Here’s a story to remind you that not everything that glitters is gold

Biringan in Samar sounds like a fairytale. Believed to be populated by fairies, spirits, and otherworldly beings, the rich Samar town is also believed to hold a treasure of gold. 

Residents believe a small stream near the ruins of the old church of St. Francis of Assisi has gold — the very gold they believed  was used to build the church.

So when “Gardo,” not his real name, chanced upon a few stones that were seemingly gleaming with gold from the stream, he quickly went to his sister “Maria”. 

They thought their luck was about to change for the better, but first, they knew they needed to appease the spirits of the stream. He brought food offerings to them. 

“Naniniwala kami na maraming gold dun (We believe there’s a lot of gold there),” Maria says on Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho.

“Eh ibinigay naman sa amin kaya kinuha niya, kasi may paniniwala kami na kapag hindi ibinigay sa amin, talagang hindi ‘yan magpapakita. (We accepted the stones because they were given to us. These elementals do not show up unless they want to give something.) ”

They held on to the stones, keeping it a secret from the others, and treating it like treasure.

Such was their belief that this was gold so Maria traveled all the way to Manila just to get her belief verified.

With the help of the KMJS team, Maria went to the Department of Mining at the University of the Philippines and got it examined. 

During the first three tests, the results were negative.

A tinge of gold, however, was detected during the fourth examination.

So to be sure, they ran another set of tests the next day, and the results? Negative for gold.

Experts think that the gold detected during the fourth examination was just a contaminant from previous tests of other legitimate gold samples. 

The siblings thought the stones would bring them fortunes. But the tests showed negative. 

But if there’s anything they learned from this experience— it’s the fact that not everything that glitters is gold. — LA, GMA News