Yakan, also spelled Yacan,  ethnic group living primarily on Basilan Island but also on Sacol, Malanipa, and Tumalutab islands, all off the southern tip of the Zamboanga Peninsula, in the southernPhilippines. Smaller groups of Yakan live elsewhere in the Philippines—particularly on the island ofMindanao—as well as in Sabah, East Malaysia. The Yakan speak an Austronesian language, written either in Malay Arabic or in Latin script, that is related to those of northern Borneo. In the Philippines, they are among the Muslim peoples collectively identified as Moro. In the early 21st century the Yakan population amounted to roughly ..