Balintawak: Lessons in Eskrima

Copyright © 2015 Rad Maningas.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

The materials covered in this book is for informational purposes only. The publisher and author of this book is not responsible in any manner whatsoever for any injury and expressly disclaim any and all liability that may result from following the instructions and/or practicing the techniques given within. The term Balintawak and all persons featured in this book do not endorse and do not make any representation, guarantee, or claim regarding the safety, effectiveness, or legality of any technique described, demonstrated, or illustrated. For safety, it is essential that readers consult a physician prior to training and engaging in any physical activities presented here that may be too strenuous for some.

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ISBN: 978-1-4917-4999-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-4998-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-4997-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014919347

iUniverse rev. date: 05/16/2016

CONTENTS

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

The Philippines

Balintawak

Venancio Anciong Bacon

Teodoro Ted Buot

Basics and Fundamentals

The Striking Motion

Controlled Striking

The Twelve Striking Targets

The Twelve Stick Offensive Strikes

The Twelve Stick Defensive Blocks

The Twelve Fundamental Blocks

The Twelve Basic Blocks

Seguidas

Corridas

Tapi-Tapi or Tapik-Tapik

Left-Hand Curling Exercises

First Curling Exercise

Second Curling Exercise

Third Curling Exercise

Fourth Curling Exercise

Controlled Striking, Blocking, and Left-Hand Curling Exercise

Left-Hand Checking Positions

Declaw

The Artesian Well Pump

Must-Know Techniques

How to Perform the Sablig

How to Perform the Tukas

How to Perform the Suyop

How to Perform the Yakap

How to Perform the Sasa

Assorted Techniques

Agak

The Zebra Story

The Same and Only Teacher

Anciong Bacon and Pilo Velez

Trangka

Pukpok

Macarena

Both Balintawak but Different

Agaw (Disarms)

Lansi or Lansis

Kwentada

A Bahad in Talisay

Twice in Tears

Suggestions and Applications

Glossary

Bibliography

In memory of Ted Buot,

my beloved Balintawak teacher.

Singot Nimo Dugo.

It’s not blood; it’s sweat.

Foreword

I am looking forward to the completion of Rad Maningas’s book. This book should shed a great deal of light and knowledge on the Filipino martial art of Balintawak eskrima in which he is long time practitioner of this art.

Dan Inosanto.

Head Instructor

Inosanto Academy. Marina Del Rey. California

September 2, 2014

Preface

Mahanga’y taga ng itak, sa masamang pangungusap.

Better a knife wound than sharp words.i

One night after sunset, on one of my few visits to my parents’ hometown, my dad introduced me to Kuya Unoy. Kerosene lamps dimly lit the homes around the town plaza. On one end of the plaza was the Catholic church, and on the other was the municipal building. Kuya Unoy was standing on the sidewalk of a corner store, his usual place, to sum up the town’s daily happenings. He was in his late sixties then and was slim and tall, standing straight like a military man would with his head held high. He was observant and alert of the things around him. He carried a cane, presumably to assist him walking. He spoke directly and to the point, using only meaningful words. It was said that on most evenings he would stand at that favorite spot, and those passing by would greet him and execute the mano po gesture by putting his hand to their foreheads as a sign of respect.

Kuya Unoy, my father’s paternal first cousin, was the chief of police in a small seaside town during the Commonwealth of the Philippines. He befriended a tulisan (bandit) who taught him the art of estocada, the term for arnis or eskrima in the province of Tayabas and surrounding areas.

For arrests, he would target the makers of the illegal lambanog, a drink made from the sap of the sasa palm. My maternal grandmother, who was a farmer, would break the large damajuana glass jugs to let the intoxicating drink run into the ground to avoid arrest whenever Kuya Unoy would come by.

On another occasion, while sitting on the window sill of a nipa hut, Kuya Unoy was lassoed and pulled down to the ground by an assailant standing outside. Still, he was able to land on his feet and defend himself against his attacker.

Riding on a motorized banca, a small boat found on Pacific waters often provided with outriggers and a bamboo roof, on the way to the island of Polillo, a group of men assaulted him. Using his bare hands, he threw the men into the water to successfully defend himself.

For many years during the town fiesta finals for stick-fighting competitions, he would end pitted against another equally gifted and skilled arnis practitioner. Both would do their own warm-up dances before the actual contest. Each had his share of wins and losses.

When apprehending a well-built repeat crime violator, he placed the offender inside a coconut copra sack and dropped him in the waters on the beach to persuade the culprit to change his ways. I never heard whether the poor guy changed his criminal ways.

The last time I saw Kuya Unoy many years later, he was lying on his deathbed. His parting words to me were an observation comparing attributes of my younger brother and myself, both of whom he’d seen briefly once before. It seems he was very observant and had good memory—or did his practice and experiences in eskrima make him that way?

These stories are minute glimpses of the simpler, sometimes tough, and cruel days of a portion of the Philippine past that was influenced by eskrima.

