A Brief History:
     Stick as a weapon started back many centuries ago, during the primitive period. It is a means of survival used by people to protect themselves from harm. In the Philippines, much of the influences of the fighting arts came from neighboring countries like Indonesia. The Malay people migration brought the bladed weapon fighting arts. Other migrants reached different islands in the Philippines and contributed their fighting arts thereby enriching the Filipino fighting arts arsenal, as we know to this day. However, if we go back to record history, it was during reign of the ten Datus (chieftains) from Borneo that Kali, the forerunner of Arnis was taught to the school of Bothoan in the Island of Panay. These ten Datus has secretly sailed from Borneo to an unknown destination to elude the mistreatment from the Sultan of Borneo among his subjects. The ten Datus settled in the Island of Panay after a peaceful negotiation with the natives. Sometime after that, the three Datus sailed northward to the island Luzon, but one Datu eventually sailed back to Borneo. In the course of time, the families of the two Datus spread out to the regions of Laguna and Bicol.

Ferdinand Magellan (Portuguese pronunciation Fernão Magalhaes). The first circumnavigator of the real world; born about 1480 at Saborosa in Villa Real, Province of Traz os Montes, died during his voyage of discovery on the Island of Mactan in the 27 April 1521.

     In the early part of the sixteen centuries, the Spaniards invaded the Philippines. The first famous foreigner to encounter Filipino stick fighters was Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese serving the Spanish royalty.
In Mactan, he was defeated and killed in battle by chieftain Lapu-Lapu, one of the earliest Filipino heroes of the Philippine Islands.
It was recorded that during the battle of Mactan that many of the natives had uses a pointed short sticks that had been further harden by fire treatment process.
     History has it that a noble tradition of Filipino stick and knife fighting started once Tribal Chieftain Lapu Lapu and his warriors decisively defeated and killed the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during their bloody skirmish when they invaded that Philippine island on the fateful morning of April 27th in 1521 there on the shores of Mactan Island. The celebrated victory of these Mactan warriors thus began a tradition of postulating and developing Filipino sword, knife and stick fighting arts among the tribes in that region. It later spread throughout the entire populated area and to other islands of the Philippines.

Flags of the Spain Crown under which Magellan sailed for during his discovery of the Philippine Islands.

     An Account of the historical Battle between Ferdinand Magellan’s and (Rajah) Chieftain Lapu Lapu’s Warriors.

