The Dibabawon Manobo of Philippines

The Dibabawon Manobo of Philippines, numbering approximately 13,500 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are described as an ethnolinguistic community of the Philippines They are an Indigenous people, with Manobo as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Filipino Tribal people cluster of the Malay Peoples. Their primary religion is Animism. They primarily speak Manobo, Dibabawon.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Dibabawon Manobo

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Philippines
People Cluster: Filipino Tribal
Primary Language(s): Manobo, Dibabawon (mbd)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 13,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG007666
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Pray for the Dibabawon Manobo 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: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

91%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Manobo, Dibabawon
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Manobo, Dibabawon Speakers

Media Resources in Manobo, Dibabawon:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Manobo, Dibabawon:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Manobo, Dibabawon bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Dibabawon Manobo 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 Dibabawon Manobo:
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 Dibabawon Manobo of Philippines

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
readJohn 3:19

Pray that God will have mercy on those who love the darkness they are walking in and turn from their sin to faith in Christ.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
read2 Timothy 4:3-4

Pray that the lost will be open to the truth of the gospel and turn from false teachings and myths to the sound doctrine of Christ in faith.

Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.
readExodus 4:12

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, God will equip them with the words and wisdom to proclaim His message effectively.

To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.
read1 Corinthians 9:22

Ask God to raise up believers from around the world to go and share the hope of Jesus with the lost so that they might trust in Him and have the hope of eternal life.

Manobo, Dibabawon Across Countries (ROP3 - 102594) 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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