Learning Escrima/Arnis in Philippines

Laban, you won't believe this but there's a studio that's not too far from where I'm moving in New Mexico that is associated with Doce Pares Eskrima. I'm going to contact them on their fb page though. They only have a 2013 schedule posted. There is another Eskrima school too so I have choices while I'm here in the states. I like that school that Percival is associated with though. They seem like a good organization.

 

Doce Pares

Laban, you won't believe this but there's a studio that's not too far from where I'm moving in New Mexico that is associated with Doce Pares Eskrima. <

I will...we get everywhere...

Val is the top guy for training. he is also the main man who is doign semianrs aroudn the world at the moment. SGM Diony Canete has finished doing smeinars in the US (last year) and will do his last European seminars this year, ending in London on August 3rd. If you can get to train with SGM Diony do so. When you are in the RP, try to get to meet SGM Cacoy, the last of the original members of Doce Pares 1932 Club. He's quite a character, and still up for a fight

Bill

 

Thanks Bill. I just noticed your name. If I do make it over there I'll try and seek SGM Diony Canete out.

Cheers,

Mark

 

Bill, do these guys all teach at Doce Pares Inc.? I found their facebook page but couldn't tell who all of the instructors were/are.

Mark

 

Doce Pares Inc

Hi Mark, yes, DP inc is SGM Diony Canetes organisation. On Facebook look for Percival D. Pableo.

For SGM Cacoy Canete look up www.cacoydocepares.com.

Bill

 

For Doce Pares, Balintawak, San Miguel, DeCampo 123, and a few other systems - Cebu is the place to go.
For Kalis Illustrisimo, Lightning Scientific Arnis, Modern Arnis and Pekiti Tirsia Kali - Manila is the place to go.
Cebu has better beaches and lechon that doesn't need sauce. Manila is more cosmopolitan and has the countries best regional cooking an hour away.
If weather is a consideration, you should see what part of the year you'd like to visit.

 

Diego,

Thanks. I don't pay too much attention to food because I am a vegan. As long as I can find fruits and veggies then me and my boys are happy because I can make whatever we need in what ever kind of studio apartment we rent. There is a great website for us vegans known as happycow and I will check to see if they list any vegan or vegetarian restaurants. I'm sure there are a few. Thanks for the tips. All of you have been a tremendous help to me and very generous with your knowledge.

Cheers,

Mark

 

Wouldn't you know, Manilla has more then 30 Vegetarian restaurants. Cebu does have about 10 or so Vegetarian and Vegan restaurants so I think I can manage for two months or so.

http://www.happycow.net/gmaps/searc...ippines&lat=10.3072&lon=123.898&submit=Search

 

I ran across this list of vegetarian restaurants in the Philippines. I can personally vouch for the Corner Tree Cafe. The food is excellent if somewhat pricey, by Filipino standards. Another place that is not listed, but is my personal favourite for inexpensive, hearty home cooking (vegetarian style) is the cafeteria at the Manila Adventist Hospital, formerly known as the the Manila Sanitarium. I'm there quite often as my students injure me a lot and I go there for rehab. http://travel.amerikanki.com/top-vegetarian-restaurants-in-the-philippines/?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=referral

 

Another place you might consider, if you're looking for a martial arts "camp" type environment (kind of like a muay thai camp) would be Camp Jansson in Nueva Ecija, about 2 hours north of Manila. Their fma instructor, Bong Abenir, is one of the best, if not the best, young fma instructors in the country. They also do muay thai, mma, boxing and yoga there. http://campjansson.com/filipino-martial-arts

 

Definitely Cebu! And Doce Pares is one of the most respected.

Until now, I'm still trying to find a school within Metro Manila that teaches FMA well plus convenient and affordable.

The Peketi Tirsia Kali in Makati is expensive. I live within BF Homes Parañaque but my graphic design studio is downtown in Makati.

But for now, such is less a priority as I'm more concentrated in Kyokushin training.

 

I'm just curious about what you would consider affordable?

Let me offer some suggestions of excellent masters that most probably haven't heard of:
Bert Labaniego (LSAI)
Bot Jocano (LSAI)
Bong Abenir (Abenir Kali/Kalis Ilustrisimo)
Jay Jumawan (LSAI/Kasilagan)
Arnold Narzo (Kalis Ilustrisimo)
Peachie Baron Saguin (Kalis Ilustrisimo)
Ronnie Royce Base (Laraw Kali Pamuok)
Henry Espera(Rapido Realismo)
Isigani Abon (Rapido Realismo)
Mon Rivera (Red Bagani Arnis)
Allan Fami (Modern Arnis/Kalahi Martial Arts)

The famous masters are easy enough to Google. I thought I'd offer some names of those not so well known.

 

Thank you very much Diego Vega for the vegetarian restaurant tip.

 

This is my first post so I will keep it brief. There are a couple of other things you may want to consider.

First of all, what FMA systems are you really interested in? There are bunch of them and they can be very different in their focus, etc.

Secondly, what do you have access to locally? Regardless of how good your training is when you travel, there is only so much progress you are going to make in a short time. Even if you trained 6 hours a day, 7 days a week, for a month, you are still only going to make a set amount of progress during the time you are there. From your description above, it seems like you would want to train a few days a week for a few hours here and there. In that case, your progress would be even less. Unless you have the money and time to travel to train on very regular basis, it would make far more sense to select a system that you can continue to train in when you get back home.

Just my 2 cents.

Peace,

 

Florete, there is only one place in my neck of the woods, well, two, that offer escrima training and I don't like either school.

I just found out that there is a Balintawak Escrima instructor in Nevada where I'll be moving too. Now I just need to find out what school he teaches at. His name is Paul Falcon but I can't find anymore information on him. There's also another place lvshaolin but I refuse to study with them. I've had a bad experience with the videos they've shared on youtube and, as I told them, this is on way to get new students.