DAILY CITY – Filipino martial arts has a long tradition of combining culture, history, and language, but it is also little known in the Philippines. Bay Area martial arts masters and their students hope to change that by helping more community members and interested parties learn their fighting styles.
“My fellow Filipinos, we have been mixing different cultures for over 2,000 years, and our fighting style is a true reflection of that,” said the master who runs Legacy Philippine Martial Arts. said Joseph Bautista. He has been teaching fighting styles for nearly 15 years.
“I think that for people to have a deeper understanding of their own abilities, they need to be able to identify with someone who is doing what they want to do,” he continued.
Bautista said what sets Filipino martial arts, or FMA, apart is the use of weapons. He added that its versatility has also been recognized by military and law enforcement agencies.
However, schools that teach this fighting style are not common, and its appeal attracts students of all ages, from 4 to 80 years old.
The location of Daly City is ideal as it has one of the largest Filipino populations in the world outside of the Philippines.
FMA is a gateway to culture because it deals with language and history, aspects that are covered in school.
Walking around Legacy FMA is a reminder of all aspects of culture, including the fact that martial arts were hidden in dance during the Spanish occupation. Bautista says she felt disconnected from the culture she grew up in before finding FMA.
“What I noticed was that the footwork patterns were similar to dancing. And I thought, 'Oh, this makes sense, I kind of understand what I'm doing.'” said Camille Sibucao, who considers herself an instructor. She is also a student of Legacy. “It was very serendipitous and I feel like it's what I needed right now.”
Sibucao earned the rank of Guro after spending five years studying FMA. For her, she says, it was a chance to find new fitness habits and learn culturally relevant self-defense techniques as a Filipino.
After learning Taekwondo as a child, Sibucao quickly noticed the similarities with Filipino folk dance and enjoyed learning new fighting styles. Most of all, it has given her a sense of community at a time when she believes Filipino culture is all about having fun with food, dance, fashion, and martial arts.
Bautista is especially proud of instructors like Sibucao because there aren't that many women teaching FMA. But he says some people believe this fighting style was created by women, so it makes sense to have its expression in modern times and carry on this tradition.
“Having a place that you recognize as coming from your own culture and your own ancestry, right? That really hits home,” he said.
Legacy FMA will celebrate its second anniversary in June, which also marks the day the Philippines celebrates its independence from Spain.
