Now in its second year, Cagayan de Oro pauses each September to remember something easy to overlook in the rush of daily life: this city is a city of makers. Bulawanong Bahandi 2026 prepares the local celebration of Philippine Creative Industries Month, having spent the past few weeks proving exactly that, filling stages, parks, and galleries with the work of Kagay-anon artists, writers, designers, and craftspeople.

The celebration is organized by the City Government of Cagayan de Oro through the Oro Trade and Investment Promotion Center (ORO-TIPC), in partnership with the Kagay-an Misamis Creative Council (KAMI) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Misamis Oriental.

The Council Behind the Celebration

Bulawanong Bahandi does not happen by accident. Behind it stands the Kagay-an Misamis (KaMi) Creative Council, a collaborative organization formed in 2023 to promote, organize, and advance the creative industries and local artists across Cagayan de Oro City and Misamis Oriental.

KaMi was built to fulfill the mandates of the Philippine Creative Industries Development Act (PCIDA), and its structure reflects that seriousness of purpose. The council works closely with local government units, ORO-TIPC, and DTI Misamis Oriental to empower creative micro, small, and medium enterprises, map the region's creative ecosystem, and deliver legal and business training such as intellectual property seminars for practitioners who need it most. Beyond Bulawanong Bahandi, the council also helps spearhead MADE in CDO, the Makers, Artists and Artisans Design Exposition, giving the region's creative economy more than one moment in the spotlight each year.

The council is chaired, ex officio, by DTI Misamis Oriental under Provincial Director Jesse Abear, with Christopher "Chris" Gomez, a multi-disciplinary artist, design educator, and entrepreneur, serving as co-chairperson. From there, leadership fans out across nine creative domains, each helmed by a private sector head drawn from the field itself:

• Design — Christopher Gomez, concurrently serving as council co-chair
• Publishing and Printed Media — Michael C. Abonitalla, blogger behind itsChada.com and NegosyoIdeas.com, and co-founder and chairman of the Cagayan de Oro Bloggers Network (CDOBloggers, Inc.)
• Digital Interactive Media — Pam Navarro-Salon
• Creative Services — Alamarco Brito, President of OROChamber
• Performing Arts — Dr. Hobart Savior
• Traditional Cultural Expressions — Jerome de la Fuente, hotel manager of Limketkai Luxe Hotel and president of COHARA
• Cultural Sites — Oscar Floirendo
• Visual Arts — Michael E. Bacol, acclaimed Mindanawon painter and sculptor, active in exhibits such as Panagtigum and Bulawanong Bahandi
• Audiovisual Media — Donna Ocampo, overseeing the region's film, photography, and broadcasting segments

It is this structure, government mandate paired with practitioner leadership, that gives Bulawanong Bahandi its depth. The programming is not curated from the outside looking in. It is built by the very people who work in these fields every day.

Clay as This Year's Thread

If Bulawanong Bahandi 2026 had a signature material, it would be terracotta, and the choice was never arbitrary. Long before it became a festival theme, terracotta was already a livelihood in Barangay Bulua, home to a pottery industry that has shaped the barangay's identity for generations. Among the people who carry that history forward is Tony Glema, a pottery maker who grew up around the craft because his family has been in the business for as long as he can remember. His hands learned clay the way other children learn language, early, at home, without ceremony, simply because it was what the family did.

That lineage is what gave this year's programming its weight. Artekultura and 'Tive Talks on Terracotta did not just showcase clay as an art form. They traced it back to Bulua, to the families who kept the trade alive through generations when it would have been easier to let it fade, and to the quiet economic reality that pottery has long been more than a craft in this part of Cagayan de Oro. It has been a way to make a living.

Highlights of the Month

CDO People's Gala

On September 17, the Cagayan de Oro City Amphitheater turned into a runway for local fashion, headlined by the Tela Mindanao Collection from designer Gil Macaibay III, performances by Oro Theatro Bulawanon, Metropolitan Kagay-an Orchestra, among other groups of talented performers in the city.

Lunhaw Art Expo and Workshops

Divisoria Park and Lunhaw Park spent September 17 and 18 humming with activity, two days of interactive workshops and showcases that pulled creatives and residents alike into the middle of the celebration.

As Domain Head of Publishing and Printed Media under the KAMI Creative Council, Michael Abonitalla led two workshops during the Lunhaw Art Expo: How to Publish Your Book, presented by Mike Baños, and The Art of Zine Making, presented by Nadine Legaspi

The evening of September 18 closed with a poetry night in partnership with NAGMAC, the Nagkahiusang Manunulat sa Cagayan de Oro, giving the city's writers a room of their own for a night.

Higalaay Art Gallery Walk

At the Limketkai Luxe Hotel, an ongoing exhibit running through November 2026 gives local artists a stage that outlasts the festival itself, a slower, longer look at Kagay-anon craftsmanship.

Complete Event Timeline

September 11 - Official Press Launch Livestream - 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM, City Information Office

September 12 - ArteKultura 19 ft. 'Tive Talks on Terracotta - 1:00 PM, Xavier University Little Theatre

An immersive exploration into the history, visual media, and modern innovation of local terracotta clay, featuring:

• Mr. Antonio C. Glema on the Terracotta of CDO and the History of Bulua
• Mr. Michael E. Bacol on Terracotta as a Medium for Visual Arts
• Dr. Franch Maverick A. Lorilla on Terracotta as an Enterprise and Innovation

September 16 — World Premiere of the KAMI Creative Showcase 2026 AVP streamed on the KAMI Creative Council Facebook page

Lunhaw Art Expo and Gama Workshops

September 17 to 18 - 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM, Divisoria Park and Lunhaw Park

Day 1 featured a welcome parade, heritage map launch, musical theatre and podcast workshops, terracotta sculpting, web development sessions, a Mobile Legends tournament, and evening film screenings.

Day 2 brought Hosting 101, pop dance, painting, paperclay bowl workshops, zine making, the NAGMAC poetry night, filmmaker talks, a grand film showcase, and the CDO People's Gala.

Higalaay Art Gallery Walk

Higalaay Art Gallery Walk is now ongoing opened last September 23, 2026, at the Limketkai Luxe Hotel. The exhibition is ongoing until November 2026, celebrating world-class Kagay-anon artistry and craftsmanship.

What Bulawanong Bahandi 2026 makes clear is that Cagayan de Oro's creative economy is no longer an informal collection of individual talents. It has a council, nine domains, a mandate, and a growing calendar of events built to match. With terracotta as this year's unifying material, rooted in the generations of pottery families in Bulua, and a leadership bench drawn straight from the city's working artists, designers, and cultural stewards, the celebration points to something sturdier than a single September. It points to infrastructure, the kind that turns creative work from a hobby into an economy, one workshop, gallery walk, and gala at a time.