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Worthy to be shared
by:Leo Quilaton
10-18-07
Many ask me why i continue practicing, and
propagating 'kali-arnis-escrima'.
There are many answers that i can provide,
the benifits as well as the cultural implications.
But one event stands out , and is worthy to
be shared over and over again.
As the article after this states; my training in the Filipino
fighting arts started in 1993 in Ozamis City, under the tutlege of Master Helacrio Sulite,jr.
One day in Ozamis City -late onto my senior year in college,
my wife and i decided to have lunch where we reside. After lunch ,we took a "trisikad"(a bicycle with sidecar) to go back
to school. We were in one of the main roads in the city, suddenly the driver pulled a hard left making the vehicle go into
a ditch around 2 to 3 feet deep ( in small citiesand townships in the Philippines after , sewege canals-ditches-run
parallel with roads) the driver jumped out of the bicycle, went down the ditch and stuck his head on a culvert,
then we realized that familiar sound of gunfire -as i looked in front ,i saw three guys running towards our direction approximately
20 to 30 meters-turning back and returning fire with their handgunds at police officers -another 20 to 30 meters
before them.
My wife and i were in the middle of a firefight and the bullets
no doubt was going our way.
So i grabbed her hand- jumped out of the "trisikad" , went
to the nearest house and i kicked the gate of that house that was located after the ditch where the driver was hiding-
then i kicked the front door of the wooded house, it was not locked - and as we went in- we saw the people inside the
house lying face down on the floor- this all happened in quick seconds. I then locked the door we went through- went straight
to the bathroom( It is common in the Philippines that the bathroom is always the concrete part of homes then, and is situated
always after the kitchen) - i asked my wife to wait inside the bathroom- went straight back towards the kitchen and
took two kitchen knives-stood at the back of the door- and waited-i can still hear gunfire and then a grenade detonated just
a few meters away-i could have sworn someone was kicking the door - i was just there placing my weight for that door not to
open.
With all this happening , the people inside the house was still
on the floor, and you can see people on the streets running for any covering they can muster.
When all became quiet ,and when we realized cops were buzzing
in the front street- we went out.
The results- two dead holduppers and one caught an wounded (
i guess he died on the way to the hospital-with so many gunshot wounds)- and one escaped.
We then looked for the driver - he was covered with mud from
the ditch.
It was quite an experinece that demanded my full alert reaction-
after all i was not the only one depending on my actions- but my wife and unborn baby as well.
I will positively say, that my reaction was due to the
fact that i was practicing a full tension - forceful martial art.
It made my reactions quick(or else get hit by the sticks and
blades) to any given random feedings.In return, honing my reaction time .
Fear was still there, but instead of cowarding (like those
people who just hid - which is a normal human reaction anyway) fear made me make quick life saving decisions- not just
for me , but for my wife and baby as well.
My
wife saw my reaction, how i managed to control the fear that was there,
making her realize after that fact, that "Kali-Arnis-Escrima" helped us survive that event.
In any emergency eventuality, tunnel vision ensues. This is
how it is when you are trained with just single opponents. You tend to focus on the one in front of you, not being aware of
the people who might strike from your side and back. Getting rid of this reactions or limiting it can only be
attained through real time training.Real danger will make an individual calculate movements exact to the safest as possible.
Weapons training will help ,since these weapons move faster
than fists and kicks. remember not in a patterned movement only- but in random dangerous deliveries and blows.
RANDOM is the key word- if your training merely consists or
PATTERENED/ WEAVING deliveries, how will you react when random comes your way?
Even in FMA- if you are just trained in patterned stuff- i doubt
how you will react in actual eventualities. Infuse random deliveries to make you prepared for random eventualities.
Another aspect that as a student/practitioner should look at-
are actual experiences of so called instructors or teachers. If an instructor is just trained in the sports arena- how well
will they react in the combat arena.
