt to explain nature and the world.

1. Philippine mythology
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This article's factual accuracy may be
compromised due to out-of-date
information. In particular: this article reflects
paradigms about early Philippine culture
history which have since been refined by
anthropologists and critical historiographers.
Particularly, it presents indigenous malayo-
polynesian religious worldviews through a
western and modernist lens or framework. It
needs to be updated to reflect current scholarly
consensus, as reflected in relevant peer-
reviewed academic journal articles. Please
update this article to reflect recent events or
newly available information. (July 2017)
Bathala, widely regarded in Tagalog mythology as the
Creator of the Universe

2. Philippine mythology is the body of myths, tales,
and superstitious held by Filipinos, mostly originating from
beliefs held during the pre-Hispanic era. Some of these
beliefs stem from pre-Christian religions and were
regarded by the Spanish as "myth" in an effort to de-
legitimize pre-colonial Animism. Today, some of these
myths are still held by Filipinos, especially in the
provinces.
Filipino myth is incorporated from various sources, having
similarities with Indonesian and Malay myths, as well as
Christian traditions, such as the notion of Heaven
(kaluwalhatian, kalangitan, kamurawayan), Hell
(impiyerno, kasamaan), and the human soul (kaluluwa).
Filipino mythology attempts to explain the nature of the
world through the lives and actions of gods, goddesses,
heroes, and mythological creatures. A majority of these
myths were passed on through oral tradition.
Sources[edit]
Main article: Philippine folk literature
Philippine mythology is known today primarily from the
collection of oral traditions passed down from generation
to generation. There are few surviving written accounts
from the pre-colonial period, and even less is written
regarding the mythology. Written accounts of mythological
beliefs, however, persist, and multiple authors have
compiled the more famous myths.
Due to the nature of the archipelago, having no central
government or nation-state at the time before the arrival of
the Spanish, there is no one definite mythology in the

3. Philippines. Different regions were influenced by different
cultures and so developed overlapping stories and beliefs,
each with their own gods, goddesses and heroes. There is
therefore no one canonical text that details a common
mythology for the pre-colonial Filipino people.
There are secondary sources in the form of written works
regarding the subject. Juan de Plasencia wrote
the Relacion de las Costumbres de Los Tagalos in 1589,
documenting the traditions of the Tagalog people at the
time. Other accounts during the period are Miguel de
Loarca's Relacion de las Yslas Filipinas and Pedro
Chirino's Relacion de las Island Filipinas (1604).
Philippine pantheon[edit]
Main article: Deities of Philippine mythology
The stories of ancient Philippine mythology include deities,
creation stories, mythical creatures, and beliefs. Ancient
Philippine mythology varies among the many indigenous
tribes of the Philippines. Some groups during the pre-
Spanish conquest era believed in a single Supreme Being
who created the world and everything in it, while others
chose to worship a multitude of tree and forest deities
(diwatas). Diwatas came from
the Sanskrit word devata which means "deity", one of the
several significant Hindu influences in the Pre-Hispanic
religion of the ancient Filipinos. Below are some of the
gods and goddesses of the ancient Philippines: