Tales from the Manuvu
The Manuvu tribe,  who live in central Mindanao in the Philippines,  have a strong storytelling tradition that has kept alive their legends and tales of the beginnings of all things.
 
Gods  
Since the beginning of days,  there have been two gods.  
Manama, omnipotent, confident and self-satisfied - surrounded by his attendant diwata  (fæ) and anitu  (ancestral spirits) -  administers the skyrealm. On the other hand, his brother - Oggasi of the earth - finds pleasure in disrupting Manama's plans with the help of his busaw  (dwarves). 

Since the beginning, there has been contention between the gods.  
This is how it happened. 
In the beginning, Manama's realm was barren, and only one katungaw-tungaw  (pitiful)  tree grew in the desolation - but Oggasi"s realm was lush  with vegetation.  Envious, Manama  disguised some of his  fæ attendants as bees and, with their help, stole topsoil and seedlings from Oggasi's realm.  
Oggasi became aware of the theft too late to prevent it.   But he knew Manama was the culprit,  and he bided  his time to seek revenge for the trespass. 

Thus began the enmity between  Manama and Oggasi.  
Thus began the enmity between order and chaos.
Humans  
Manama  spends most of his time asleep but, once a year, he wakens for a brief while to accomplish his divine tasks.  
During one of his waking  periods,   Manama thought of  MAN.  
Eagerly, Manama mobilised the skyworld to create his grand project but, predictably,  the intense activity soon exhausted him and he dozed off before his work was finished.  
As Manama slept, Oggasi  - in vengeance for the first theft - stole the plans for giving Man eternal life.  
Therefore Man is mortal. 

When first Man awoke, however, he was too engrossed in  exploring the world to care about the briefness of his existence - and  Oggasi's act of revenge seemed futile.  So Oggasi studied Man in hopes of finding a weakness that could be exploited, a means to awaken discontent in Manama's prize creation.  
Eventually Man turned to Manama to ask why he alone of all beings had no counterpart.  
Manama hesitated. He knew that Man's complete dependence on him would cease once Man had a partner - yet to deny him one would ensure victory for Oggasi.   Manama realised he had no choice but to create Woman.  
Thus Man gained a partner. 

All went well until  the first Woman began to have undefineable longings,  and grew disconsolate from a sense of incompleteness.   Manama recognised Oggasi's influence.  Seeking to ingratiate himself, and in hopes of winning back his creatures' devotion,  Manama created the kakapa  (groping) worm which he implanted between Man's legs.  
From the worm's antics, Man and Woman discovered the pleasures of sex. But Oggasi had fed seedlings to the worm, and when these were implanted in Woman, she became pregnant - and that is why people began to be born.
Fate 
In the course of time, the distance between heaven and earth has widened,  Nature has become less benign, and 'goodwill  among men' has become practically non-existent. 
But in the beginning of days, the skyrealm was low enough to touch and there was constant coming and going between the worlds.  Whenever Manama was awake,  he held audiences at which his mortal creatures would present their petitions and, if he thought them deserving, their pleas would be answered.  
However, people began to multiply - and since there were more of them to feed,  there was less food.  The people became discontented - and Manama grew so tired of listening to their endless complaints  that he discontinued the audiences altogether.  
Eventually,  Manama had to stay awake longer and longer to cope with his divine resposibilities.  Overworked,  he became moody and irritable - and  because he rules the skyrealm, the weather grew unpredictable. 

One day, during a particularly bad drought,  people decided they'd had enough of heat, thirst and starvation. They took the large wooden pestles they used for pounding rice and pounded  on the skyrealm itself in an effort  to rouse the sleeping Manama. 
They succeeded. 
In a fit of anger,  Manama ordered his attendants to raise the skyworld beyond the reach of the people so that he could sleep unperturbed by their complaints. 

Once the skyrealm disappeared from view, Oggasi seized his chance to cause trouble among people without interference from his rival.  
He created the giant Makaralig  (Fear) to drive people from their lands and spread death and destruction everywhere.  
At first , in terror and confusion, the people begged Manama to save them - but Manama was asleep and too far away to be wakened by their cries. 

It was then that people realised they had no one to turn to but themselves. 
Working together, they successfully drove Oggasi  away - and then they destroyed his creature. 

And,  from that time to this,  people have determined their own fate.
 
This version of Tales from the Manuvu was based on a re-telling of selected Manuvu origin myths  by E. Arsenio Manuel in an article published in Philippine Heritage (Hamlin Press, Australia, 1974).