This is very much evident in one "Human Weapon" episode in the
history channel. One of the hosts is a good MMA fighter, no doubt about it- with his physique and ring experience - but
he had Zero skills when he faced knife and sticks. He accepted this reality- so he trained with the actual IDF warriors.
Train Hard- and be a Martial Realist!
(generalizations are made as of writers own opinion- streetfighters
turned professional fighters-military combat experienced personel are not included in this generalizations-this article is
in no way directed to put down anybody- but is directed for everyone to train ralistically-only the individual
can be his own judge)
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Leader's Martial Beginnings:
Kali-Kilat:When did you start your martial
arts journey?
Leo Quilaton:I Started when I was in 4th grade.
KK:What
Kind/Style was it?
LQ:Moo Duk Kwan-Korean Tang Soo Do
KK:What
made you choose this style?
LQ:My cousins bodyguard at that time was an Instructor then.
KK:How long did you stick with ?
LQ:From the 4th grade upto freshman year
in H.S.But i never really fully went out..i still trained with friends and those who stuck with the old school stuff..then
formally i quit at junior high.
KK:Why did you quit?
LQ:What
i did was try out the techniques that i learned. Almost always, you dont get a single opponent, it's always more than 1. I
figured , i get beaten up just like those who do not know it, but a good friend of mine, in fact he is some sort of an unofficial
bodyguard while a classmate as well..proved to be able to fend off with his boxing. So I got lulled into training with him.
KK:Boxing? pro or amateur?
LQ:None of that, it was just him
and me...but everytime i ask him how he will defend from a knife attack..he would just weave and still do boxing combinations.
At that time it was quite enough. But deep in me i beleived it was quite a dangerous knowledge. So I went and visited clubs..Aikido
was a good one, Steven Segal was at it's hieght with "Nico/Above the Law". But regular Filipino practitioners did not prove
to be as effective as the gigantic Segal (in Filipino Standards).So it made me question a lot of stuff.
KK:Who
was the person who made you think about taking MA?
LQ:My dad ,Rev.Cmdr. Rey Quilaton (Phil.Coast
Guard Auxillary,Chaplain)..he was a Judo Practitioner in College.....since i mentioned this..In our chruch here in Houston,
i presented a short demonstration during Phil. Independence Day Celebration . After the demo a church mate approached me,
and asked me if i am related to his classmate who happens to be his training partner in Judo..it was my dad. And he had stories
about thier college days...my dad never talked about his collge Judo days in detail.
KK:Did
he encourage you much?
LQ: Actually no. What happened was my older cousins took M.A.one did
a chinese style, and the other one a Japanese style. And sometimes during sunday afternoon when the clan gathers around after
church..my dad will play around with them, and show them some Judo moves.So i figured he knew..in fact i was the last one
during that time to take up MA..and I chose Korean Tang Soo Do.
KK:How about Kali?
LQ: Honestly i thought Arnis was one of the chinese styles..funny huh. Arnis/Kali if you will, was not
quite known during my Tang Soo Do days. Never saw it, never witnessed anything about it.
KK:How
did you decide to train again?
LQ: During one Christmas break..when i was in Junior College.one
of my cousins Ollie Tejada-Mandirigmang Kaliradman practitioner ,who had long hair went to a beauty salon . When he went out
a group of guys teased him as gay. Calling a person gay is a very bad idea if he is'nt where i came from during my time. So
what he did he went to get a cab (to get us quicker than possible), fetched me, my cousin Mstr. Nols of MK (See Links for
Mandirigmang Kaliradman), we went straight to where this thing occured. Mind me it was not my first time, but it has been
a long time since i had a streetfight..we went and bashed this group of guys. Me being the biggest in stature got the most
number of fight partners if you will :), i had at least 5 guys at my back (Since i was the first one who threw
the first punch) , to cut the long story short, after the buzz i had a bleeding nose a head concussion in three places, ripped
shirt, painfulabdomen, sore back and an alomost broken knuckle...i realized, that if ever i get more than one at a time..i
am dead meat.
KK: After That incident..what happened?
