Urban Legends

The Robinson's Half-Human Half-Snake

The belief of a snake twin is very old, way back 17th century, when Fray Ignacio Francisco Alzina's 1668 "History of the Bisayan Islands" mentioned about it. Remember Amaya - the main character in GMA Channel 7's TV series entitled Amaya? The idea of snake twin of Amaya came from him. 

While for Chinese, snake is a good-luck charm for businesses, that's the reason why some of them keep snakes in their house, more especially in bodega. Well, animals should be fed. (You'll know what I mean.) 

What is it?

It is a supernatural being (definitely a monster) which is almost incredible but many people do believe it exist. No one knows the exact figure of what it truly look like (maybe similar to that picture above), just, they said, it is a Half-Human Half-Snake.

When did this happen?

This incident and/or urban legend became famous in the midst of '80s. 

Where is it?

They said it dwells in a secret room (or in the basement, or over the building) of the Robinson's Galleria along EDSA, Ortigas. 

Who owns it?

John Gokongwei, owner of Robinsons and Universal Robina Corporation, is said to be the father (some say, it is his pet only) of this creature. It is the twin brother of Robina Gokongwei, the daughter of John Gokongwei. 

What makes it famous?

It became famous because of Alice Dixson, a popular actress in the Philippines during the late 80's and early 90's.

According to some news and information, the Robinson snake man has a spy cam that enables him to see beautiful woman who use the dressing room of the mall. If the Robinson Snakeman wants to get the girl to eat her or just to have fun, all he had to do is to click the switch button that commands the floor from the dressing room to open. Well Alice is very unfortunate that day because she used the wrong dressing room. Alice fell down the snakes dungeon and she is supposed to be eaten but she is able to escape.

Alice was questioned about this in a TV talk show, but while in the middle of conversation between her and the host, the show was cut abruptly for some reason. Then when it came back again, Alice was no where in the show any more. Now, whenever she is interviewed about this, she often keeps her silence. According to the news, Gokongwei family paid Alice Dixon a large amount of money just to keep her mouth quiet about the issue, and asked her to leave the country and go to Canada. The lawyer allegedly hired to settle the affair was Solicitor Frank Chavez.

There is no assurance if the story about Alice is real or not but the fact she is silent about the issue, makes you think, it is probably real. Alice Dixon never confirmed this story whenever she is interviewed about it.

Aside of Alice Dixson, is there any other incidents of women vanish suddenly without any reason?

Unfortunately, there is. According to my interviewees, there are two women became victim of this snake. The two are employees of the same mall.

Parents of the ladies came to the mall to know and find out where their daughters go, and why they didn't go home anymore. The mall's manager only said, Maybe they go with there boyfriends secretly and decided not to go home any more. But when they checked out the time cards of the two employees, they found out that the two didn't go out of there work yet.

Another rumor (circulated, '90s) has it that the real Rita Avila was dead and the one we know is only his double or a clone (just like Bongbong Marcos).

Where is it now?

Again, according to my interviewees, its now dead. So today, the mall is safe to go.

Where did the story originated?

I forgot to add what I discovered about where actually did this legend came from. 

There was this similar story from Davao City. It spread first before the legend of Robinson Snake scared Metro Manila. 

Legend has it, that there was this cursed pregnant woman who went to Davao City, expecting it to just vanish. She gave birth to twins. The other one is normal, while his twin brother was half-human half-snake. Their parents accepted them, even the latter was a monster. However, when it grew up, it was very gluttonous. It always find something to eat. But because the family owns a shopping mall in Davao, they imprisoned it to fitting rooms so that whoever enters on it will be victimized. 

This story was almost (perhaps, wholly) identical to the Robinson Galleria Ortegas legend. 

Maybe this similar legend from Davao City, which is miles away from Metro Manila, can disprove the existence of the monster. 

Variations:

- The reason why the R of the Robinson's logo is in the shape of a snake.
- Instead of a spy cam installed in the fitting rooms, the mirrors there were actually one-way windows, from which the snake-man could view its prey before activating the trap door. (But in another urban legend, the one-way window was for the enjoyment of people watching on the other side.)
- An earlier story has it that the Gokongwei son, it was him who had a snake twin, not Robina herself.
- Mr. Lance Gokungwei, rumored to have scales in his arms.