Atty. Jose Villasin

Are Filipino Martial Arts Underrated?

When the topic of martial arts comes up, I have noticed that the majority of people immediately make the connection with Far East Asian countries such as China (kung fu), Japan (karate, judo, aikido) and maybe Korea (taekwondo).

Make a connection with Southeast Asia, not so much.

When you think of the Philippines nowadays in terms of fighting, you most probably think of the Filipino boxing hero, Manny Pacquiao, who has been dominating the World Light Welterweight division for some time now.

Or some of us might even remember or at least have heard about “The Thrilla in Manila”, the epic boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, which is sometimes even referred to as the Fight of the Century and took place in the Philippines on October 1, 1975.

But Filipino Martial Arts, aka FMA, are not necessarily on most people’s radar, right?

The Philippines is a country in Southeast Asia consisting of over 7,000 islands and a total population of over 90 million (U.S. population is around 300 million).

An amazing fact I found out is that there are over 10 million overseas Filipinos which represents a whopping 11 percent of their total population.

The Philippines used to be first a Spanish colony, named after King Philipp II (hence the Philippines) in the 15th century, and then later a U.S. colony after the Spanish-American War (1898-1902).

During WWII, with the help of some very brave and tenacious Filipinos the U.S. was able to drive the Japanese out of the Philippines.

The Filipinos have a long heritage of martial arts that dates back to when Lapu-Lapu and his warriors fought against the Spanish invaders in the 15th century and even killing the famous Portuguese explorer Magellan, who is known for discovering the Pacific Ocean. Only when the Spaniards came back with guns were they able to conquer the Philippines.

These fierce Filipino warriors were known to be extremely skillful in a number of aspects of jungle warfare (armed and unarmed fighting) and throughout time their skills were passed down to the next generation.

Some of the great Filipino Martial Arts legends that have become household names are Dan Inosanto, Atty. Jose Villasin, Cacoy Canete, Elmer Ybanez, Tony Diego, Teofilo Velez, Richard Bustillo, Edgar Sulite, Leo Gaje, Armando P. Angeles, Leo Giron, Mike Inay, Ernesto Presas, Remy Presas, and Angel Cabales.

Filipino Martial Arts, aka FMA, basically consist of the following:

- Panantukan (empty-handed techniques)
- Eskrima/Kali/Arnis de Máno (blade and stick fighting)
- Pantadyakan (kicking).

Every well-rounded martial artist should seriously consider FMA as part of their martial arts repertoire.

How about some appetizers to get you started today? Enjoy!