LQ: Nols and Ollie went back to Manila
where they studied..and i was left in Davao by myself to face those guys that i might accidentally meet anywhere,any given
time..sucks huh. This situation really made me feel uncomfortable..so every now and then i borrow a gun and pack
it..until the threat that i felt (or paranoia) subsided. Then one of my friends from the old school of Tang Soo Do, a quite
well known blackbelt opened a saturday club at his back yard ... so i practiced there every now and then, in fact i just went
there for sparring, and honestly i was back to complacency of thinking that i still got it.
KK: So MA was out of your mind then?
LQ: Actually no..i still went around,
even asked an acquaintance to teach me silat.
KK:Silat? So you also trained in
Silat.
LQ: No, coz the Silat that this guys
were practicng somehow mimics tae kwon do/karate with scoops and grabs, it was almost identical with old school Tang Soo Do.
KK:So what about Kali-Arnis-Escrima?
LQ:One holiday, Nols (MK Founder)
showed me some moves that was just mind bending at that time. And he explained to me that it was Kali or empty hand arnis.
So we had a goal that he study in Manila while I study in Ozamis, we even got Edgar Sulite's "Masters of Arnis-Kali-Escrima"
book as a reference to look for local masters and teachers. We decided that he study and i will and by the time we both return
to Davao after College or whenever, we will start a school where he will teach his basics and i will teach my basics and then
let the students decide what to advance on. So the ball was rolling.
KK: So who did you look for?
LQ: My first choice was Eric Olavides
of 1-2-3 de campo orihinal. In Ozamis there were many teachers, namely Olavides, H.Sulite,jr.,Ancheta and Pabling Cabahug.I
got hold of Olavides in a mall while he was walking and i approached him and introduced myself and my intentions. He asked
me to go to his house at a particular time, i went three times but he was not always there until i accidentally stumbled upon
Tuhon Helacrio Sulite Jr.'s students. So I trained with them. Tuhon Jun is a warm hearted individual and very skilled in his
own right..so i trained with him roughly two years max.
KK: What System is it? Sulite's?
LQ: Actually he called it Arnis SuDuLa(
SU-Suud-corto,DU-Duul-Medio,LA-Layo-largo), then he changed it to Arnis Sulite.
KK: Until what level did you reach
in this system?
LQ: I cannot recall any level he
labeled his students-it was just divided into senior and neophyte practitioners.It was composed of fisherfolk, barangay
tanods (Community vollunter guards) and farmers. They considered me a senior practitioner with the time i spent
with them.
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THE 1ST QUARTER MEET FOR THE HOUSTON STICK FIGHTING ASSOCIATION
BY:
LEO QUILATON
MARCH 5,2007
"KALI-KILAT"
HOSTED THE FIRST EVENT FOR H.S.F.A. THIS YEAR. IT WAS HELD AT LOST CREEK PARK IN SOUTHWEST HOUSTON.
THE EVENT
TURN OUT WAS GOOD AS EXPECTED , BOTH FOR THE PARTICIPANTS AS WELL AS FOR THE OBSERVERS.
MANY FAMILIAR FACES IN
THE SOUTHWEST AREA WERE THERE TO OBSERVE AND WATCH HOW THE H.S.F.A. HOLDS THIS EVENT. AND AS FAR AS REACTION IS CONCERENED,
ALL WERE POSITIVE.
WE WERE GRACED BY THE ATTENDANCE OF ALVIS"HOUND DOG "SOLIS (WWW.SOLISMARTIALARTS.COM). ROBERT MONIFAR OF EXCELL KARATE WAS THERE
ALSO (WWW.EXCELLKARATE.COM). THE GYS FROM BEUMONT TEXAS, BILL, JOHN AND DANIEL ALSO
DROVE TWO HOURS TO BE A PART OF THIS MEET. OF COURSE DANIEL AROLA OF DAMAG INC., JOE GALLEON , ISIAS GINSON AND
JONATHAN BOLTON OF HOUSTON MARTIAL ARTS ACADEMY AND THE BRAINS BEHIND THIS ASSOCIATION WERE THERE AND READY TO RUMBLE.
