The Sambal people are a Filipino ethnolinguistic group living primarily in the province of Zambales and the Pangasinense municipalities of Bolinao, Anda, and Infanta.

Manuel Buzeta in Diccionario Geográfico, Estadístico, Histórico de las Islas Filipinas (1850) describes the Zambales region during the early Spanish period as being sparsely populated by a small number of Sambal villages, with huge distances between them.

[5] When a person dies by violent or natural means, the immediate male relatives would wear a strip of black cloth to signify mourning.

Murderers within a community are also punished by death, unless a payment of a certain quantity of gold or silver or slaves is accepted by the family of the deceased.

The Boxer Codex also mentions other customs whose veracity is questionable, including claims that they eat carabao intestines raw, or that only the first and second sons inherit their father's property while the rest are enslaved or sacrificed in a manganito ritual.

[5][10][11] During the 1950s, hundreds of Sambals coming from Candelaria, Santa Cruz, and Masinloc in Zambales migrated to an undeveloped and forested area in southern Palawan.

Like in Masinloc, many residents of Panitian have their last names start with the letter E. Most common last names are Eclarino, Elefane, Echaluse, Echague, Español, Ebuen, Ebilane, Edquid, Escala, Edquilang, Ebueng, Ebuenga, Ebalo, Ejanda, Elacio, Elfa, Eliaso, Elgincolin, Edquibal, Ednalino, Edora, Espinoza, Ecaldre, Eufeminiano, Edilloran, Ermita, and Ecle.

Other common last names of Sambali people are Ángeles, Atrero, Agagas, Hebron, Hitchon, Hermoso, Hermosa, Hermana, and Hermogino.

Many of the Palawan Sambals have since moved to the provincial capital, Puerto Princesa, settling in Mandaragat and New Buncag, in particular, although a majority still resides in Panitian.