it was reported in 2004 that some Muslim groups asserted that the proper number was

between eight and twelve percent.10]As of 2020,the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos
(NCMF) estimated a figure of 4-5 percent, attributing the difference to a number of factors.!11)
They facilitated the formation of sultanates and conquests in mainland Mindanao and
Sulu.4Those who converted to Islam came to be known as the Moros,with Muslim conquest
reaching as far as Tondo that was later supplanted by Bruneian Empire vassal-state of Maynila.
subsequent Spanish conquest led to Catholic Christianity becoming the predominant
religion in most of the modern-day Philippines,with Islam becoming a significant minority
religion.[78]
I5 Muslim sultanates had already begun expanding in the central Philippines by the 16th
century,when the Spanish fleet led by Ferdinand Magellan arrived. By the next century
conquests had reached Sulu islands in southern tip of the Philippines where the population was
Buddhist and Hindu and they took up the task of converting the animistic population to Islam
with renewed zeal. In 1390, Minangkabau Prince Rajah Baginda and his followers preached
Islam on the islands [14115]The Sheik Karimul Makhdum Mosque was the first mosque
established in the Philippines on Simunul in Mindanao in the 14th century.115] Subsequent
settlements by Indian Muslim missionaries traveling to Malaysia and Indonesia helped
strengthen Islam in the Philippines and each settlement was govemed by a datu,rajah and
sultan. When Spanish fleet led by Miguel López de Legazpi amived in the Philippines in
1565,they were met by local datus as they traveled in the islands. By 15th century,half of
Luzon(Northern Philippines) and islands of Mindanao in the south had become subject to
various Muslim sultanates of Bomeo and much of the population in the almost of South were
converted to Islam. These frequent attacks gave way to naming present-day Cebu as then-
Sugbo or scorched earth which was a defensive technique implemented by the Visayans so the
pirates had nothing much to loot.[1617] One reason could be economic and political disasters
pre-european Muslim pirates from Mindanao region brought during raids.
The extent of the Bruneian Empire and the spread of Islam in Southeast Asia in the 15th
century
The Muslim Bruneian Empire under the rule of Sultan Bolkiah,who is an ancestor of the current
Sultan of Brunei subjugated Tondo,which was ruled by Rajah Sukwu during 1500.The aftermath
of the battle was the formation of an alliance between the newly established Kingdom of
Guihulngan(Selurong)&Bruneian Empire to crush the power of Tondo and subsequent
installation of the Pro-Islamic Rajah Sulaiman into power. Furthermore,Sultan Bolkiah's victory
over Sulu and Seludong (Manila)20] as well as his marriages to Laila Mecanai the daughter of
Sulu Sultan Amir al-Ombra (uncle of Sharifa Mahandun married to Nakhoda Angging or
Maharaja Anddin of Sulu),&to daughter of Datu Kemin,widened Brunei's influence in
Philippines.[21]
A new dynasty began under a local Lumad leader who accepted Islam and became Rajah Salalila
or Rajah Sulayman I.He also started to established a trading challenge to the already rich House
of Rajah Lakandula in Tondo. These Muslims supposedly followed the Badjao school in the
Chinese language.4This Chinese Muslim community was led by Hajji Yan Ying Yu,who urged his
followers to assimilate and take local names.
The violent armed struggle against Spanish, Americans,Japanese & Filipinos is considered by
current Moro (Muslim) leaders as part of the four centuries long "national liberation
movement" of Bangsamoro (Muslim Nation).The 400-year-long resistance against the
Japanese,Filipinos,Americans,and Spanish by the Morol Muslims persisted and morphed into
their current war for independence against Philippine state.31] Muslim leaders in Zamboanga
petitioned the Ottoman Empire to send representative to advise them on religious matters.
Spanish encounter
Rajah Sulayman was the Rajah of Maynila, a polity at the mouth of the Pasig River where it
meets Manila Bay,at the time the Spanish forces first came to Luzon.[2526127] Sulayman
resisted the Spanish forces,and thus,along with Rajah Matanda and Lakan Dula,was one of
three Rajahs who played significant roles in what was the Spanish conquest of their polities of
the Pasig River delta in the earty 1570s.[2] Moro(derived from the Spanish word meaning
Moors) is the appellation inherited from the Spaniards,for Filipino Muslims of Mindanao. The
term Bangsamoro is a combination of an Old Malay word meaning nation or state with the
Spanish word Moro which means Muslim. Islam continued to spread in Mindanao,from centers
such as Sulu and Cotabato.2
The Muslims seek to establish an independent Islamic province in Mindanao to be named
Bangsamoro.
The Moros have history of resistance against Spanish,American,&Japanese rule for over 400
years.
The research included the 'Maradika' Qur'an of Bayang, description of the notes found in the
Qur'an of Bayang,the Qur'an and Islamic manuscripts of the Sheikh Ahmad Bashir collection,the
'Dibolodan' Qur'an of Bacong in Marantao,the Qur'an and prayer scroll of Guro sa
Modem age
In 2012,research was conducted on various cultural properties in Islamic areas in Mindanao.
A campaign to faithfully re-establish it in Maimbung town has been ongoing since 1933.A very
small replica of the palace was made in a nearby town in the 2010s,but it was noted that the
replica does not mean that the campaign to reconstruct the palace in Maimbung has stopped
as the replica does not manifest the true essence of a Sulu royal palace. The regional capital is
at Cotabato City,which is outside the jurisdiction of the former and defunct Autonomous Region
in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) but is now part of the Bangsamoro region after the majority of
the residents voted in favor for their inclusion in the autonomous region in the ratification of
the Bangsamoro Organic Law on January 21,2019.4 Other provinces and regions with large
Muslim populations as well have a significant history with Moro or Muslims include North
Cotabato,Bicol Region,Eastern Visayas,South Cotabato,Sultan Kudarat& Zamboanga Peninsula.
Almost all Sulu royals who have died since the 19th century up to the present have been buried
around the palace grounds.40414243]
BANGSAMORO REGION
Most Muslims in the Philippines live on the island of Mindanao,the Sulu Archipelago and
Palawan.
Bangsa Sug and Bangsa Moro
In 2018,a unification gathering of all sultans of theSulu archipelago and representatives from all
ethnic communities in the Sulu archipelago commenced in Zamboanga City, declaring
themselves as the Bangsa Sug peoples and separating them from the Bangsa Moro peoples of
mainland central Mindanao.
Balik Islam
There is also a growing community of Filipino converts to lslam known popularly as Balik Islam
(retum or retumees to Islam),often led by former Christian missionary converts.373839 At the
end of 2014,NCMF estimated there were 200,000-2,000,000 Filipinos who converted to Islam
since the 1970s Darul Jambangan(Palace of Flowers) in Maimbung,Sulu before it was destroyed
by a typhoon in 1932. They also called the govemment to establish a separate Philippine
state,called Bangsa Sug, from mainland Bangsa Moro or to incorporate the Sulu archipelago to
whatever state is formed in the Zamboanga peninsula, if ever federalism in the Philippines is
approved in coming years.] The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
(BARMM) is the region of the Philippines that is composed of all the Philippines' predominantly
Muslim provinces,namely: Basilan (except Isabela City),Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao,Sulu and
Tawi-Tawi.