From A History of Negros Occidental, by Modesto P. Sa-Onoy:
In the peak and impenetrable forest of Mt. Kanlaon there lived the magkupo, the huge serpent with the rooster’s crown and a rooster’s powerful crow, who stayed under the kamandag tree near the crater of the volcano. The magkupo had fins on its sides. It did not crawl on the ground as other snakes did but would move from tree to tree by winding its long body on a tree trunk, ease its head forward to reach another tree where it will coil itself. Thus, it was called magkupo (pronounced with a stress on the last syllable), which means to “stick on” or “embrace.”
