Effective as it was

PEKITI-TIRSIA KALI and FILIPINO FIGHTING ART
How effective it is or How effective it was
by
Grand Tuhon Leo T. Gaje, Jr.

Let me open the Floodgates of understanding to know what Filipino Fighting Art is all about. At the age of six to nine years old, my grandfather Grand Tuhon Conrado B. Tortal with his brothers and friends called him (Dadoy) started to bring me to a daily lecture about the family and how I was born with a twin sister, how I was brought to Negros Island from Bicol Province in Luzon which during those times, traveling by boat takes at least five days, how after birth I came out without life, then the Doctor dipped me into warm and cold water until I was able to cry. How I grew with them without my father since my mother died a week after I was born with my twin sister. How they sacrificed Grand Lolo and Grand Lola in caring and responsibility in administering the 120 hectares of farmlands and to inherit the treasure of knowledge in the art that is the Pekiti-Tirsia system. For my grandfather his motivation was for me to learn every piece of training from the Philosophical values to logic and to reasons, from the fundamental frameworks of Pekiti-Tirsia as a system and to reach the highest geometrical equations reinforced by the art of metaphysics. My grandfather was a very educated and learned person, at grade seven he was already a teacher in high school and spoke very fluent Spanish, very conversant in Latin, very grammatical in the English language, and very selective in his conversation using the Original Illongo dialect. His commanding personality penetrates to one’s senses, his eyes constantly focused to a person’s face without deviating to any direction when he was on a discussion or even a mere friendly conversation. His hands were always in a loading position in front of his lap while in sitting position, while standing his right or left hand is moving across his chest when he explains the important points about the subject but never he drop his arms alone side of the body. He never allowed anyone to be at his back, he always positioned himself with his back against the wall, or coconut tree, or anything solid. His remarkable achievement in his life career was when he was selected to be the First Chief of Police in the town of Victorias, now a City in the early 30’s and still the largest Sugar Mill in the Philippines today. Victorias area during those days was noted for notorious cane cutters (Sacadas) working in the Haciendas. Victorias was famous for the best white sugar exported all over the world. As Chief of Police, he instituted strict discipline and conduct in every manner and fashion. Two times a week they were forced to train the use of the Police Baton and Arrest methods, but with emphasis on defensive tactics against the Espading, a cane cutter with special thin wide blade 14 inches long. The notorious Gangs used the Espading to attack their rival gangs coming from another province to work in the sugar cane fields (Haciendas).
The daily routine that was a form of discipline was for me to stand on the long table and do the foot work in form of forward triangle and reverse triangle. Doing my execution he watched me and if I falter he hit my foot with his horse whip. This was an initial conditioning that worked into my system and only when I was at the age of nine, I had to do slashes and thrust without even knowing the numbering system and only at this age I had my first lesson with the Talibong (blade) as my first conditioning weapon, just to feel and be able to appreciate the sharpness of the blade. The lesson was tough because I had to perform those routines in an open area where the sun and the grasses are my only friends. I have to stand against the heat of the sand and to be able to move using the Footwork against the tall grasses (cogon) and other small trees around. It was a complete simulation of combat fighting. The rattan stick and the Bahi hardwood became the substitute of the real blade. Transferring the familiarization of the weapon from a round rattan to flat blade made the hand adjusted to the slash and thrust without difficulty. As the years of training started to roll, the techniques became sophisticated and intricate. After learning the fundamentals in the different angulations and triangulations in the execution of the blades, the execution of each technique to be applied as a counter offense and re-counter offense using the cross methods accelerates to higher degree of application and that technical sparring becomes a requirement for higher learning. The following structures are the basis of learning process and mastery training.

1. To inculcate the full and complete knowledge of the Kali philosophy and understanding of its uses.

2. To discipline both mind and physical body the essence of preservation, preparation and technical skill with mastery of what is blade combat.

3. Physical conditioning to include road work, jogging with Kalis, leg conditioning, footwork, squatting high and low exercise, body shifting, endurance training, drop and back roll with 50 repetitions, push ups in several repetitions while the knuckles are touching the ground. Tactical execution included grabbing the Kalis, slashing exercises with fast movements from different angles of attacks and counter attacks, thrust and counter thrust, power blows, and bridging strikes.

4. Mastering the CONTRA-TIRSIA DUBLA-DOS is the ultimate goal in the Pekiti-Tirsia System. It encompasses all the micro and macro techniques that are applied in combat.

