FEATURE STORY |ƫ333ċ (%06) #ċ*!0ƫđƫĈĊAmerican action of preventing
Filipino forces from entering
the captured city of Manila
was deeply resented by the
Filipinos. This later led to the
Philippine–American War, which
would prove to be more deadly
and costly than the Spanish–
American War (see The World of
1898: the Spanish–American War,
US Library of Congress).
To paraphrase from Mark
V. Wiley’s book Filipino Martial
Culture, during the conflict
Filipino Moro soldiers would
tie rawhide strips around their
extremities, providing ready-
made tourniquets in an effort
to deaden pain and slow the
loss of blood, hence halting the
immediate onset of shock and
stemming blood flow from a cut
or shot. The Moros would run
with their knives and swords
at the Americans, who would
be unable to stop them even
after firing an entire round
of .38-calibre bullets into the
charging eskrimador. The soldier
in the Moro’s path was usually
decapitated. Consequently, the
US Marines took to wearing
leather collars, thus earning the
nickname ‘Leathernecks’. Later
when the Filipinos accepted
American rule, the Americans
encouraged the Filipinos to
promote their own culture,
including their martial culture.
The word ‘eskrima’ became
popular in the early years of the
American rule in the Philippines
when the first organisation was
organised in Cebu City in 1920,
the Labangon Fencing Club.
The club dissolved in 1931 and
was followed by the Doce Pares
Association, which was founded
by all the well-known masters
of Cebu in 1932. In years to
come, this group became so
popular that its name was almost
synonymous with the art of
eskrima itself.
After the American retreat,
the Japanese occupation of
the Philippines saw repeated
combat between the Japanese
imperial forces and Filipino
guerrillas. One such guerrilla was
Grandmaster Tantang Ilustrisimo
(1904–1997), one of the most
well-respected eskrimadors in
the Philippines. He was famed
for winning countless duels
and street encounters, as well
as taking up arms as a guerrilla
fighter against the invading
Japanese forces. This account is
from Wiley’s book: “We would
fight the Japanese with their
own rifles, which we got from
ambushing their convoys. We
would even wear uniforms tosneak into their garrisons. We
used (either) our bolos or knives
in close-quarters hand-to-hand
fights with Japanese soldiers.
We trained well in the saksakan
(knife-fighting techniques) in the
mountains and easily defeated
and killed (often beheading) the
Japanese spies.”
The American and Allied
liberation force, which began
landing on 17 October 1944, was
aided by local Filipino soldiers
and recognised guerrillas in the
liberation of the Philippines.
Grandmaster Emeritus
Leovigildo ‘Leo’ Miguel Giron
(1911–2002) joined the US Army
and lived out his service fighting
the war in the Philippines. GM
Giron was serving as a sergeant
in the Allied Intelligence Bureau
and was a member of General
Douglas MacArthur’s own
personal groups of commandos.
Along with the Filipino guerrillas,
he was part of an elite unit of
fighting men that performed
covert operations in the jungles
of Northern Luzon. The jungle
fighting was incredibly fierce
and done at close range. The
Japanese would ‘bansai charge’
the Americans and Filipino
soldiers in the thick jungle
foliage. The Filipinos that failed
basic training didn’t receive riflesand were only armed with bolos
and short daggers.
Grandmaster Giron
reminisces about a battle
when a bayonet and katana
(samurai sword) came at him
simultaneously: the sword was in
front of him, the bayonet a little
to the left. With his left hand,
Giron parried the bayonet, and
cut the tricep of the officer about
to bring his sword down on him.
Giron then slashed the hip of the
charging soldier, pressing forward
and leaving the Americans to
finish him.DEATH MATCHES
After the war, with no wars to
fight or conflicts to settle, clubs
pitted their most able fighters
against each other in the 1950s.
It was regarded as the most
chaotic era in which eskrima had
undergone radical development
as the masters sought each
other out and competed in these
juego todo matches. During this
time, the art underwent a rapid
evolution as masters developed
their fighting techniques in
efforts to beat opponents in
the challenge matches. These
matches were solely to build
a reputation as there was no
money involved, and participants
signed ‘injury waivers’ before
the event, as severe injury was
known to occur.
There was no protection
such as headgear, and the tools
at the eskrimador’s disposal
included all stick techniques
but also punching, kicking,
headbutts, elbows, knees, foot
sweeps and throws. Most of the
fights only lasted around five
seconds. Many masters claim to
be undefeated in ‘death matches’
which, of course, leads one to
believe that they never fought
one another in such contests!
Some well-known masters were
known to have had a number
of such fights; however, they
were all against lesser-known
opponents. It is likely due to the
balance of power that none of
the big names had faced each
other in these real, potentially
lethal fights.The author in a stick-fighting competition