The Philippine art of arnis has fascinated me since I was a young boy. In 1968 I formally studied arnis under Lamberto Ticsay at the Far Eastern University in the Philippines. My eskrima instructions continued in 1979 under Ted Buot—whose Balintawak is the subject of this book—who was followed by Leo Gaje of Pikiti Tirsia in 1980, Dan Inosanto’s subject on Kali in1983, Remy Presas of Modern Arnis in 1984, Angel Cabales of Serrada in 1984, Leo Giron and Marion Veridiano during the mid-1980s, and John Taisa under Floro Villabrile’s Kali in the early 1990s.

To further enrich the Filipino arts, I have written this book, gathered from memory, notes, and countless hours of practice. The subject of Balintawak in this book traces its lineage from Anciong Bacon to Ted Buot. It is my hope and desire that the knowledge, tradition, techniques, and history of Balintawak be passed on to aspiring students so that they can learn this simple-looking, beautiful, fascinating, intricate, and effective self-defense art.

Acknowledgments

Ang kabayanihan ay bunga ng libo-libong kahirapan.

Bravery is the fruit of a thousand hardships.ii

I would like to thank all the instructors and people who have been part of my eskrima journey.

I extend my love and gratitude to my children, Joji and Francis, who were so supportive and gave me encouragement throughout the writing of this book. Thanks especially to my son David and my wife, Cecile, who both assisted with editing.

My deep gratitude to Dan Inosanto for taking the time to write the Foreword message.

Full credit and my deepest gratitude to Melissa Buot-Favazza in her capacity as representative of the heirs of Ted Buot, for granting permission to use the images of her father and Anciong Bacon, including the Balintawak logo that was created and used by Ted Buot.

To my students Bob Myles and Mark Garcellano, whose perseverance and determination to learn Balintawak gave me the opportunity to hone the art through the process of teaching it.

My gratitude to Santi Ponti and Lance Devooght, whose images will help readers visualize the proper technique and placement.

Credit is acknowledged to Sam Buot and the publisher of Filipino Martial Arts Digest, Special Edition 2007, on their interview with Teddy Buot.

To Aleah Alfeche-Caing, for giving permission to publish her late husband Dr. Pedro V. Caing’s excerpt on Ted Buot.

In 2010 and several years thereafter, Octavius Jimboy Hife took the time and effort to unselfishly share with students in America Ted’s and his own knowledge, concepts, and experiences in Balintawak. This widened and enriched the scope of my understanding and overall picture of Balintawak. Thank you so much, Jimboy. Your efforts are very much appreciated.

To Alex and Brian Quintos for taking and editing the pictures in order to come up with most of the photographic images portrayed in this book.

My profound gratitude to Mark Garcellano who took all the additional improved photographic images in this revised edition. Thank you so much for all the time and effort you put into this.

Introduction

Minana kung ari; lumilikas kung lipi.

Property is inherited, but virtues and talents are handed down to the children by the living example of the parents.iii

At one time or another, people realize that others will try to impose their intentions on them, whether verbally, physically, mentally, or in some other way. Physical contact can happen during friendly and not-so-friendly games of sports. Strangers sometimes use force to make others follow against their will. Some may hurt and inflict unwanted acts on others.

Unfortunately, not everyone is created equal in size, strength, intelligence, courage, or skill. With proper training in self-defense, the chance of protecting yourself from others who are intent on harming you is increased. Self-defense helps you think and act more clearly in response to a given situation. There are many good and beautiful self-defense arts from all over the world. The art of self-defense described in this book is from the Philippines.

There are accounts of men with remarkable feats of strength who won numerous challenges and contests using sticks, blades, or empty hands. These are some of the ways used by law enforcers, men for hire by the wealthy and powerful, and even the ordinary person. They rely on self-defense to deal with difficult situations and uncertainties of day-to-day life.

As kids playing in the streets of Manila and holding split, thin bamboo sticks, we would act as eskrimadors to imitate movie swordplay. Words like arnis and eskrima pervaded conversations about fights and self-defense. As young boys in the relatively peaceful city of Manila after the Second World War, verbal arguments led to kids fighting, which ended with very little injury to the young combatants.

There are some elements of confidence when you feel capable of protecting yourself, although thoughts of uncertainty and fear are at times also realized, cautioning us to be truthful and kind to others in order to avoid conflict. There’s something special about being at peace with yourself and those around you when trying to improve yourself in some aspect of life. Whether or not you realize it, there will always be someone better than you in any given task, whether by sheer athleticism, intelligence, age, skill-set, experience, or way of life.

In this book I’ll discuss lessons on Balintawak eskrima based on what I learned from Ted Buot—lessons that he learned from Anciong Bacon. The instructions presented here were gathered from 1979 to 2006. During that time, no other students were present when training with Ted, only him and me. Writing notes about his teachings and training on my own helped me maintain a solid foundation and understanding of the art. I studied alone with Ted, but the scope of what he taught his other students are relatively known to me. These are some of the lessons Ted taught all his students. I have striven to make the instructions show and make the reader understand how the different parts of a strike work together to execute a single move.

Whether you are a beginner or advanced eskrimador, reading this book offers a good opportunity to learn and improve your eskrima and take it to another level. Finding a good partner to train with, to help and encourage each other in the execution of the different exercises and techniques mentioned here, will make your learning and training easier and faster.

The emphasis of this book is to provide the reader without a qualified instructor with ways to learn and progress from basic moves to