Tacurong City Charter Day in the Philippines Date in the current year: September 18, 2024

Tacurong is a fourth-class component city in the Philippine province of Sultan Kudarat on the island of Mindanao. Despite having the smallest land area among the province’s twelve municipalities and cities, Tacurong is the most populous of them all.

The original name of the area was Pamasang after a creek that crosses it from south to north. According to some sources, the word pamasan means “to buy” in one of the indigenous languages. The creek and neighboring settlement received such a name because trades used to meet there to barter goods.

The settlement was renamed Tacurong at some later point. The origin of the new name is unclear. According to the most popular theory, it is derived from the word talakudong, which means a traditional head covering that was worn by people in the area. Talakudong was eventually shortened to Tacurong, and that is how the city’s current name came to be.

Tacurong used to be a barangay of the municipality of Buluan, created in 1947 as one of the municipalities in the province of Cotabato. Tacurong was split from Buluan and became a separate municipality on August 3, 1951. At the time, it consisted of 14 barangays, but some portions of the town were later split from it to form the municipality of Tantangan in 1961 and the municipality of President Quirino in 1973. The province of Sultan Kudarat was created in 1973, and even though Isulan was designated as its capital, Tacurong was its major town.

Thanks to the efforts of Congressman Angelo O. Montilla, Tacurong became the first component city in Sultan Kudarat. The corresponding bill was passed on August 16, 2000, and the residents of Tacurong officially confirmed its cityhood in a plebiscite that was held a little over a month later, on September 18.

The anniversary of the plebiscite that confirmed the conversion of Tacurong into a city is celebrated as Tacurong City Charter Day. The celebration is also known as Talakudong Festival; it lasts for a whole week, culminating on September 18. Festivities include many exciting events and activities such as street dancing, parades, ceremonies, sports competitions, talent contests, cultural shows, art exhibitions, agricultural fairs, a beauty pageant, a pet show, a motorcade, various workshops, street parties, and more.