Warriors Eskrima

Warriors Eskrima is a synthesis of various styles and systems studied by Abner G Pasa of Cebu City in the Philippines. Pasa is a gifted individual, with the spirit of a warrior and the unusually analytical intelligence of a philosopher. He had serious combative experience (as a police officer in Cebu, and in response to challengers). His system integrates intelligence, cunning and awareness with technical depth and range.

The students learn weapons, striking and kicking, joint locks, chokes and strangles, trapping and unbalancing, etc. - a full range of martial skills. Instruction generally takes the course of learning single stick first; then knife defences, and the basics of empty hand skills; then combination weapons (double stick, stick and knife, and sword and knife). However, before going further into the practical details of training methods, it may be worth appreciating the historical background, and the over-riding principles which the practice of Warriors Eskrima aims to cultivate.

History and Background
For anyone knowledgeable about FMA, the technical pedigree of Warriors Eskrima is impressive.
Two of the famous names in the history of Filipino Martial Arts are Venancio “Ansiong” Bacon, the founder of the Balintawak system, and the Canete family, famous practitioners and joint founders (with other instructors) of the Doce Pares Club in Cebu. Abner Pasa studied eskrima under one of the top students of Bacon - Liborio “Buring” Heyrosa, and under two of the Canete family.

Pasa learned knife skills, firstly defence, disarming and immobilisation techniques from Gerardo “Larry” Alcuizar of the Excalibur system, and later from Filemon ‘Momoy’ Canete, founder of the San Miguel Eskrima system. Momoy had studied under Jesus Cui, a leading knife practitioner of Cebu.

Pasa learned the long range stick of the Largo Mano system of Eulogio “Ingko Yoling” Canete of the Doce Pares Club; and became the inheritor to that system.

Along the way Pasa also studied other martial art systems, such as Pangamut (empty hands, incorporating Panantukan and Dumog , Espada y Daga (Sword and Dagger), and Korean Tang Soo Do.

Ingko Yoling, when dying, asked Abner Pasa, as his senior student, to spread the art. Pasa founded the Institute of Filipino Martial Arts in 1991 to teach Warriors Eskrima.

The Institute offered the opportunity to train with other Grand Masters who had all influenced Warriors Eskrima - Liborio Heyrosa, Vicente “Inting” Carin, Fortunato “Atong” Garcia among others. The teaching curriculum reflects this rich technical background, incorporating staff (sibat) techniques from Atong Garcia’s system, olisi y baraw “captures” from Momoy Canete, Inting Carin’s - Ritirada, Herada, and Largada etc.

Pasa distinguishes traditional or combative Eskrima from competitive or sports Eskrima. Some practitioners of Warriors Eskrima take part in sporting competitions, but it has to be remembered that there are fundamental differences in the sporting approach: (a) It must put the emphasis on offence rather than defence, in order to score points; (b) A reliance on protective equipment to prevent injury could lead to a carelessness about effective personal defence, potentially fatal in a real encounter. The sport should therefore be complemented by the art, rather than being seen as an alternative to it.

Pasa has made many efforts to have FMA incorporated into the educational system in the Philippines, as having cultural and psychological value in addition to physical exercise. His approach is to use the FMA to give value to the modern world. Otherwise, outsiders can easily under-appreciate what it has to offer, by perceiving it only as a battlefield relic of a pre-technological-weapons era. Its original purpose remains - effective self-defence for personal survival - but in today’s society its practice is about personal cultivation through patience and respect, self-discipline and understanding, and about “self-defence” with a wider meaning. Staying active and alert is a defence against ill health and dullness of mind; developing an attitude of maturity and confidence leads to the ability to “disarm” and “immobilize” the aggressive impulses in oneself as well as others.

A primary motivation then becomes to seek to achieve and to share excellence. If someone else improves in skill, it does not make you worse; in fact, if you are training with them, it can only help to make you better.

Pasa says that nothing is absolute. Everyone reaches their own kind of understanding through their own experiences and personal attributes. A technique which one person dismisses as ineffective can be made to work by a different person. In developing into their own personal path on the martial arts, individual instructors are free to adapt or assimilate techniques from other arts in enhancing their own personal effectiveness. In the meantime, Warriors Eskrima has a technical syllabus of wide range and variety to pass on the art to others. The extent to which they develop their potential then depends on them rather than on the system.

In the UK and the rest of Europe, Warriors Eskrima is under the charge of the senior student of Pasa, Pangulong Guro Krishna Godhania.

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