First of all I’d like to apologize to the Editor and Publisher of this magazine. You see, this article is long overdue, way overdue. It has been overdue for sometime now. I began writing this article as a tribute to one of the greatest men I have ever known for his birthday. And now that man is gone. It has been a few months now since he passed away and these things have a way of dampening one’s spirits. When [...]
We’ve all grown up on stories. Folk tales, fairy tales, anecdotes and legends were the way we learned to look at the world. There would be mystery, fantasy and magic. There would be heroes and villains and monsters to slay. Such is the world not ordinary. In the world of martial arts there are many such stories. Of fantastic masters with amazing prowess, masters with abilities bordering on the supernatural, masters with skills that have passed on into legend. Mang [...]
Jon Escudero The Philippines is an archipelago of 7,107 islands and is divided into 3 major subgroups, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Luzon is the largest landmass and has the most homogenous terrain geographically speaking. The Visayas is the middle group of islands and is the most diverse in terms of subcultures due to the islands being separated by water. Mindanao is the southernmost of the three and is mostly coastal with inland mountains and jungles. The particular geography and topology [...]
AS SYNDICATED IN FMA DIGEST VOL4 #1 2006 Let’s start with a few introductions. I’m Jon, Sunday School Headmaster and now apparently, FMA Digest columnist. I guess I want to give you a heads-up on what to expect in my column. It’s all about you, me and all us practitioners and enthusiasts of the Filipino Martial Arts. Maybe a little bit of something on the more personal level. We martial artists are people too, contrary to popular belief. I guess [...]
I had a chat conversation a couple of months back with a fellow instructor from a different system of FMA. He put up his school and had just begun offering lessons in FMA. During one of his sessions a fellow practitioner was working with a newbie on some drills for a specific skill set. At some point the newbie's partner escalated and started telling the newbie to escalate and do some other technique not covered in the skill set. Seeing [...]
Chungju, the central city of the peninsula of Korea. The Heart of Korea. The Chungju World Martial Arts Festival is an annual event held by the city of Chungju. This 7 day event was participated in by 31 ountries each presenting their national martial arts with Korea proudly presenting their local martial arts teams as well. All-in-all there was a total of 30 foreign teams and 18 local teams! It was an exhilarating affair with each team putting their best [...]
I grew up watching the great names of Filipino action cinema. Fernando Poe Jr., Joseph Estrada, Lito Lapid, Jun Aristorenas, Ramon Revilla and others. I've watched them beat up countless bad guys with flying fists, sticks, kicks, knives, guns and anything they could get their hands on. Who can forget Panday and his magic sword, Leon Guerrero and his flying itak, Mr. Agimat in all his incarnations and incantations. Sadly, there are no longer movies like these any more. Doesn't [...]
עריכת דין ואומנויות לחימה / עו"ד מיקי שיפמן "למה אתה לא תוקף בחזרה?" שאלה אותי חנה (שם בדוי), " בעלי מגיש בקשות ותביעות, תוקף ותוקף, ואתה רק מגיב, מתי גם אנחנו נתקוף?". "סבלנות", עניתי. "יגיע הרגע גם לזה". חנה לא הבינה, אבל אמרה שהיא נותנת בי אמון וסומכת עלי שאפעל בצורה הטובה ביותר בעבורה. חנה מצויה בסכסוך מתמשך עם בעלה , על רקע גילוי דבר בגידתו בה והכעסים והאמוציות הם אלה שמניעים אותה. אני, לעומת חנה, פועל מתוך הבנת הסיטואציה [...]
