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FILIPINO FIGHTING ARTS & CULTURE

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PAKAMUT

  HISTORY OF PAKAMUT

 The first ever documented history of the Pilipino Fighting Art called Pakamut was the first encounter between the native warriors of Maktan island lead by Datu Lapu-lapu against Ferdinand Magellan the famous circumnavigator of the world that happened on April 27, 1521 in the shore of Maktan island province of Cebu. During the encounter the local warriors armed only with the skills of the native fighting art armed with fire hardened sticks, bamboo lances and few steel blades fought against Spanish warriors armed with finest sword steel, steel body armor, cannon and muskets. Despite of the well equipped soldiers their skills were no match to the native warriors. Few of  Ferdinand Magellan’s men made it back to Spain leaving their leader in the Shore of Maktan Island.

 

After half of the century on 1565 the Spaniards come back again lead by Miguel Lopes de Legaspi with more fire power and personnel and use the religion to gain control of the Filipino people, for the Spaniards it won’t took to long to gain control of the islands because of the superiority of fire power. During those times the practiced of the art was totally band but Spaniards favorite as entertainment because of its gracefulness and they called it Eskrima Kali Arnis.

 

During the Spanish regime for more than 300 years, the Spaniards not able to win the war against the Moros and nitibos who settled in the hinterlands or mountainous areas in provinces. The practiced of the art called Pakamut was not common to the people who live in the developed areas of the provinces, but for the locals it is part of their daily lives in order to survive. The art of Pakamut categorize into different styles Long range for beginners, Medium range for intermediate, close range for advance, when the practitioner get familiar of the three category using various kind of improvised weapons, the next segment will be the used of empty hands technique or unarmed combat.

 

 

 

 

The Traditional

A Filipino Fighting style, it was believed that Datu Mangal the father of  Datu Lapu-lapu the first Filipino hero who brought the art of fighting to the island. Datu Mangal was one of the descendants of the leaders of the powerful Sri – Visayan Empire of ancient Malay in the 13th century, who conquer and colonized so many lands. After the empire was taken over by the Maja Pahit Empire of ancient Sumatra and Borneo. The 10 datu’s and their kinsmen move and settled in the island called Visayan.

Grandmaster Felix Roiles

Grandmaster Felix Roiles a four-time World Full contact Stick Fighting Champion, numerous awardees of other martial arts disciplines spending his life since his childhood in martial art and the descendants of Datu Lapu-lapu the icon of the Filipino Martial Arts  wants to reveal the ancient Cebuano fighting style that he learned from his humble grandfather, who raised him in the remote mountain area of Cebu Philippines.  Grandmaster Felix Roiles was trained personally by his grandfather in Fighting style called  PAKAMUT at very young age. He  competed and successfully won  in various martial arts discipline . He started his own group in 1983 called PAKAMUT in honor of the art that he learned from his humble Grandfather Andres Roiles. He affiliated  with Doce Pares in 1991 and won every single tournaments in local and national competition in full contact stick fighting hosted by National  Arnis Philippines  (NARAPHIL)  and World Eskrima Kali Arnis Federation (WEKAF) then  joined the  Doce Pares elite team lead by Grandmaster Percival “ Val “  Pableo and  successfully dominated the 2nd World Eskrima Kali Arnis Championship. June 1996 was given an opportunity by the Philippine Sports Commission in the  city government of Cebu to travel to United State to participate the 3rd World Eskrima Kali Arnis Championship in United States.

In 1997 he opened PAKAMUT FMA/ROILES FREESTYLE Martial Arts training studio/gym in Carson, California USA.  Hosted the Best of the Best Full Contact Stick Fighting tournaments/competition, created a multiple World Champions in FMA world in both WEKAF and GSBA and received 2 Masters Hall of Fame Awards, featured in books, magazines, instructional videos, live interviews and represent well known knife company.