THE Davao City Tourism Operations Office (CTOO) revealed that this year's budget for the Kadayawan Festival is P68 million, with 26 events lined up for Dabawenyos and visitors to enjoy.
CTOO head Willenito Tormis Jr. said during the media launching of the Kadayawan Festival on July 22, 2026, at Acacia Hotel, that the increase in the budget is due to the addition of events as well as the increase in prizes for some of the competitions.
"Actually kaning mga nagbalik na mga events gikan gyud ni siya sa mga comments, gikan kani sa mga ga-ask (Actually, the return of these events really came from the comments from the people who were asking for them)," he said citing how their office listens to what the people want.
Tormis said that they also allocated P700,000 each for the 11 ethnolinguistic tribes for the repair of their tribal houses and their overall participation in the Kadayawan festivities.
The budget for last year's Kadayawan Festival was only P60 million, but it was increased due to an additional P14 million raised from the private sector, bringing the total budget to P74 million.
Tormis said that they expect tourist arrivals for the Kadayawan Festival 2026 to reach about 250,000. This is higher compared to the number of tourist arrivals that the city recorded in 2025, which was 206,506.
He said that they also increased the prizes for the Indak-Indak sa Kadayawan. For the open category, it rose to P1.5 million. This is second to the prize money for the grand champion of Sinulog. For the school-based category, the amount has increased to P1 million.
He said that the number of contenders for the open category has increased to 10. However, the number of contenders for the school-based category has decreased to five. He attributed the decrease in number to the new mandate of the Department of Education (DepEd) that extracurricular activities should be done outside of school hours.
Meanwhile, the Davao City Public Safety and Security Office (PSSO) said that about 19,000 integrated safety and security personnel would be deployed for the month-long Kadayawan Festival 2026.
Angel Sumagaysay, head of the PSSO, said that with the 19,000 integrated personnel, they would have a daily deployment of 700 personnel. Sumagaysay said that they aim to have zero incidents throughout the entirety of the festival.
The festivities will begin with the Misa Pasasalamat on Aug. 6, followed by the Subang Sinugdanan ug Panagtagbo on Aug. 7 and the Pag-Abli sa Kadayawan 2026: The Grand Opening.
One of the most awaited events, the Hiyas sa Kadayawan 2026: The Grand Coronation, will take place on Aug. 13, where candidates representing the city's 11 ethnolinguistic tribes will compete for the crown.
The festival will culminate with the Pamulak ug Indak-Indak sa Kadayawan Parade and the Indak-Indak Grand Showdown on Aug. 16. RGP
