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Alamat ng Lawa ng Sebu
Lake Sebu is a lake in South Cotabato, in the Alah Valley. The T'boli people who live around it tell their own stories of how it began. We keep this entry short until a T'boli source is added.
Folklore is retold; versions differ.
Sources: Wikipedia: Lake Sebu (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikidata (CC0)
The story
Lake Sebu is a natural lake in the town of Lake Sebu, in South Cotabato, on Mindanao. It lies about 1,000 meters above sea level. It covers about 354 hectares, reaches about 34 meters deep and holds 11 small islands. The T'boli name for it is Lanaw Sbu. The government counts it among the important watersheds of the country, and its water supports farms in South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat.
The T'boli and the Ubo are the traditional people of the lake area. In 1993 a DENR order (Administrative Order No. 2) recognized their claim that the lake and the land around it belong to their ancestral domain. Visitors may see the owong, a dugout canoe, on the water. The lake is also promoted as an eco-tourism site.
T'boli families have their own stories about how the lake began. No citable T'boli source is known.