This paper is an elaboration of the foreseen challenges of implementing Lesson Study as a mathematics teacher professional initiative in Kidapawan, a province in the Southern part of the Philippines called Mindanao. The analysis of data based on a phenomenological approach made use of the Anthropological Theory of the Didactics as an analytical tool. Through the utterances of the participants, it was apparent how: 1) Leadership; 2) Teachers` mindset, and 3) Affordances of the national curriculum guidelines were deemed as critical factors in being able to optimally engage in professional development model that originated from Japan.