Heritage · Marantao, Lanao del Sur

Kawayan Torogan

A declared National Cultural Treasure, and the last torogan of its kind.

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The place

Heritage in Marantao, Lanao del Sur

A declared National Cultural Treasure, and the last torogan of its kind.

Heritage
One of the guide’s own places.
Safety in Lanao del Sur
The security picture here is more variable than in Cotabato City or Tawi-Tawi, and it moves. Marawi itself is visited, but travel is best arranged through local contacts, the city tourism office, or MSU, and some outlying municipalities are best left off an itinerary without current local advice. This is the area where asking on the ground matters most, and where a plan made from a distance is least reliable.

About this place

The torogan is the Maranao royal house: a raised timber hall on massive posts, with the panolong — the carved beam ends that project from the facade like wings — as its defining feature. It was a datu’s residence and the seat of his authority, and very few survive.

The Kawayan Torogan at Marantao, built for Sultan sa Kawayan, is a declared National Cultural Treasure and the most intact example left. Its condition has been a long-running concern and restoration has been intermittent.

Seeing one standing, rather than a panolong in a museum case, changes how the ornament reads. The carving is architecture, not decoration.

What to do

Arrange a visit with the family that holds the house
The house is privately connected to the family that holds it, so arrange your visit locally, and expect that parts of it may be closed.
From the guide
Look at the carved panolong beam ends
The butterfly-shaped beam ends are carved in turn with the naga (serpent) and the pako rabong (growing fern), the classic Maranao okir motifs.
en.wikipedia.org
See the posts set on boulders
The house stands on huge tree-trunk posts resting on rounded boulders, so that it can move without falling in an earthquake and is protected from rot and termites.
en.wikipedia.org

Before you go

Privately connected to the family that holds it. Arrange a visit locally rather than turning up.
Condition varies and parts may not be enterable.

Where you’ll be

Marantao, Lanao del Sur

Sources

Crafts made in Marantao

Every craft of the region

carvingTorogan panolongPanolong are the large wing-like carved beam-ends that jut from the front of a torogan, the Maranao royal house. Modelled on the prows of Maranao boats, they make the house look like a royal vessel and are carved with the naga sea serpent and other okir.Nikka Cunom · CC BY 2.0Photo by Nikka Cunom, CC BY 2.0. Open the source file.

Where to sleep in Lanao del Sur

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mssd.barmm.gov.ph · as of 2026-10
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parliament.bangsamoro.gov.ph · as of 2026-07
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parliament.bangsamoro.gov.ph · as of 2024-11
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Lake View Resort
Timbangalan, Marawi City
Lakeside resort above Lake Lanao; hosted an MPOS livelihood training, May 2024
mpos.bangsamoro.gov.ph · as of 2024-05