     When the Spanish came on the archipelago which was baptized "Philippines" after the name of King Phillip II, around the middle of the 16th century, they were aiming at the conquest of that part of the so-called "Silk Road". They landed on the beach of Samar and found some small sultanates governed by Chieftains. Tradition has it that these monarchs came from the Datu and integrated, towards the early 14th century, with the groups of tradesmen who would bring their Muslim culture and religion mostly to the Sulu archipelago and other areas to the north.
     The mission, financed by the Crown and entrusted to the Portuguese Fernào Magalhaes (Ferdinand Magellan) and Ruy Faleiro, set forth from Seville on the 10 of August 1519 with a fleet of five ships: the admiral Trinidad and four three-masted square-sailed ships, equipped with big holds to carry spices: Sant'Antonio, Concepcion, Victoria and Santiago. The crew was composed of about 300 men (265 / 270 according to some more precise accounts); among them there was I, the Vicentine historiographer, Antonio Pigafetta, who wrote the ship journal of that dramatic expedition: Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al mondo (A Voyage around the World, 1524); the journal reports the episodes of Magellan's death and the return to Spain of one single ship with 22 survivors (some accounts say 18) after three years.
     On the morning of 27 April 1521, after establishing good relations with the Chieftains of Samar and Cebu, Magellan landed with some boats of his crew on the island of Mactan. In this regard, it is proper to clarify a legend: the battle took place during the landing, between the shallow and the shore, while the boats were standing aground.
     On one side there were 55 men led by Magellan, equipped with small arms suitable for scouting such as: spada da lato (cut-and-thrust sword: a traditional European weapon, steady and efficient, which combined the efficacy of both cut and thrust blows); daga (kind of short sword of about 40/50 cm in length, with characteristics similar to the cut-and-thrust sword); some men also had a daghetta (a shorter dagger, whose maximum length could reach up to 40 cm; it was used as a secondary weapon or in combination with the dagger for fighting in narrow spaces, eg. thick scrubs); ascia da tolda and spada da arrembaggio (axes and small swords often used by pirates or during explorations and deforestation ). None of these men wore a full armor, which would have been useless and probably counter-productive: imagine how you would feel if you had to wear a armor of 25 kg. and move among shallows, sands and paths in the heart of the jungle, with a tropical climate. You can easily guess that your moving would be most difficult; moreover, the inside of the armor would work as a sort of sauna! Some of the group actually wore a morione (open helm) and a petto da campo aperto (steel single-plated breast ) to protect the most vital parts; anyway, most men were simply provided with the above-mentioned small arms.
     On the other side there were several hundreds of aboriginal warriors led by the Datu (chieftain) Lapu Lapu: some accounts report that they were even 2000, 40 "Moros" for each soldier of Magellan, a ratio of 40 to 1! They had bows to shoot their bagayaks, even five arrows at the same time and some short javelins which could be shot with such strength that they would pierce the very thick wood of the hulls of the boats. They also had tabaks and kalasags combined with barongs, kris and kampilans.
     Their arsenal and historical documents reveal that the Moros weren't an uncivilized race at all and they didn't lack any knowledge of warfare. As shown before, when Magellan landed on the Philippines, the biggest stock of the people living on the coasts was the result of a series of ancient migrations from Malaysia, Indonesia, India and in part from China. As a consequence, the Indian and Malayo-Indonesian cultures (which attribute great importance to military skill and have a long and steady tradition in this field) were widely spread among them.
     At the Bothoan (the ancient Moro school, which consisted of a blend of Indian, Malaysian, Arabian and Indonesian notions), the disciplines were arithmetic, religion, reading and writing (Sanskrit), lubus ( the art of using and interpreting talismans ). Moreover, the codes of military art were studied. This art was called Kalis (some variations as Kali, Kalirogan, Kaliradman, Pagkalikali), a word of Sanskrit origin which can be translated as "knife with a sharp blade" or simply "sharp blade".
     The swords were built by the Pandays, the smiths who relied upon the ancient Malaysian school to forge high quality blades, whose quench was not second to that of the swords in Western Europe.

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A Fight to the Death
     The battle was cruel and fatal to Magellan and his crew, who were taken by surprise by the Moros led by Chieftain Lapu Lapu. After a shower of arrows and javelins, they were overwhelmed by the massive attack of the warriors who set on their small group. Magellan fought very strongly to defend himself; although he was used to fighting and had already been hit during several other battles in his adventurous life, he was attacked from too many sides and finally surrendered: they hit him in his legs with arrows and javelins, which made him bend forward, then gave him the fatal blow. Tradition has it that this blow was actually delivered with a kampilan by Lapu Lapu, who has been regarded as a national hero since then.
     None of the men who had landed on the island was able to escape back to the ships. Those who had stayed on the decks, just before the coral reef, had no time to load the cannons and fire; they just could look at those rapid and dramatic events This was the end of Magellan's life and the first, disastrous adventure of the Europeans in the Philippines.

Antonio Pigafetta, Vicentine historiographer

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A Mighty Chieftain Remembered
     Lapu-Lapu defended the freedom of the Philippines. He is indelibly inscribed forever in the pages of Philippine history as being the first to resist the attempt to make the Philippines a colony of Spain. For 54 years thereafter, no Spaniard dared set foot on Philippine soil. To this day, a statue of Lapu-Lapu stands in Cebu in remembrance of his courage and brave deeds.

The style of ships Magellan sailed to the Philippine Islands.

