How Maria Cristina Got Its Name

by :  Victoria J. Adeva

Once upon a time, Lake Lanao was in the hands of Omaca-an, a giant monster, eating human beings and animals and even fishes in the water.  There were thus very few people around the lake because of the monster that are everything he saw.  Many years passed when Rajah Indarapatra came with his beloved brother Rajah Solaiman.  Rajah Solaiman was the first to come and he fought the giant but was killed.  Rajah Indarapatra followed, looking for his brother Solaiman.  Indarapatra encountered the giant Omaca-an and killed the giant man-eater.  After killing the giant, he looked for the ring of Solaiman in both land and water.  On land, he looked for the ring of his brother by asking small and big animals that he met.  On water, however, he went swimming everyday and gathered both the big and small shores of the lake, but still he did not find the ring.  He constructed an irrigation system that went very far and covered a big distance which later became a river (now the Agus River).  The river had a portion which dropped down a deep ravine (now the Maria Cristina Falls).

Many years passed and there lived in the Maria Cristina Falls area two loving sisters, namely Maria (the younger) and Cristina (the elder).  These two beautiful ladies loved each other very much.   Maria gave everything she had to Cristina, her beloved sister.  Many people know they were the ones living near the falls.  They also loved their neighbor as they loved themselves.  Datus and Sultans came to ask for their hands in marriage but the sisters refused.

There was a man, however, son of a prominent Sultan living somewhere beside Lake Lanao.  For many years he was unhappy because he could not find a suitable partner.   He roamed around the lake until he saw the two maiden of the falls.   He fell in love with the two sisters but the two sisters did not know when he really loved.  Many days passed and Maria discovered that he loved her very much, which made her very sad that she went to the top of the falls and jumped.   When Cristina found out that Maria was dead, she likewise went to the top of the falls and threw herself down the deep ravine.  When the handsome young man discovered the situation and found the bodies, he never married until he died.   He also named the falls of Maria Cristina after the two sisters he loved.


Source :  2014 Tourism Situationer and Planner