Podcast episode (Ep. 124) by John Jonas explaining the Muslim population in the Philippines, especially concentrated in Mindanao, the cultural importance of Eid al-Fitr there, historical reasons for Muslim persistence (Spanish inability to conquer Mindanao; proximity to Brunei/Indonesia), and a personal anecdote about a Filipino OFS contributing cultural context to improve business practices. The episode also notes that Eid al-Fitr was declared a national regular holiday on May 3, announced only two days prior.
Chapters
Welcome to the Secret Sauce of Outsourcing podcast that's dedicated to making you better at outsourcing to the Philippines. This is episode 124, the Muslim population in the Philippines. So this podcast probably should have happened two weeks ago, but that's not how the Philippines does it. So May 3rd was Eidol Fitr, which is the end of Ramadan. It was a regular holiday in the Philippines, which means it was a full day off, but they didn't announce it was a day off until two days before. So. So two days before they decide this is the holiday, and then it's just a holiday for everybody. And I can't get these podcasts done in just two days. It just doesn't work like that for me. So I try to keep you updated on what's going on on holidays and culture and things, but I have to schedule things ahead of time. Idol Fitr, Muslim holiday in a very Christian country. The Philippines is like 95% Christian. So why are they celebrating this? Well, Idol Fitr, a Muslim holiday in a very Christian country. Why are they celebrating this? So the Philippines is like 95% Christian or. And most of that's probably Catholic. But the second biggest religion in the Philippines is Islam. And almost all of those people live in Mindanao on. On the island of Davao. Idol Fitter is for them is off. It's kind of like Christmas for them. They. They give, they feast, they party, they give gifts. It's. It's a big deal for them. So if you go. If you were to go to mind where most of the Islamic people live in the Philippines, you'll find mosques and Madras and restaurants catering to the Muslim community all over the place. And just so you have an idea of the population there, let me look at these numbers here. So there's like 18 million people who are not Islamic in Mindanao and 5.6 million Islamic people in Mindanao. So, you know, that's. That's a lot. So why. And the interesting part is that they're all. They're basically all concentrated in Mindanao. So why. And there's a. There's a history behind this. So historically, Islam flourished in Mindanao because the Spaniards, when they ruled the Philippines, they couldn't establish a strong foothold in. In that island, in that area. Spain was able to take over Luzon and the Visayas, but Mindanao, they really, really struggled with. And part of that is because it's mountainous, it's thick forest, they had strong resistance by the indigenous Muslim communities. Spain was never able to take that area over. And so Islam continued to flourish there. Another reason is because if you look at a map, Mindanao, the area is really close to the islands of Brunei and Indonesia, which are both predominantly Muslim. Throughout history they have traded, they have, have had a lot of interaction with each other and there's, there's definitely a culture in that area. So when Spain came, they were able to conquer the Visayas, which is where Cebu is the second biggest city, and Luzon, which is where Manila is the biggest city in the Philippines. They weren't able to conquer Davao and Mindanao. So here's one of the things I really love about ofs that a lot of people kind of don't get. They mistake this piece of it. So I had no idea about any of this stuff. And one of my OFS decided, you know, you should really understand this. So she wrote an email about all of this. Trying to contribute both to me and my knowledge and to the business. And I love that people in the Philippines, they, they don't want to be robots, they don't want to sit in a dead end job, they don't want to be just doing data entry, they don't want to be doing brain dead work. They will do it for sure. But they want to contribute. And that's why she wrote this newsletter about Islam and about Eidol Fitr without me asking, without me prompting. And yes, we didn't get it sent on time. And that's because the Philippines government didn't say it was a holiday until whenever they did. But she's still trying to contribute and make the business better. And I hope that you find with your OFS that they are trying to make your business better. They're reading between the lines, they'll follow instructions and they'll do more because they think there's a better way. And that's always been my experience with this. So now you have a little bit more understanding about the Muslim population in the Philippines.
