Tawi-Tawi

At the Edge of the Sultanate

Tawi-Tawi's islands were within the sphere of influence of the Sulu Sultanate — the archipelago's southernmost extension of the sultanate's maritime network. The Sama and Bajau peoples who inhabited the islands were not exactly subjects of the sultanate but existed in a relationship of mutual benefit and occasional tension: the sultanate provided protection and trade access, the sea peoples provided labor, fish, and maritime intelligence.

Tawi-Tawi's culture is maritime Islamic at its core. The Sama-Bajau communities — both the land-dwelling Sama and the boat-dwelling Bajau Laut — maintain traditions of music, weaving, and boat-building that represent some of the oldest surviving material culture of maritime Southeast Asia. The province is the living center of the Sama musical tradition.

The Kulintang of Tawi-Tawi

The Sama of Tawi-Tawi share in the gong-ensemble music of the southern Philippines, played at weddings and celebrations. Some islands also keep centuries-old burial grounds with traditional Sama okil carvings of ancestors.

Pangalay Dance — Tawi-Tawi Style

The pangalay, a dance of slow, flowing hand and wrist movements, is performed across the Sulu Archipelago, and Tawi-Tawi's dancers and schools keep it alive at weddings and festivals.

Most of Tawi-Tawi is Muslim, so everyday food is halal and pork is rarely served. The sea provides the primary protein: the rich fisheries of the Sulu and Celebes Seas deliver an extraordinary variety of reef and pelagic fish, with tuna, grouper, snapper, and shellfish forming the base of everyday cooking. Its cooking shares much with the Malay world across the border.

Tausug is the common language of Tawi-Tawi, as across the Sulu Archipelago. Sinama, the language of the Sama, is spoken in several varieties: Sinama Sibutu, Sinama Simunul, Sinama Kapoan and Sinama Banguingui. Chavacano, Cebuano and Yakan are also heard, and many traders speak Sabah Malay. Arabic is used in religious contexts — the mosques, the madrasas, and the Quranic recitation that marks daily life across the province.

Sinama — The Sea Language

Sinama belongs to the Sama-Bajau languages, a branch of the Austronesian family spoken by sea-oriented communities across the southern Philippines, Sabah and eastern Indonesia.

Tawi-Tawi is reached by air from Zamboanga City — a flight of about one hour to Sanga-Sanga Airport near Bongao. Check current travel advisories before you go.

Tawi-Tawi lies where the Sulu Sea meets the Celebes Sea. Tawi-Tawi Island has birds found nowhere else, among them the Tawitawi brown dove and the Sulu hornbill, but forest clearing has left many of them threatened. Bud Bongao's 250-hectare forest is one of the last moist forests in the Sulu Archipelago. Far to the northwest, the Turtle Islands Wildlife Sanctuary protects six islands and about 243,000 hectares of sea on the Malaysian border, where green and hawksbill turtles nest; Baguan Island alone has about 63 percent of the nests.

Green Sea Turtle

Chelonia mydas

Least Concern

The Turtle Islands of Tawi-Tawi are one of the most important green sea turtle nesting sites in Southeast Asia. Turtles return each year to lay eggs on the same beaches. The islands are a protected sanctuary shared with Malaysia. After decades of conservation work, the IUCN Red List moved the species from Endangered to Least Concern worldwide in October 2025.

Field note: Never disturb nesting turtles or dig for eggs. Egg collection is controlled by law and by the sanctuary agreement.

Dugong

Dugong dugon

Vulnerable

The seagrass beds of Tawi-Tawi support dugong, the gentle sea mammal that many believe inspired old mermaid stories. Healthy seagrass is the key to their survival.

Field note: Slow boats over seagrass. Report any stranded or hurt dugong to local authorities.

The Oldest Mosque

According to local tradition, in 1380, more than a century before Magellan reached the islands, an Arab trader and Sufi scholar named Sheikh Karim ul-Makhdum arrived at Simunul in what is now Tawi-Tawi and built a mosque. It is regarded as the first mosque in the Philippine archipelago.

The original mosque was probably built in the pagoda-like style of old Moro mosques. Most of a later building burned in 1941, during the Japanese occupation, and the present domed mosque dates from the 1960s. Four old wooden pillars kept inside have been dated by the National Museum to the 17th century, making them the oldest known Islamic artifacts in the country. Islam reached the islands from the south, with traders and missionaries from Arabia, Persia, India, China and Malacca, long before the Spanish arrived.

The mosque is a National Historical Landmark and a National Cultural Treasure, and the National Historical Commission unveiled a new marker there in November 2023. Some scholars and local leaders have proposed rebuilding it in the traditional Moro style.