When I was a kid, grandma, a full, truly-blooded Cuyonon, shared a story. Sort of a legend in Cuyo, particularly in Lucbuan, Magsaysay (Cuyo Island is composed of two (2) municipalities, Cuyo and Magsaysay).
It was about human-like creatures called “Uko”.
Uko, as I imagined it, as delicately described by grandma, is hairy (like gorilla) but longer hair in the head, bit short than average human (below 5’), big head, head leaning-forward, no clothing, can speak and understand little of Cuyonon, eat raw and cooked fish and sea shells. 
They were only a couple, a male and a female.
Prominent feature of the Uko that I can’t forget, as narrated by grandma, was that it has big mouth and large pouting lips. It was so large that when it laughs, the lips covered all its face.
They lived in cave-like rocks near the beach (eastern part of Lucbuan). The “cave” has stone table and bench. Inside the cave, walls were polished or planed and the ground (stone/rock) leveled.
The Uko were not afraid of human, however, the feeling was not mutual. But the Uko never entered the towns or even the “mainland”, it just stayed around the beach or in the sea. In the beach, if a person, according to Lola (grandma), found out that he is alone with the Uko, he will nervously crack a joke or do something funny to make the Uko laugh, that way, Uko’s lips will cover its eyes, and he will fled. The Uko never harmed anyone though.
One day, male Uko dived for clam. His arm, accidently, was caught in by the clam and he never got it out. The male Uko was drowned. Worried, the female Uko, looked for her partner. She chanced upon on a sailboat in the middle of sea, female Uko swam towards it. But the boat is so far, she got tired and also drowned.
From that day on they (people of Lucbuan) never saw an Uko again.
According to Lola, the “cave” is still there.
I can’t remember what the story about, all I can remember was the creature, how it looked like, how it lived and how it perished.
They lived in cave-like rocks near the beach (eastern part of Lucbuan). The “cave” has stone table and bench. Inside the cave, walls were polished or planed and the ground (stone/rock) leveled.
The Uko were not afraid of human, however, the feeling was not mutual. But the Uko never entered the towns or even the “mainland”, it just stayed around the beach or in the sea. In the beach, if a person, according to Lola (grandma), found out that he is alone with the Uko, he will nervously crack a joke or do something funny to make the Uko laugh, that way, Uko’s lips will cover its eyes, and he will fled. The Uko never harmed anyone though.
One day, male Uko dived for clam. His arm, accidently, was caught in by the clam and he never got it out. The male Uko was drowned. Worried, the female Uko, looked for her partner. She chanced upon on a sailboat in the middle of sea, female Uko swam towards it. But the boat is so far, she got tired and also drowned.
From that day on they (people of Lucbuan) never saw an Uko again.
According to Lola, the “cave” is still there.
I can’t remember what the story about, all I can remember was the creature, how it looked like, how it lived and how it perished.
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