Torogan

The panolong are usually intricately carved with niyaga (also transcribed as naga or niaga, a mythical sea serpent) with open mouths, and other flowing okir designs.

The narrow windows and doors are traditionally opened and closed by sliding them to the left or right along a wooden channel, a design type called sinongod.

During night time, mattresses (made from straw and woven mats) and pillows are brought out and the interior is separated into "rooms" for sleeping by hand-embroidered colorful cloth dividers, rattan or split-bamboo screens, and thick bed curtains (kolambo, which also serve as mosquito nets) for privacy.

Each "room" is bordered inside the cloth dividers with rows of wooden chests, brassware (gador), porcelain (solang), and other furniture which serve as containers for personal belongings (including weapons), artwork, food, and water.

[1] During daytime, most of the beds and dividers are cleared and the space is used for working (like weaving textiles), eating, praying, or meeting visitors.

A kitchen area is located at the back of the torogan, with the floor about half a meter lower than the rest of the space.

Baskets with covers (called balengkat) are also hung on horizontal bamboo poles (tabak) on one side of the kitchen, and are used as food storage.

Water for cooking and drinking is stored on bamboo containers called laya which are hung on the kitchen walls.

The torogan also has an internal bathroom which is simply an enclosed space with a narrow slit on the floor and a clay jar of water.

The area beneath the main floor is called the dorung, which is also used for various purposes like storage or keeping domestic animals.

[1] Torogan are pre-colonial and date to before the conversion of the Maranao people to Islam (which happened during the Spanish colonial period).

Favored guests, on the other hand, are usually invited to sit or lie down on the mattress itself (the sendigan), which is regarded as a place of honor.

However, Las Casas Filipinas has defended the relocations as the only way to restore and preserve the heritage houses for future generations, which in most cases were neglected and decaying in their original locations.