MY
FIRST FIGHT WAS WITH A SINGLE SMAK STICK TREATED AS A SINGLE BLADE - WITH ISIAS GINSON. IT WAS A GOOD
FIGHT SINCE BOTH OF US RESPECTED THE FACT THAT THIS WAS NOT MERELY A STICK THAT WE CAN SWAGGER AROUND BUT AN ACTUAL METAPHOR
FOR A BLADE. WITH THIS MINDSET , OUR STRIKES WERE MORE CALCULATED AND EFFECTIVE TARGETTING WAS PRECISELY ADOPTED FOR ACTUAL
MAXIMUM REALITY SIMULATION.
MY SECOND BOUT WAS WITH A "SOLIS-M.A STUDENT" UNDER ALVIS "HOUND DOG"
SOLIS. THIS GUY WAS MOVINHG TO AND FRO, MAKING ME REALIZE THAT ACTUAL MOVEMENT IN A BLADE FIGHT WOULD REALLY MATTER IF YOU
ARE AGAINST A TRAINED FIGHTER, NOT JUST A STREET THUG. BLADE FIGHTERS/STICK FIGHTERS HAS A CERTAIN BODY ANGLING THAT
A N UNTRAINED INDIVIDUAL DONT HAVE..IT'S A BODY SWAGGER THAT ONLY TRAINED INDIVIDUALS CAN NOTICE. JUST LIKE KNOWING
A KICKER FROM JUST ONE WHO WHO KICKS.
I ALSO FOUGHT TWO BLADE WEILD WITH ANOTHER SOLIS FIGHTER..A BIG GUY WHOSE
STRIKES WERE AS LETHAL AS I EXPECTED EVEN WITH PADDED SMAK STICKS.
I ALSO FOUGHT JONATHAN
BOLTON WITH A LONG BROADSWORD WHICH I TREATED AS KAMPILAN, WITH HIM HOLDING A SHIELD AND A SHORTER SWORD, UNFORTUNATELY MY
LONG PADDED SWORD BENT SO I SWITCHED TO WHAT HE HAS, BOTH THE SHIELD AND THE SHORT SWORD WHILE HE WEILDED TWO PADDED STICKS.
I COULD NOT BE AS EFFECTIVE WITH A HEAVY WEAPON IN ONE HAND COMPARED TO HIS LIGHT AND FAST TWO PADDED STICKS. ALL I COULD
DO WAS THRUST WHILE HE RELEASED A SALVO OF SINAWALI STRIKES. ONCE AGAIN PROVING THAT HEAVY WEAPONS CAN AS MUCH BE HANDLED
LESS EFFECTIVELY AGAINST TWO LIGHTER WEAPONS IN A SIMULATED COMBAT ENVIRONMENT.
MY LAST BOUT WAS WITH BILL FROM
BEAUMONT TEXAS, IT WAS SINGLE KNIFE AGAINST SINGLE KNIFE, IT WAS ONE OF MY BEST BOUTS EVER, SINCE BOTH OF US TREATED IT AS
IT WAS, A KNIFE FIGHT THAT CAN END OUR LIVES , IT WAS ONE HELL OF AN ADRENALINE RUSH WHEN YOU REALISE THAT A KNIFE FIGHT IS
AS DANGEROUS AS IT SOUNDS. THE TRAINING WE HAD KICKED IN WITH THE ACTUAL USE OF THE ALIVE HAND IN BOTH STRIKE AND COUNTER
OFFENSIVE STRIKES..THANKS BILL FOR THAT GREAT FIGHT.
IT WILL BE A DISGRACE IF I WONT MENTION MY GROUPS EFFORTS
AS WELL. IRA CONCEPTION AND GREG WHEELER OF "TATSULOK COMBAT CONCEPTS"(WWW.COMBAT-CONCEPTS.COM) ALSO DID A GOOD JOB WITH HANDLING THEIR FIGHTS. IT WAS JUST
SO ENCOURAGING TO SEE THEM BOTH GROW IN THIS ART AS MY PERSONAL STUDENTS.
