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 13–17 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.