Filipino martial arts (FMA) refer to ancient and newer modified fighting methods devised in the Philippines. It incorporates elements from both Western and Eastern Martial Arts, the most popular forms of which are known as Arnis, Eskrima, and Kali. The intrinsic need for self-preservation was the genesis of these systems. Throughout the ages, invaders and evolving local conflict imposed new dynamics for combat in the islands now making up the Philippines. The Filipino people developed battle skills as a direct result of an appreciation of their ever-changing circumstances. They learned often out of necessity how to prioritize, allocate and use common resources in combative situations. Filipinos have been heavily influenced by a phenomenon of cultural and linguistic mixture. Some of the specific mechanisms responsible for cultural and martial change extended from phenomena such as war, political and social systems, technology, trade and practicality.
Arnis, also known as Kali or Eskrima/Escrima, is the national martial art of the Philippines. The three are roughly interchangeable umbrella terms for the traditional martial arts of the Philippines, which emphasize weapon-based fighting with sticks, knives, bladed weapons, and various improvised weapons, as well as "open hand" techniques without weapons.
San Miguel Eskrima is one of the major systems of eskrima, a martial arts from the Philippines. Founded by Filemon "Momoy" Cañete of the Doce Pares Club, SME served as vehicle for his own personal expression of the art and methodology of the club of which he was a co-founder and instructor. The name San Miguel is taken from Michael (archangel), the slayer of Satan, and is one of the major strikes used in Eskrima.
Kombatan is a Filipino martial arts system. The founder of the system was GGM Ernesto Amador Presas. The current head of the system is Ernesto Presas Jr. The style is known for its double stick techniques, but it features other stick and blade techniques, as well as empty-hand methods.
Tim Hartman is a practitioner of the Filipino martial art of modern arnis and balintawak eskrima, and the president of the World Modern Arnis Alliance (WMAA).
Edgar Sulite was a teacher of Filipino martial arts. He was the creator of Lameco Eskrima and trained such notables as Dan Inosanto, Ron Balicki, Larry Hartsell, Fred Degerberg, and Diana Lee Inosanto.
Lameco Eskrima is the system of Filipino martial arts founded by Edgar Sulite based on his training and experience with various Philippine Martial Arts masters, with heavy influence from Jose Caballero and Antonio Ilustrisimo.
Antonio "Tatang" Ilustrisimo was the Grandmaster of Kalis Ilustrisimo (KI), a Filipino martial art bearing his family name.
Sibat is the Filipino word for spear, used as a weapon or tool by natives of the Philippines. The term is used in Tagalog and Kinaray-a. It also called bangkaw, sumbling or palupad in the islands of Visayas and Mindanao; and budjak among Muslim Filipinos in western Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago.
Ron Balicki is an American actor and stuntman for various films and television series. He is also a well known martial arts practitioner, teacher and author. He is a student and the son-in-law of Dan Inosanto.
De Campo Uno-Dos-Tres Orihinal is a form of Filipino martial arts. The majority of its techniques are based on fighting with a single stick as opposed to the double stick method used in most Filipino martial arts.
Kalis Ilustrisimo is a style of Eskrima founded by Antonio "Tatang" Ilustrisimo.
Reynaldo S. "Rey" Galang is a Filipino martial arts teacher and author. He is one of the chief founders and head instructors of Bakbakan International.
Christopher Naldo Ricketts was a well-known Filipino martial arts innovator, teacher, actor and author. He was also one of the chief founders and head instructors of Bakbakan International and the eldest brother of the action star Ronnie Ricketts.
Ciriaco "Cacoy" Cañete was a Filipino martial artist of the Doce Pares Eskrima Club. He was the last surviving member of the club, which was founded in January 1932. He was also a 12th degree black belt. His version of the Doce Pares Eskrima system is known as Cacoy Doce Pares. In 1951 he developed a personal system of his named Eskrido.
An abaniko is a type of hand fan from the Philippines.
Arnis in popular culture reflects the impact that the Filipino martial arts of Arnis/Eskrima/Kali have made outside of the martial arts community. The three terms are roughly interchangeable and for the purpose of convenience, the term Arnis will be used throughout the article. These arts emphasize weapon-based fighting with sticks, blades, improvised weapons and hand-to-hand fighting which is formally known as Mano Mano or Pangamut. Because of this training with live weapons, elements of Arnis have made an impact in film, video games, television, and comic books. Arnis is often used to train actors and stuntmen how to handle similar weapons for use in movies.
Ronald Naldo Ricketts, popularly known as Ronnie Ricketts, is a Filipino actor, scriptwriter, film director, line producer, and martial artist who is the former President of the Philippine Film Actors Guild, and former Chairman of Optical Media Board (OMB), a government agency that regulates recording optical media in the Philippines.
Suntukan is the fist-related striking component of Filipino martial arts. In the central Philippine island region of Visayas, it is known as Pangamot or Pakamot and Sumbagay. It is also known as Mano-mano and often referred to in Western martial arts circles of Inosanto lineage as Panantukan. Although it is also called Filipino Boxing, this article pertains to the Filipino martial art and should not be confused with the Western sport of boxing as practiced in the Philippines. In recent times, suntukan has become a generalized term for any brawls in the Philippines, with the term panantukan becoming more frequently used to denote the actual martial art.
