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The Western Bontok of Philippines

The Western Bontok of Philippines, numbering approximately 143,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of the Philippines. They mostly adhere to Roman Catholicism and Northern Kankanay is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Western Bontok

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Philippines
People Cluster: Filipino Tribal
Primary Language(s): Northern Kankanay (xnn)
Primary Religion(s): Roman Catholicism
Population: 143,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG007808
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Pray for the Western Bontok 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.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Roman Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

71%
%
Roman Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Northern Kankanay
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Kankanay, Northern Speakers

Media Resources in Northern Kankanay:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Northern Kankanay:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Northern Kankanay bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Western Bontok 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 Western Bontok:
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 Western Bontok of Philippines

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.
readIsaiah 49:13

Thank the Lord for the people here and ask that His gospel will flow through this land to bring hope to those who are afflicted by the guilt of sin.

O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
readPsalm 104:24

Pray that they will see the wisdom and power of God in His creation and praise Him for His mighty works.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples."
readJohn 8:31

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will abide in Christ daily, depending on Him for every need.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
readRomans 1:16

Pray that God will raise up sons and daughters who, like Paul, will be bold to share the gospel across cultural barriers so that many might receive salvation.

Kankanay, Northern Across Countries (ROP3 - 104587) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Western BontokPG007808Western BontokPhilippines143,000No Longer UnreachedNorthern KankanayRoman Catholicism

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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