PAUL AGUIHAP ALSO FOUGHT A GOOD ROUND
WITH JONATHAN BOLTON IN THE PADDED SINGLE STICK DIVISION EVEN WHEN HE WAS HAVING AN ASTHMA ATTACK.
SAM
GARCIA ALSO DID A TREMENDOUS OVERALL GROWTH IN HIS FIGHTS. WE ARE ALL LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NEXT MEET AND HOPEFULLY PARTICIPATE
IN MORE BOUTS THAN THIS ONE......
WHY? BECAUSE "KALI-KILAT" HOSTED THE MEET WITH MEAT!
AND I MEAN
GOOD BARBECUE. IT WAS ALL MY GROUPS EFFORTS TO PULL RESOURCES TOGETHER AND TRY TO FEED THE PARTICIPANTS AND OBSERVERS WITH
GOOD OLD FILIPINO BARBECUEING...WE HAD PORK, CHICKEN AND BEEF RIBS..AND I DO NOT WANT TO FAIL TO MENTION JARED MEIR'S
BEST BEER-BRATS. JARED WAS NOT ABLE TO FIGHT SINCE GREG FRACTURED ONE OF HIS THUMB IN ONE OF OUR PRACTICE SESSIONS..BUT IT
WAS A BLESSING IN DISGUISE SINCE HE DID GOOD WITH HIS BEER-BRATS...THANKS JARED.
AS DANNY SUGGESTED, THE NEXT
EVENT WILL BE HELD IN A BEACH. THAT WAS HOW I STARTED MY TRAINING IN OZAMIS CITY..WHERE WE TRAINED IN THE SAND..AND BOY IT
IS THE HARDEST PLACE TO PLANT BOTH YOUR FEET.
WE ARE ALL LOOKING FORWARD TO IT AND WE HOPE THAT ALL THOSE OBSERVERS
WILL NOT JUST BE OBSERVING THE NEXT TIME BUT WILL ACTUALLY BE FIGHT......
TILL NEXT MEET MY BROTHERS!
MABUHAY
TAYONG LAHAT.
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SELF DEFENSE
BY:LEO QUILATON
IF YOU WANT A SURE SELF DEFENSE TOOL- BUY A GUN! THIS
IS WHAT THE CONCEALED HANDGUN INSTRUCTOR THAT I WENT TO SAID FOR OBTAINING A CONCEALED HANDGUN LICENSE IN THE STATE OF TEAXS.
ADMITTEDLLY, I AM A GUN ENTHUSIAST IN MY OWN RIGHT. I
PERSONALLY OWN A KIMBER TACTICAL LAW ENFORCEMENT SERIES 1911 .45 HANDGUN AND A 9MM SPRINGFIELD XD9.
WHY AM I MENTIONING ALL THE HANDGUNS I HAVE ACCESS TO?
TO DRIVE THE POINT THAT NOTHING BEATS A FIREARM AS A SELF DEFENSE TOOL
SO WHY AM I PROPAGATING NON-FIREARM TOOL DEFENSE USAGE
AS WELL AS COMBAT EMPTY HAND?
BECAUSE OF THE FACT THAT THERE ARE LAWS THAT INHIBIT
THE BEARANCE OF LICENSED HANDGUNS IN CERTAIN PLACES, BUT THE NECESSITY OF SELF PRESERVATION AND PROTECTION IS STILL VERY MUCH
REAL AND CAN AND WILL AND HAS ARISED IN THESE PLACES.
WITH THIS IN MIND, THE DEVELOPEMENT OF A FOCUSED APPROACH
TO ALL VIRTUALLY DEFENSIVE SCENARIOS IS WHAT GRINDS THE MACHINE THAT IS "KALI-KILAT".
THIS IS OUR MANDATE AND OUR VERY REASON FOR
EXISTENCE.
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