     In 1521 Ferdinand Magellan landed in Cebu. Magellan wanted all Filipino kings in Cebu and nearby islands to surrender to Spain. There was one brave Filipino ruler who defied him. He was chief Lapu-Lapu of Mactan. Rajah Humabon (Lapu-Lapu's rival) convinced Magellan to punish Lapu-Lapu for refusing to pledge allegiance to Humabon (and Spain).
     At dawn of April 27, 1521, Magellan invaded Mactan. Magellan led a small force of 60 men to Mactan. He could not land his boats that carried cannons, because the northern gulf of Mactan was full of coral reefs. Magellan and his small group waded ashore to fight Lapu-Lapu and his men in ankle-deep water. The Filipinos armed with bolos and kris met the alien invaders. The Spaniards, even with their dreaded fire-sticks, were no match for the Filipino warriors. In the bloody battle that ensued, Magellan was critically wounded (which led to his retreat and subsequently he died).

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Filipino Warriors

     Also known as pintados by Spaniards. The warriors were armed with the kampilan, a long sword forked at the tip, or the kiwo kiwo, the wavy kris, the bankaw (bamboo spear) and wear for protection a barote made of woven thick-braided abaca or bark cord and the kalasag (a long shield). Their bodies are covered with tattoos and ritual scars.

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Weapons of the Philippine Islands

Photos Courtesy of the U.S. National Museum

     Their arsenal and historical documents reveal that the Moros weren't an uncivilized race at all and they didn't lack any knowledge of warfare. As shown before , when Magellan landed on the Philippines, the biggest stock of the people living on the coasts was the result of a series of ancient migrations from Malaysia, Indonesia, India and in part from China. As a consequence, the Indian and Malayo-Indonesian cultures (which attribute great importance to military skill and have a long and steady tradition in this field) were widely spread among them.

Projectile weapons: Blowguns, bows, arrows and darts, quiver and dart case. No. 1. Palmwood bow; highly polished, grooved, concavo-convex self-bow. Negritos, Zambales Mountains, Island of Luzon. 2. Heavy palmwood self-bow; flat surfaces, slightly concave on inner side. Negritos, Negros, Visayan Island, P.I. 3. Palmwood bow wrapped with rattan. Bagobo, Mindanao. 4. Palmwood bow; cord of bamboo splint. Moro, Mindanao. 5. Bamboo blowgun: Surface decorated with burned spiral bands and rings; lining tube of reed, sight elevation. Batak, Island of Palawan, Philippine Archipelago. 6. Arrow case of bamboo provided with rattan basketry cap. Moro, western Mindanao. 7.Blowgun darts and dart case. Batak, Palawan Island.

Warrior Arts from a time long past      Tradition has it that this blow was actually delivered with a kampilan by Lapu Lapu, who has been regarded as a national hero since then.

Photos Courtesy of the U.S. National Museum

Philippine weapons of offense and defense - Spears, lances, and halberds. Bows, arrows, and arrow cases. Blowguns, darts, and dart cases. Clubbed weapons and shields. Hand weapons for piercing and stabbing. Bolos. Cutting and slashing blades. Swords for cutting and chopping. Beheading swords. Head axes. Straight and wavy krises. Circular shields for parrying and targets. Oblong, pronged, clubbed, and tufted shields of hollowed wood. Body. armor of horn, hide, cordage, and fiber construction.

     Arnis continues to be alive and active even after the Spanish conquest. But for many hundred years it was practiced secretly when the Spaniards during their rule in the Philippines outlawed it. During the Spanish revolution, national hero like Andres Bonifacio, lead the use of arnis because of the lack of firing weapons against the Spaniards. During World War I and World War II, Arnis was used against the American and Japanese invaders. After World War I, adventurous Filipinos migrated into continental United States working in pineapple and sugarcane fields of Hawaii. The Filipinos that migrated to the mainland part of United States worked in agricultural farms.
     Little known to others, some of those who migrated are masters of Arnis who practiced secretly on their own or with someone that they could trust not to reveal their secret to others. Finally, as the knowledge of arnis was passed on to others, it captured the interest and excitement of others people. (Now, the new generation of Filipinos demanded the origin of what was rightfully theirs as part of their culture). Today as the art of stick fighting flourish, people from all over the world who wishes to learn the art, practice it. It is the fastest growing sport in martial arts today.

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