The Molbog (referred to in the literature as Molebugan or Molebuganon) are concentrated in Balabak Island and are also found in other islands of the coast of Palawan as far north as Panakan. The word Malubog means "murky or turbid water".
The Molbog are probably a migrant people from nearby North Borneo. Judging from their dialect and some socio-cultural practices, they seem to be related to the Orang Tidung or Tirum (Camucone in Spanish), an Islamized indigenous group native to the northeast coast of Sabah. However, some Sama words (of the Jama Mapun variant) and Tausug words are found in the Malbog dialect. This plus a few characteristics of their socio-cultural life style distinguish them from the Orang Tidung.
Molbog livelihood includes subsistence farming fishing and occasional barter trading with the Sulu Bangsa Moro and nearby Sabah market centers.
In the past, both the Molbog and the Palawanon Muslims were ruled by Sulu datus, thus forming the outer political periphery of the Sulu Sultanate. Inter-marriage between Tausug and the Molbog hastened the Islamization of the Molbog. The offspring of these inter-marriages are known as kolibugan or "half-breed".
