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Lola Basyang
Lola Basyang is the pen name of Severino Reyes, who wrote the Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang for Liwayway magazine. The character is an old grandmother who tells tales to her grandchildren. She was based on a neighbor in Quiapo, Gervacia Guzman de Zamora.
Folklore is retold; versions differ.
Sources: Wikipedia: Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikidata (CC0)
The story
Lola Basyang is a fictional storyteller, not an old folk figure. She was created in 1925 by the writer Severino Reyes, who published the series Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang in Liwayway magazine under her name. The tales are his own work, written for readers who wanted stories in Tagalog. In them, Lola Basyang is an elderly woman who tells stories to her grandchildren.
Reyes based the character on a real neighbor in Quiapo, Manila: Gervacia Guzman de Zamora, the head of the Zamora family. The National Historical Commission of the Philippines notes that the name later became a general label for any grandmother who loves to tell stories.
The stories grew into many forms. A comic version ran in Tagalog Klasiks from 1949, retold by Reyes's son Pedrito and drawn by Jesus Ramos and later Ruben Yandoc. Sampaguita Pictures made a film in 1958, and Regal Films made one in 1985 with three stories. A 2012 film was chosen for the Metro Manila Film Festival but was pulled before release. A modern web series also exists.