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Torogan

The Torogan or Bahay Lakan in Tagalog) is a type of house indigenous to Luzon Areas Visayas and Lanao, Mindanao, Philippines.

A torogan is no ordinary home Specially to a regular Maranaw family because it was a symbol of high social status. Such a residence was once a home to a sultan or Datu in the Maranaw community. Nowadays, concrete houses are found all over Maranaw communities, but there remain torogans a hundred years old. The best-known are torogans in Dayawan, Marawi City and some others located around Lake Lanao.

A torogan is elevated above the ground by its columns cut from trees of huge girth. Its walls are covered with plywood sticks and the roof thatched with dried coconut leaves. There is no interior partition, so it appears as a huge hall. Apart from the basic elements of this structure, it is intricately engraved with the flowing geometries of the Maranaw design system called okir. A torogan will never be complete without the legendary bird, Sarimanok being displayed inside. Furniture is also common among Maranaws.

The Kawayan Torogan built by Sultan sa Kawayan Makaantal in Bubung Malanding, Marantao, Lanao del Sur, the last remaining habitable torogan, was declared as a National Cultural Treasure by the National Museum of the Philippines in 2008.