A defensive but also a gruesome martial arts

By: Estelito Meneses

Have you heard of Kali, Arnis, and Eskrima or FMA if you want to say it by its english name? If you haven’t heard of it then let me explain it to you FMA is a martial art created in the Philippines

My home country and it's based on you using anything and everything around you as a weapon for example an old piece of wood on the floor or your hands if you didn't find any object near you or even your legs.

FMA is a dangerous martial art, as you know the saying having power means great responsibility or don’t use the power you have to hurt innocent people or something like that well that applies to every martial art like taekwondo, kung fu, or Karate.

FMA is very dangerous martial arts because it was made in the streets of the philippines altho it was made in the streets of the philippines it wasn’t really known to people of the philippines and only a few people in the philippines practice this martial arts and I am one of those people who hasn’t seen or practiced it,if i had the chance i would like to practice or learn it.

In an article called Northwest Asian Weekly someone states that” Due to the “dark” nature of the system, Belton Lubas describes FMA as a “killing art.” “There are no points, it’s straight to the point,” explained Lubas”.

When I interviewed my dad I asked “Have you heard of Kali or Eskrima, yes or no? If yes then what were your first thoughts of it?” and he responded with “Yes i have heard of it isn’t it Self defense or something like that” and after i heard what he said i was surprised because i thought he knew what it was.

In an article called Benefits of Filipino Martial Arts it states “that even though FMA is a dangerous Fighting style, FMA allows a safe and controlled environment that allows for experimentation and creativity in the styles.

Another part of the article that caught my eye was this part of the article”At the same time, learning the art will improve your physical and mental health while teaching you the Filipino culture.” When that caught my eye I mostly thought about how when you learn any kind of martial arts I only thought that you really don’t learn the culture instead you just learn the art.

Being a filipino and not knowing that FMA was my country's martial arts is disappointing and embarrassing to me because I could have learned it while I was growing up but I didn't. It would have been valuable because I could have learned more of my country's culture. Have you heard of your country's culture?