Pinontoan is the divine lord and deified ancestor (opo') of Mount Lokon, the great volcano above Tomohon in the Tombulu country of Minahasa. He dwells at the mountain with his wife Ambilingan (also called Ambilingan Wulawan), and together they hold the charge of keeping Lokon standing firm; when scattered earth around Lokon formed the lesser mountains Kasehe, Tatawiran and Empung, Pinontoan set three of his children over them as guardians, the third taking the name Empung from the twin peak entrusted to him. In the Tombulu genealogy recorded at the Kakaskasen spring sites he is a son of Muntu-untu and Rumintu'unan, a grandchild of Toar and Lumimuut, and the younger brother of Rumengan, lord of neighbouring Mount Mahawu; in that account he carried off his brother's wife Kati, whose name was changed from Katiwiey to Katiambilingan, and the brothers duelled with showers of volcanic ash between their two mountains before being reconciled at the spring of Kaimeye, where they swore that no eruption of Lokon or Mahawu would ever cross the boundary they fixed. His name is also borne by one of the ancestral descent groups of Minahasa, and one of the stones of the great leaders around Watu Pinawetengan is remembered as his.