Ilocos Region
In the Ilocos provinces, there was a beautiful bell in a small village’s church. It was believed that the bell’s ringing brought good harvest and they believed it was the bell that gave them good luck. Their lives improved greatly since they acquired the bell.
However, a group of bandits coveted this lucky bell. They made plans to loot the church and take the bell for themselves.
Talk spread easily in these parts, so the villagers heard from sources that the bandits were coming. They buried the bell outside the church.
When the bandits arrived, they could not find it. The bandits demanded that the townsfolk to reveal where they hid the bell, but they townsfolk kept their mouths sealed. In their anger, the bandits killed many villagers. Despite this violence, no one spoke of where the bell was.
Years later, a tree emerged from where the bell was buried. It bore fruits shaped like a bell with reddish-yellow color. When inverted the fruit looked like the cup used in mass. For this reason, they called the tree “makopa”, meaning maraming kopa, or plenty of cups.
Since then the tree and its fruits came to be known as makopa.