Cebu has its own share of legends that were passed from generation to generation. One such legend is the legend of Maria Cacao. The legend of Maria Cacao is associated with the tablea. Tablea is a Spanish word that means tablet. It is made out of cacao beans that are roasted, ground and formed into tablets.
Each time they pass through the Argao River, they would destroy the bridge on the river and cause it to overflow. Whenever this happened, the villagers would know that the two have already set sail with a boatload of cacao. When they came back, they would bring with them items from other places.
But, people started to return the items already broken or they would never return them at all. Due to this, Maria Cacao did not let the villagers borrow from her anymore. She also did not show herself to the villagers anymore, and the people stopped believing in the existence of Maria Cacao.