Some versions say Bernardo Carpio is a giant, as supported by the enormous footsteps he has reputedly left behind in the mountains of Montalban.

All versions of the story agree that Bernardo Carpio had a strength that was similar to that of many strong men-heroes in Asian epics, such as Lam-ang.

According to Pedro Chirino, the ancient Tagalogs believed that an earthquake is nothing more than the effect of the movements of a huge animal in the entrails of the earth which according to some, is an alligator or crocodile.

The birds called tigmamanok (while-collared kingfisher) are considered very sacred because they are permitted to pick a crocodile's teeth without harm.

The Pasig River had a large rock (Buayang Bato – Stone Crocodile) that served as an idol for many years, they leave offering to it whenever they pass by, until the fathers of St. Augustine broke it into small bits and set up a cross in its place.

This human-like image of the earthquake god contrast with that of some monster hidden in the depths of the earth that is reminiscent of the dragon(s) of the Chinese.

[7] In a legend about the miraculous conversion to Catholicism of a sangley (Chinese), the Buwayang Bato of the Pasig River was said to be the Devil petrified by San Nicolas.

[8] In Tagalog and Visayan creation myth, it was the 'earthquake' who advised the first man and woman to mate and people the earth.

[13][14] Professor of Anthropology Fay-Cooper Cole identified the Mandayan supreme gods—father and son—Mansilatan (the creator) and Batla (the preserver), with the Tagalog deities Dian Masalanta and Bathala Meycapal respectively.

They said that this man, in the other world, hastened to offer the woman his hand at the passage of a very perilous stream which had no other bridge than a very narrow beam, which may be traversed to reach the repose that they call Kaluwálhatian i.e. Bathala Meycapal's abode.

During the Spanish period, Palangíyi (N&S 1860:228) was simply an endearing name used by mothers to address their baby sons: Palangí ko "My rainbow, my little king."

Sir John Bowring mentioned in his book "The Philippine Islands," that the friar F. de los Santos is very angry with the nonsense (boberias and disparates) which he says the natives address to their children.

[23] Bernardo Carpio belong to the king-in-the-mountain motif, wherein the king is not dead, but asleep in the cave, and will wake up one day to deliver his country from its oppressors.

Fàràng "Occidental, Westerner, French"] because a claim was made by José N. Sevilla and Paul R. Verzosa, in their Ağ aklat nğ Tagalog (1923), that the Philippines had a dynasty descended from Alexander the Great and an Indian princess ("Genealogy of the Philippine Imperial Family", pp.

33–41) whose most famous Malay member would be Nakoda Ragam (1485-1524), Sultan of Brunei under the name Bolkiah, and whose father was a certain Juru Shah Bundar who migrated to Java and married a Javanese princess.

[26] Members of Ciudad Mistica de Dios—one of the most revered groups in Banahaw—believed that their founder, Maria Bernarda Balitaan (1876-1925), was the incarnation of both the Infinito Dios and Bernardo Carpio.

According to one version of the tale, Bernardo Carpio was a son of Infante Jimena and Don Sancho Díaz of Cerdenia.

The Infante was cloistered by her brother King Alfonso, who at that time was very powerful, because of her forbidden love with Don Sancho.

The engkantado used his agimat (talisman), and Bernardo Carpio was caught between two boulders which the shaman had caused to grind each other.

As a result, the parish priest who baptised him suggested that his parents name him after the Spanish legendary hero Bernardo del Carpio.

Damiana Eugenio was able to find and document a 1940 compilation of tales detailing the legend of Bernardo Carpio.