MAGINDANAO

second largest of the Muslim cultural-linguistic groups of the Philippines. The Magindanao, numbering about 700,000 in the late 20th century, live along the shores and floodlands of the Cotabato River in the southern island of Mindanao. They are chiefly rice farmers. Like the other Filipino Muslims, they differ markedly from the Christians, who represent the overwhelming majority of the country's population. Land is owned by the clan and controlled by local leaders known as datus. The customs of marriage and the family are Islamic. All the languages of the Muslim groups are closely related to the languages of the central Philippines, which belong to the Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) family of languages.