104 places · 7 areas

Places of the Bangsamoro

Islands and white sand, lakes in the highlands, mosques, falls and the old forts and houses of the sultanates: what is there, how to get there, and what to know before you go.

Ervin Malicdem · CC BY-SA 4.0Photo by Ervin Malicdem, CC BY-SA 4.0. Open the source file.

Beaches 6

Islands 11

Mosques 10

Lakes 5

Falls 5

Mountains 7

Nature 21

Heritage 22

Museums 5

Cities 2

Markets 2

Memory 8

Every place is traced to the pages it came from, and the guide’s own entries are the travel workspace’s. Photos are from Wikimedia Commons or English Wikipedia under free licences, each credited on the photo. 7 areas: Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte and del Sur, Tawi-Tawi, Cotabato City and the Special Geographic Area.

Get involved

Public records get betterwhen people check them.

Spotted an error, or have a document worth adding? Every correction and every source makes the record stronger — and the official source is always right where we are wrong.

The white Taviran mosque with its tiered roof, on a grassy rise among palms.

Places · Mosque

Masjid Datu Untong Balabaran

Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte

Also known as Taviran Mosque

Marwan Khan · CC BY 2.0Photo by Marwan Khan, CC BY 2.0. Open the source file.

Overview

A tiered, pagoda-style mosque in Taviran, one of the last of its kind in the Philippines.

Before the domed Arabian style arrived with pilgrims returning from Mecca, mosques in the Philippines were built as tiered, pagoda-like halls of three, five or eight levels. Very few survive, and the form is now considered endangered.

The mosque of Datu Untong Balabaran in Barangay Taviran is named as one of the last standing examples in Mindanao. Seeing it is the clearest way to understand what the first mosque at Simunul probably looked like.

It has been proposed, with other heritage mosques, for the Philippines' tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage status.

Things to do

  1. 01Ask to see the tiered pagoda-style mosqueIt is one of the last pagoda-style mosques still standing in the Philippines; ask permission before going in or taking photographs, and dress covered.
  2. 02Picture the first mosque at SimunulThe first mosque at Simunul was probably built in this same pagoda style, so this is the closest you can get to seeing what it looked like.

Food to try

  • Banana-leaf parcels of pastil, one opened to show shredded meat over steamed rice.MaguindanaonPastilRice and shredded meat in a banana leaf — the region’s breakfast, and its icon.Photo: Obsidian Soul
  • A mound of yellow turmeric rice, the kiyoning or kuning of Moro tables, topped with chicken in palapa.MaguindanaonKiyoningTurmeric rice, yellow and fragrant, cooked in coconut milk.Photo: Obsidian Soul
  • Lacy discs of tinagtag, the fried rice-flour snack sold at Ramadhan stalls in Maguindanao del Sur.MaguindanaonTinagtagA lattice of fried rice-flour batter, crisp and sweet.Photo: Bangsamoro Information Office

The food is halal. Named eateries come from dated listings, so check they are still open.

Places to stay

Phone or Facebook for the coastal places; local contacts and the LGU for the uplands.

Each is named in an official or dated source; none could be checked against an accreditation list. No prices: rates change quickly, so confirm and book directly before you go.

Sourcesen.wikipedia.org ·en.wikipedia.org