Legend has it that there were once many warring tribes in this region of the Philippines. One day an old wise man, who had been attempting to unite all these tribes vanished. Eventually his headless body was discovered. Later still, his head was found by a boy mounted on a bamboo pole. "Ulo ng apo" translates as "head of the elder" which is apparently what the boy screamed upon his gruesome discovery. This is how Olongapo was named.