I would guess this begs the question: how many other sword hilts found in the Philippines show possible Arab influence ?
If the answer is few I would lean toward parallel development .
This is a Nimcha Hilt; I see great differences between this and the Zanzibar hilt .
Here's a link to the original discussion of this sayf; let's throw that into our cooking pot .
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...enetian+nimcha