Another tribe called the Magunidanao also inhabits the same area. The two tribes consider themselves to be brothers and sisters.
Long ago, an Arab male (ancestral brother) married a B'laan female (ancestral sister)and through this marriage union, Islam infiltrated Southern Mindanao so when the Spaniards arrived, their attempts to establish Catholicsim were unsuccessful in the south.
Eventually the B'laan and the Maguindanao became trade partners with the B'laan settling in the mountains and the Maguindanao settling along the coastal areas.
From that time until now, B'laan have been producing rice, vegatables, livestock, and rainforest products.
The original religion of the B'laan is Animist. Presently, only 5% of the 448,000 B'laan tribal people are considered to be evangelical.
There is a divine mandate to reach these people with the Gospel. God desires that the B'laan people become His stronghold of true born again Christianity in this region. God has prevented the B'laan from converting to false cult religions because He has preserved them for such a time as this to be His peculiar remnant in this southern region of the Philippines. If God's mandate is obeyed, these people will come into the full knowledge of the Son of the most High God, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and be delivered from the eternal darkness of life with out Christ.