Heritage · Bacolod-Kalawi, Lanao del Sur
Kota Kalawi
A Maranao fort on Lake Lanao, the site of a 1903 clash with the US Army and of the first archaeological dig in BARMM.
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Heritage · Tugaya, Lanao del Sur
Tugaya
The brass and craft town of the Maranao, on the western shore of the lake.
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The place
Heritage in Tugaya, Lanao del Sur
The brass and craft town of the Maranao, on the western shore of the lake.
Heritage
One of the guide’s own places.
When to go
December to April, the least rainy months on the lake; May to July are the wettest.
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
Tugaya is where Maranao brass is made — kulintang gong sets, gadur vessels, betel boxes, and the cast and engraved work that carries okir ornament. It is a working craft town rather than a market: the casting, the engraving and the finishing happen in the houses and workshops along the road.
Woodcarving and weaving are here too, and the town is the practical answer to the question of where the objects in the Aga Khan Museum come from.
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Buying directly from a workshop is normal and is the point of coming. Brass is heavy — plan for that before you fall in love with a gadur.
What to do
Watch brass cast by the lost-wax method
Tugaya's foundries cast brass and bronze by the lost-wax method, including the gador, a pair of ornate brass urns; ask before photographing inside a workshop.
en.wikipedia.orgBuy straight from a workshop
Buying direct is the point of coming: prices are negotiated, nothing takes a card, so bring cash, and remember that brass is heavy.
From the guideSee the langkit panels woven for the malong landap
Weavers here use back-strap looms and slow needle-weaving to make langkit panels, which are sewn into the traditional Maranao malong landap.
en.wikipedia.orgSee okir chests inlaid with shell
Workshops under the houses make gongs, drums and baul, wooden chests carved with okir and inlaid with polished tipay shell.
rappler.com
Before you go
- Ask before photographing inside a workshop; it is someone’s livelihood and their technique.
- Prices are negotiated. Bring cash — nothing here takes a card.
- Combine it with the lake circuit rather than making it a separate trip.
Where you’ll be
Tugaya, Lanao del Sur
Sources
Crafts made in Tugaya
Every craft of the region
textileMalong a landapThe malong a landap is the Maranao tube skirt made of broad plain-coloured panels joined by woven langkit bands. Handwoven landap are costly and worn at social functions, and their colours carry rank: yellow for sultans, red for warriors and green for imams.Hiart · CC0Photo by Hiart, CC0. Open the source file.- textileLangkitLangkit are narrow, multicoloured woven strips that join and decorate the panels of a Maranao malong. A trained eye could once tell which part of the Lake Lanao region a person came from by the patterns of their malong and langkit.Hiart · CC0Photo by Hiart, CC0. Open the source file.
brassMaranao brass urnThe gador is a lidded Maranao brass urn, cast in traditional forms and often made in pairs. Its silver-inlaid floral and geometric okir decoration is what sets Maranao brassware apart from that of the rest of island Southeast Asia.Haa900 · CC0Photo by Haa900, CC0. Open the source file.
instrumentKulintangThe kulintang is a row of 5 to 9 small knobbed gongs laid on a frame and played as the melody of an ensemble with larger hanging gongs and a drum. There is no fixed tuning, so every set has its own pitch, intervals and tone.P1898 · CC BY 4.0Photo by P1898, CC BY 4.0. Open the source file.
Where to sleep in Lanao del Sur
- No photo of this hotel yet
hotel
Ranaw Business Hotel
Marawi
Business hotel used for MSSD events in Marawi, October 2026
mssd.barmm.gov.ph · as of 2026-10 - No photo of this hotel yet
hotel
Samsara Palace Hotel and Event
Mapandi Bridge, Lilod Saduc, Marawi City
Hotel and events venue listed by the Bangsamoro Parliament, July 2026
parliament.bangsamoro.gov.ph · as of 2026-07 - No photo of this hotel yet
hotel
Santorini Hotel, Garden Cafe and Events Place
Heaven Road, Marawi City
Hotel with a garden cafe and events place, listed by the Bangsamoro Parliament, November 2024
parliament.bangsamoro.gov.ph · as of 2024-11 - No photo of this resort yet
resort
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
Named where a public source names them; no rates or availability. Ask the place directly.
More to see nearby
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Mount Matampor
A peak of the Gurain Range in Balindong with a campsite over Lake Lanao and Mount Ragang.
Memory · Bayang, Lanao del Sur
Padang Karbala
The field in Bayang where the Sultan of Bayang and his followers made their last stand against American forces in May 1902.
Lake · Pualas, Lanao del Sur
Lake Dapao
A deep lake south-west of Lake Lanao, up to 120 metres deep and protected as a national park since 1965.