Masbate's cowboy festival: Pinoy and wildly western at the same time

For most people, the cowboy is a foreign, distinctly all-American symbol. What usually comes to mind is John Wayne, the Marlboro Man, Buffalo Bill, the Wild West.

But for the people of Masbate, the cowboy is more familiar than foreign. As the Philippines' version of cattle country with a cattle population numbering over 54,000 and as many as 30 ranches, it’s not unusual for locals to grow up learning to ride horses and herd cattle.

“Of course, I grew up here,” quipped a local when asked if she knew how to ride a horse.

Naturally, the biggest event of the year for Masbateños, bigger even than Christmas or New Year, is the Rodeo Festival, which opened last April 9 at the rodeo arena right in the heart of Masbate City.

Masbateños all dressed up in their finest western duds for the Rodeo Festival. GMANews.TV

Though among the lesser-known of the country’s festivals, a relatively large crowd, nevertheless, lined the streets for the opening parade and waited patiently in the heat of the bleachers for the events to begin.

It was action-packed from the beginning. It opened formally with a ceremonial cattle branding, which isn't as simple as it sounds. The cows that were to be branded could not be simply made to lie down. Even before the competition started, participants had already wrestled two cows to the ground and tied them up for the branding.

From that point on, there was barely a dull moment, especially for those who saw the rodeo for the first time. Among the events were cattle wrestling, casting down, two-person and four-person carambola, and bull riding. The latter, for the first time this year, included women competitors.

This year's bull riding event featured, for the first time in the history of the Masbate Rodeo, a female competitor. GMANews.TV

The events themselves were shocking to see for the first-time spectator, who will no doubt gasp at the apparent danger contestants are in every time they step into the arena. But according to rodeo director Leo Gozum, these are activities that ranch workers and cow hands do on a regular basis.

“It’s a ranch rodeo, yung term. Kasi practice sa rancho yung nilalaro,” Gozum said.

Get along li'l doggie! Masbate's Rodeo Festival features the expected competitions like bulldogging, bullriding and roping. GMANews.TV

This is the characteristic of the Rodeo Masbateño that sets it apart from others, giving a Filipino flavor that differentiates it from the American practice.

“Basically ang rodeo dito, hindi katulad sa US na yung show nila sa Las Vegas. Dito kung ano yung pang-araw-araw na ginawa sa rancho, yun din yung ginawa nating competition,” he explained.

“Ang sa US, iilang events lang: roping, bulldogging, atsaka bullriding,” he added.

Rodeo Masbateño president Judge Manuel Sese added that the Filipino rodeo is also different because it involves groups of cowboys working together.

“Dito, team-based kasi. Doon, individual ang pagsali. That’s one difference,” he said.

What sets Masbate's rodeo apart from its American version is that Filipino rodeo events are team efforts. GMANews.TV

There is also a difference in the animals that they use. As Gozum explained, the European breeds from the American rodeo are more docile than the Asian breeds they use locally.

“Tsaka we are using the small animals. Probably they are more on style, walang struggle between the animal and the cowboy. Dito naman, parang paligsahan sa cowboy atsaka sa animal,” Sese added.

And indeed, while the idea of a rodeo feels so foreign, at the arena, it feels exactly like the Philippines--where the heat sears and the people laugh and quip relentlessly in Masbateño and Cebuano and Tagalog.

At the end of the opening day, the image of the quintessential American cowboy faded like a cowboy riding his horse off into the sunset. In Masbate, the cowboy is brown and smiling, Filipino for sure, and here to stay. — DVM/HS, GMA News

The Rodeo Masbateño will run at the Rodeo Arena in Masbate City until April 13. Entrance costs P20.