On the higher mastery, blade works with Double Kalis, Kalis and the Daga, Daga vs. Daga, Ranging and Bridging principles with simulated attacks are the major conditioning training. Technical sparring accelerates the proficiency level and in close quarter techniques, the application of in and out offensive / counter offensive movements are of great importance. How long for one to be really knowledgeable and skillful in the art? In theory, it can be absorbed if the principles are explained structure by structure. But to put into skill how the system operates, it will take a long time. In my experience five years on a continuing process it can produce a skillful fighter depending on the mentality of the person and the proper understanding of what is real and unreal. To be a real fighter, it takes a different breed of person, what counts most is the bloodline that connects the person’s ability to absorb. If his father or grandfather or grandfather’s father was a great fighter and had fought several wars, including his cousins, uncles before his father, then you can trace the linage of how a great fighter he may become.

Pekiti-Tirsia as a system is complete by itself. By the operation of the theory as a fighting art of Filipino origin the techniques that are in Pekiti-Tirsia are the products of accumulated knowledge gained by our great ancestors long before the coming of the Spaniards in the Philippines. The art of Kali is a Malay oriented fighting art and even the word “Kali” is a Malay word. A compilation of different fighting experiences were sorted out and the best technology was formulated by our great ancestors to fit into the proper time. Just as Lapu-Lapu killed Ferdinand Magellan without first using the Kampilan. The body armor worn by Ferdinand Magellan didn’t stop Datu Lapu-Lapu to use the hardened wooden Bahi as his first line of strategy to smash Magellan’s armor including the head. It was then that Magellan lost his senses then Lapu-Lapu chopped his head with the use of the Kampilan.

The Spaniards, the Americans, and the Japanese had all one thing to say. The Filipino Fighting art was very effective and the Filipino warriors were gifted fighters because they were given the strongest tool to fight and that was the Filipino Kali Philosophy, one believes in Life not death, one believe in Success not failure, one believes in good Health not sickness. If there is any Martial Art in the world today that can be more factual in terms of effectiveness with track records of fighting capabilities, it is the Filipino Fighters and the Fighting Art itself and it’s remarkable significant history to recall.

1. 1521 – Datu Lapu-Lapu (a Filipino Chieftain) on the Island of Mactan, Cebu killed Ferdinand Magellan in the Battle of Mactan using the Art of Kali.

2. Philippine Spanish revolution, Spain lost the revolution by selling the Filipinos to the Americans in the Treaty of Paris in 1899.

3. The Philippine-American War, the US Army forced the development of the 45 Calibre Pistol with knock down power to stop Filipino Bolo Fighters fighting against the Americans.

The Japanese Imperial Forces occupied the Philippines and declared that the Americans will only find grasses and trees, because they will wipe out all the Filipinos. It took four months for the Japanese Imperial Forces to completely control and occupy the Philippines after the surrender of General Wainwright of the United States Armed forces. The Filipino Guerrillas fled to the mountains and continued fighting the Japanese using the Filipino Kalis as the only means of offensive weapons using the Filipino Guerrilla tactics (evasion and escape strategy). For two years after the defeat of the Americans in the Philippines Filipino Bolo fighters maintained the battle against the Japanese Imperial Forces which made possible for the return of General Douglas McArthur as he promised “I shall return”. These are the major records how the Kali art was very useful to the United States Armed Forces and to the Filipino people that made possible the preservation of democracy in the Far East. How in-depth is the Pekiti-Tirsia System? The Advanced Studies, Research and Development, a division of the Pekiti-Tirsia, Philippines Inc. had extensively made an inward program since 1989 by making comparative analysis in relation to the authenticity of the Malay fighting arts known to be Indonesian Penjak Silat, Malaysian BerSilat, Thailand Kabri-Kabrong, MuayThai, and the Philippines art of Kali. The result of this research had intriguing facts. The Art of Silat of both countries, Indonesia and Malaysia have similarities with Filipino Kali in terms of techniques, and the training developments have parallelism. In the Philippines, our research continues to progress as to the relationship of Kali as a healing art with Herbology and metaphysics. This we find today that to authenticate the art, the grand old men that are still alive who had preserved the art and who live in the hinterlands can manifest the real truth, that Filipino Fighting Art has been used as a major line of defense against aggressors and as traditions the Bolo/Kalis is symbolic in all activities of the Filipino Families. It is the art of complete fluidity and the smoothness of movement and the intercrossing of angulations and triangulations in rapid succession of slashes and thrusts that makes the Filipino Fighting Art effective as it is and effective as it was.