CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — On May 11, 2026, the City Tourism Hall became more than a venue. It became a living map. Artists, cultural workers, theater directors, digital designers, publishers, and government agencies gathered for "Panagtigum 2026: Mapping the Creative Ecosystem," a multi-sectoral summit designed to chart the future of the creative industries across Cagayan de Oro City and Misamis Oriental. The event was not a conference in the passive sense. It was a month-long dialogue's opening salvo—one that positions the city's creative talent as a primary tourism asset.
The summit, whose name means "gathering" in the local language, brought together practitioners from seven creative domains: performing arts, visual arts, audiovisual media, digital interactive media, design, publishing, and traditional cultural expressions. Oro Trade and Investment Promotion Center (Oro-TIPC) and the City Tourism and Cultural Affairs Office (CTCAO) co-organized the event with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Kagay-an Misamis Creative Council (KaMi Creative). "This is the best venue for all of us, young aspiring artists, mid-career practitioners, and established creatives alike, to engage, ask, and collaborate," said Chris Gomez, co-chair of KaMi Creative.
A Law, A Plan, and A City Ready to Execute
DTI Misamis Oriental Provincial Director Jesusa Abear anchored the summit in national policy. She cited Republic Act No. 11904, the Philippine Creative Industries Development Act, which seeks to strengthen the country's creative economy by protecting intellectual property and fostering globally competitive creative sectors. She also pointed to the Philippine Creative Industries Development Plan 2025–2034, which President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. directed for implementation through Memorandum Circular No. 103, signed in October 2025.
The 10-year roadmap envisions the Philippines as Asia's premier creative hub, targeting music, film, design, crafts, and digital media. Abear noted that the creative sector's contribution extends beyond cultural expression into employment generation, digital transformation, and the preservation of cultural heritage. For Cagayan de Oro, a city that has declared its ambition to reclaim its status as Mindanao's MICE capital, the alignment of local creative mapping with national creative policy is a strategic convergence. The city's new Tourism Development Plan for 2026–2029 explicitly focuses on revitalizing its MICE branding, with City Tourism Officer Mark Jalapadan noting that the city can host 25,000 to 50,000 visitors at any given time.
A Month-Long Dialogue That Begins with a Map
Local Economic Development and Investment Promotions Officer John Asuncion described Panagtigum as the beginning of a sustained consultation process. "We have a lot of things planned for this industry," he said, adding that the city government intends to continue consulting creatives in developing future programs and support mechanisms. Mapping the region's creative ecosystem, he explained, would help the government identify the sector's strengths, challenges, and opportunities while improving support systems for practitioners.
The summit format was deliberately interactive. Rather than a series of lectures, the event featured pocket meetings that allowed creative teams from various fields to connect and explore collaboration. Theater director and playwright Tat Soriano captured the summit's collaborative spirit. "One thing that makes this event special is that it gives opportunities for performing arts groups to really collaborate and synergize rather than have the groups in competition with one another," he said. Councilors George Christopher Goking, who chairs the 21st City Council's trade and commerce committee, and Maximo "Jonjon" Rodriguez III also attended, signaling legislative support for the creative sector.
From Creative Mapping to Creative Tourism
The tourism logic behind Panagtigum is straightforward. Cultural tourists—a growing segment of the global travel market—seek destinations that offer authentic encounters with local art, music, crafts, and performance. A city that has mapped its creative ecosystem can package those assets into marketable tourism products. The summit included professionals in creative services such as branding, marketing, and content creation, as well as cultural sites like museums, historical landmarks, and heritage tourism operators—precisely the infrastructure that converts creative output into visitor experience.
DOT-10 Director Ellaine Marie Unchuan recently declared Cagayan de Oro "ready for world-class events" following the success of the Mindanao Tourism Expo in late April. The expo reintroduced Mindanao's tourism circuits to operators from across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, and drew praise from Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco. Panagtigum adds a creative-industry dimension to that readiness. By organizing its artists, designers, and performers into a coherent, government-supported ecosystem, Cagayan de Oro is building the cultural content that fills hotel lobbies, convention stages, festival grounds, and museum galleries.
The summit also aligns with the city's broader investment promotion strategy. The newly reconstituted Local Investment and Incentives Board, chaired by Mayor Rolando A. Uy, convened in March 2026 to accelerate business development. The creative sector, which generated over ₱561 million in revenue and created more than 951 jobs through the CDO b.i.t.e.s. startup program at USTP alone, now sits squarely within that investment agenda. For the tourist arriving in Cagayan de Oro in the years ahead, Panagtigum 2026 will be remembered as the moment the city decided that its creative soul was worth mapping—and worth sharing with the world.
