Kaamulan Festival

The Kaamulan is anything but contrived. It all began in 1974. It was the fiesta of Malaybalay, May 15, in honor of San Isidro Labrador. The town's vice mayor then, Edilberto Mamawag, thought of inviting some indigenous Bukidnon tribespeople to town. Mamawag thought a few dance steps by the natives at Plaza Rizal would enliven the fiesta-goers. 

That simple idea caught fire. A former reporter for the Manila Times, Mamawag had at that time a guest Manila reporter who later wrote about it for a national magazine. That signaled the start of Kaamulan's fame. One year led to another. On Sept. 16, 1977, the Regional Development Council adopted Kaamulan as the regional festival of northern Mindanao.
By then, Mamawag was already the municipal mayor of Malaybalay (now a city). Although born of Ilocano parents who, like many others, settled on the cool mountain plateaus of Bukidnon, Mamawag married a Higaunon girl, Eden Suclatan Tan-Nery, who was a descendant of Datu Mansiagnao. But there was also a pure-blooded Higaunon in the municipal council, Pepita Caterial Ongkiatco (many of the natives had adapted to the surnames of the migrant culture since Hispanic times).

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