DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Finding trustworthy halal food online is about to become easier for Muslim consumers and travelers in Davao City after Grab Philippines partnered with the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) Region XI to improve how halal-certified and Muslim-owned restaurants appear on GrabFood.
The partnership, formalized through a memorandum of understanding on September 9, 2026, introduces enhanced halal search and filtering features designed to reduce uncertainty when users look for food that complies with Islamic dietary requirements.
But unlike a simple restaurant category or keyword search, the initiative puts verification at the center of the system.
Halal restaurants must be endorsed before getting the tag
Under the arrangement, Davao City merchants must secure an NCMF endorsement before GrabFood can identify them as halal on the platform.
Restaurants appearing in halal searches are expected to have been vetted through recognized halal certification mechanisms, while certified merchants can display the Philippine Halal logo on their GrabFood profile as an additional visual indicator.
That distinction matters because halal certification is not simply a restaurant’s declaration that its menu contains no pork.
Halal compliance can involve the sourcing, preparation, handling and separation of ingredients and equipment, depending on the applicable certification standards.
Davao City itself has long had regulations addressing the issue. City Ordinance No. 000378-15 requires establishments offering halal products and services to obtain certification from NCMF-accredited halal certifying bodies before using the word or logo “halal.”
Grab is also reviewing restaurant listings and removing inaccurate or unsupported uses of the word “halal,” a move intended to keep searches from directing consumers toward establishments whose claims have not been properly supported.
Muslim-owned restaurants get a separate identifier
The partnership also recognizes an important distinction between halal-certified and Muslim-owned businesses.
Muslim-owned restaurants endorsed by NCMF may choose to display a separate “Muslim-owned” tag, helping consumers discover these establishments without automatically treating ownership as equivalent to halal certification.
Grab Mindanao Regional Head Paul Manapat said the company currently lists 17 halal and Muslim-owned merchants in Davao City, according to NewsExpress.
Making those establishments easier to identify could help both consumers looking for appropriate meals and local restaurant operators trying to reach a wider market.
Why Grab and NCMF see a bigger opportunity
For Grab, the project is as much about trust as convenience.
“Our vision is to build an inclusive platform that empowers consumers to make food choices with absolute confidence,” Grab Philippines Vice President for Cities RJ Cabaluna said.
Cabaluna said the company wants to go beyond basic food delivery by using filters and verification mechanisms that better address the needs of Muslim consumers.
NCMF Region XI Regional Director Arch. Sherrila Porza-Sawah said the partnership could remove some of the uncertainty Muslim Filipinos and travelers face when searching for appropriate places to eat.
NewsExpress reported that the partnership partly grew out of a conversation involving a Malaysian visitor who questioned why halal-certified dining establishments were difficult to identify through Grab while discussing Davao’s potential as a halal destination.
That seemingly simple question pointed to a larger problem: Davao may have halal businesses, but potential customers must also be able to find and trust them digitally.
Davao is building a larger halal ecosystem
The Grab-NCMF initiative comes as Davao pushes more aggressively to develop its halal economy.
In 2026, the city government reconstituted the Davao City Halal Industry Development Council, tasked with supporting the growth and development of the local halal industry.
The effort also has a tourism dimension.
The Philippine Information Agency reported in 2025 that industry advocates were positioning Davao more strongly in the halal tourism market as international air connections increased. Department of Tourism data cited in that report showed arrivals from Islamic and Muslim-populated countries had risen 120 percent in 2023 compared with 2022.
That makes reliable halal food discovery more than a convenience feature.
For Muslim travelers deciding where to stay, eat or visit, easily identifying credible halal establishments can influence the overall experience of a destination.
What comes next
Grab and NCMF Region XI are already looking beyond search filters.
Possible next steps under the agreement include halal education for merchants, consumer-awareness campaigns and capacity-building programs designed to help restaurants better understand certification requirements and reach the halal market.
If those programs expand the number of properly certified establishments, the partnership could do more than make existing restaurants easier to find.
It could encourage more Davao businesses to enter the halal economy in the first place.
And for GrabFood users, the most important change may ultimately be invisible: instead of wondering whether typing “halal” into a food-delivery app returns a genuine dietary option or simply a restaurant using the word in its name, the platform is trying to make verification part of the search itself.
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