The Bolinao Sambal of Philippines

The Bolinao Sambal of Philippines, numbering approximately 71,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an indigenous Bolinawnon community of western Pangasinan centered in Bolinao and Anda, whose Bolinao language belongs to the Sambalic group of Central Luzon languages. They mostly adhere to Roman Catholicism and Bolinao is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Bolinao Sambal

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Philippines
People Cluster: Filipino Tribal
Primary Language(s): Bolinao (smk)
Primary Religion(s): Roman Catholicism
Population: 71,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG007643
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Pray for the Bolinao Sambal of Philippines

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Roman Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

66%
%
Roman Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Bolinao
Language Family: Austronesian

69%
%
Bolinao Speakers

Media Resources in Bolinao:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Bolinao:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Bolinao bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Bolinao Sambal are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Bolinao Sambal:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Bolinao Sambal of Philippines

Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.
readMark 10:15

Pray for those who might be trapped in pride, that God will humble them and give them a childlike faith and complete dependence on Him through faith in Christ.

And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed"
readGalatians 3:8

Ask the Lord to fulfill His promise to Abraham that all nations would be blessed by advancing the gospel to every people group who has yet to receive it.

The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
readLamentations 3:25

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will trust in the goodness of the Lord as they wait on Him to answer their cries for help.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
readHebrews 4:12

Pray that God will make His living and active Word available to everyone in this people group so that many will respond to the gospel. Ask Him to provide Jesus-followers to walk with new believers as they grow in Him.

Sambal, Bolinao Across Countries (ROP3 - 101566) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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