Rodeo Masbateño
Every April, Masbate City stops being a quiet port town. Bulls, horses, lassos and thousands of spectators pour into the Rodeo Grand Arena: a purpose-built, ~4,000-seat rodeo stadium, the only one of its kind in Asia, for the country's one true rodeo.
Why Masbate?
Cattle came to these islands in the Spanish era, 1880s herds around what is now Cataingan, and never left. Ranches still cover a huge share of the province, with tens of thousands of head on some 130 ranches. In 2002, a presidential executive order made it official: Masbate is the Rodeo Capital of the Philippines.
The festival itself was born in 1993, dreamed up by the local civic group MAKUSOG to revive a struggling cattle industry. Three decades later it's the province's biggest week of the year: the 30th edition ran 13 to 17 April 2026, with professional teams and student teams from universities across the country (and a visit from the First Lady, for good measure).
What actually happens
The real thing, not a show: bull riding, casting down (cattle wrestling), lassoing, cattle handling and the gloriously chaotic carambola, a mass cattle-catching free-for-all. Both professional and collegiate divisions compete, and the women's divisions are a point of pride. Around the arena: a grand parade, street barn-dancing, beef cook-offs, trade fairs and cattle auctions.
Planning your visit
- When: annually in April, exact dates are announced by Rodeo Masbateño Inc. a few months out; check before booking.
- Where: Rodeo Grand Arena, Masbate City, near the provincial grandstand.
- Book everything early. The city's limited hotel stock sells out for Rodeo week. Reserve rooms and transport well ahead, and expect festival pricing.
- Getting there: flights via Clark or Cebu, ferry from Pilar, or direct bus from Manila, see Getting here.
Come for the carambola, stay for the strange, wonderful sight of a Philippine island province that is also, sincerely, cowboy country.