The Scary Balete Tree

I have seen this old tree a thousand times because I live nearby this busy terminal in FTI Taguig where it stands alive until now.  This photo was taken while the tree is on its season of shedding its leaves.  I am not sure if I should call it as autumn season or what but it is pretty much like that.  We don’t really have autumn season in the Philippines but this tree has got the feel of it.  It is commonly known as Balete Tree a.k.a Ficus Tree.  People , specially children, are often quite scared to get close to this tree specially during the evening time when the surrounding is almost darkened.  The old Balete trees are often incorporated to a belief that it is a dwelling place of Aswang, White Ladies and Engkanto.  And because of that, this tree has no escape from being a subject of that belief.

By the looks of it, the tree is quite old.  About 10 or more people have to hold each others hands around the tree to completely encircle it.  It is said that the construction company avoided the tree from being cut when developing the area to build Pure Gold FTI because of the belief that it is inhabited by scary creatures I mentioned above.