page_title: Tboli people
hierarchical_section_title: Tboli people
caption_attribution_description: English: Historic item by the T'Boli tribe, from the display of the T'Boli museum, Lake Sebu, South Cotabato
context_page_description: The Tboli people are one of the indigenous peoples of South Cotabato in Southern Mindanao. The body of ethnographic and linguistic literature on Mindanao, they are variously known as Tboli, T'boli, Tböli, Tagabili, Tagabilil, Tagabulul and Tau Bilil. They term themselves Tboli. Their whereabouts and identity are somewhat imprecise in the literature; some publications present the Tboli and the Tagabili as distinct peoples; some locate the Tbolis to the vicinity of the Lake Buluan in the Cotabato Basin or in Agusan del Norte. The Tbolis, then, reside on the mountain slopes on either side of the upper Alah Valley and the coastal area of Maitum, Maasim and Kiamba. In former times, the Tbolis also inhabited the upper Alah Valley floor. After World War II, i.e., since the arrival of settlers originating from other parts of the Philippines, they have been gradually pushed onto the mountain slopes. As of now, they are almost expelled from the fertile valley floor.
context_section_description: The Tboli people (IPA: ['tʔbɔli]) are one of the indigenous peoples of South Cotabato in Southern Mindanao. The body of ethnographic and linguistic literature on Mindanao, they are variously known as Tboli, T'boli, Tböli, Tagabili, Tagabilil, Tagabulul and Tau Bilil. They term themselves Tboli. Their whereabouts and identity are somewhat imprecise in the literature; some publications present the Tboli and the Tagabili as distinct peoples; some locate the Tbolis to the vicinity of the Lake Buluan in the Cotabato Basin or in Agusan del Norte. The Tbolis, then, reside on the mountain slopes on either side of the upper Alah Valley and the coastal area of Maitum, Maasim and Kiamba. In former times, the Tbolis also inhabited the upper Alah Valley floor. After World War II, i.e., since the arrival of settlers originating from other parts of the Philippines, they have been gradually pushed onto the mountain slopes. As of now, they are almost expelled from the fertile valley floor.
  Like their immediate tribal neighbors, the Úbûs, Blàan, Blit, Tàú-Segél, and the Tasaday, they have been variously termed hill tribes, pagans, animists, etc., as opposed to the indigenous Muslim peoples or the Christian settlers. In political contexts, however, the term Lumad groups (derived from the Cebuano term for native people) has become popular as a generic term for the various indigenous peoples of Mindanao.
caption: Historic item by the Tboli tribe, from the display of the Tboli museum, Lake Sebu, South Cotabato.
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