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
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Bolinao Sambal of Philippines

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

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

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
readRomans 1:20

As God's creation declares His glory, pray that multitudes who don't know Him will see the works of His hands and desire to know more about the Creator.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!
readPsalm 57:11

Pray that the lost will learn about God's great love and faithfulness so that they might trust in Christ for their salvation.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
readJohn 14:3

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have hope in trials because they know that Jesus will one day take them to be with Him forever.

Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.”
readPsalm 96:10

Pray for God to put in the hearts of believers to go to the lost and testify about the Lord who reigns.

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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