The Scar-faced Woman: Maria Labo

Urban legends are contemporary folktales that often possess a horrifying theme.

We Filipinos have always been enjoying the unknown and the supernatural, therefore we have so many urban legends inflating throughout the country.

These urban legends are stories that are ratified and accepted by people as true whether the truth is perceived or not. Not all urban legend originates from false gossips, some of them came from the real-life story or the story of the urban legend itself is actually true. They become untrue once the story was outraged and exaggerated or added with unnecessary details.

There's this one most well-known story of an urban legend that I've heard and never forgotten.

When I was a kid, I often heard stories of a scar-faced woman who is allegedly lurking in Iloilo and Capiz.

They told us the gruesome story of a woman, who turned into a vampire or 'aswang' (this is what our local called it), that took rural and urban communities in Iloilo and Capiz by bombardment.

Aswang is a Philippine folklore creature similar to the vampires and ghouls of western mythology.

We are told not to go out especially at night, or else that woman will take us and eat us alive.

We're afraid to go out and play when the elders told us her story. There are even reports saying they've captured the woman, but unfortunately, she vanished and allegedly escaped in the police station.

Who was this woman? Why is she called 'Maria Labo'

The woman I am referring to is 'Maria Labo', she is one of the most well-known 'aswang' in our province, in Western Visayas. Her story was told and has terrorized through generations.

Let me share with you the story of the scar-faced woman, Maria Labo.

Maria Labo is from the province of Capiz. Maria was a caring mother and wife. All she wanted in life is to give her family an affluent life, so she tried her luck abroad as an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW). It was said that this lady worked for an employer who was suffering from an unknown disease. In the months she was employed, Maria was a combination maid and caregiver to her employer. The employer of Maria would always provide her with the half-cooked liver to eat.

After months of working for him, Maria began to feel sick. She did not know that she had devoured some blood of her vampire employer. Due to her unknown ailment, Maria decided to return home to the Philippines, to live with her family.

The husband of Maria was a police officer. One day, after the husband returned home from work, Maria told her husband that she had already prepared dinner. Upon which time the husband of Maria sat down at the table and asked Maria if where is their son. To which Maria replied that their son is just right there. The husband of Maria did not know what she meant.

Upon opening the refrigerator box, he was stunned to see the head of their son in the refrigerator. He was unaware that the meat he had eaten that day, was in fact their son. The husband of Maria was so furious, he picked up a big knife and slashed the face of Maria. The woman received a severe wound in her face but managed to escape. Until today she is said to roam all over the Philippines in search of her next meal. In time this lady would be known as "Maria Labo" (labo is an Ilonggo term which means "to slash" using a bolo knife or take) due to the large scar that makes her an absurd figure of nightmares.

A movie was also made out of this famous urban legend. The movie shows that maria was an OFW in Saudi Arabia and was raped. When she was hospitalized, a fellow Filipino passed her this curse.

There are a lot of versions of this story, but what I've shared with you was the story that my elders have told me way back before.

While many believed the story, some were doubtful about the story. Some sources revealed that Maria Labo was nothing but a social experiment but the fact can't be hidden that some really assume and believe that the scar-faced woman, Maria Labo certainly existed.

@eommaZel ✍🏻