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She faced her foe,
a long rattan stick extending from her right hand. Her knees were
bent and she posed to strike, but she was also ready to defend. Her
almond eyes focused, eyebrows met, and her lips curled into a fine
line. She could easily be the hero of a kung fu film because of her
strikingly Vietnamese looks.
It was the lull before the action. Her white t-shirt glowed in the
dim room, reflecting the beam of light streaming from the afternoon
sun. The tension brewed. Silence screamed. Then, her master signaled
the start. The sound of rattan against rattan pierced the silence.
She hit him and he blocked. He thrust his rattan stick, but she
repelled.
 Their
practiced movements flowed in rhythm. Their feet did not move, but
their torsos leaned in all directions. They attacked and defended.
Their sticks blurred in swift strikes and the monotonous sound of
clashing rattan rang in their ears. She was a ballerina minus the
graceful acts. Then, the sound of rattan against concrete and rubber
filled the room.
“Ta-ta-TA-ta-ta-TA-ta-ta-TA-ta-ta-TA-ta-ta-TA.”
The two synchronized their movement with the beat. Slow at first but
gradually speeding up in a crescendo of clashing wood, rubber and
concrete. They fought, but they danced more to the friction and the
clash, the beat and rhythm.
When their exhibition ended, Jacqueline Libatique slumped herself on
the wall below a wooden window frame. Adrenaline still pumping, she
sat on the red floor of their training room—Indian seat
style—catching her breath and cooling herself down.
“Arnis is self-defense. It looks difficult but it’s fun to learn.
Once you get the hang of it, each practice session gives you
excitement,” the 20-year-old political science major said, her eyes
glued to her master and a senior practicing rapid exchanges and
seamless moves.
“It is art—a craft. We practice not only to defend or attack. Most
of the time we train with our partners to make our moves fluid,”
Jack, as she is commonly known, continued, taking her arnis stick
and mimicking her seatmate’s beat.
Arnis or Kali is a native Filipino martial art using sticks,
daggers, swords, and hand and body movements for defense and attack.
The earliest known documents describing the martial art date back to
the 7th and 8th century AD in an ancient Indonesian Empire.
When the Spaniards invaded the Philippines in 1521, skilled Filipino
warriors used arnis along other martial arts to defeat the invaders.
Miguel Lopez de Legazpi’s success in Cebu and Manila, however, meant
the end of the era of teaching and learning arnis. The Spaniards
learned their lesson, and as precaution they contained the art.
Arnis was banned
for 300 years, but its techniques survived mostly in rural
Philippines where Spanish control was weak. Even in major cities,
however, the art flourished under the guise of dances or mock
battles staged in religious plays known as moro-moro.
In fact, the martial art’s modern name came from Filipino actors
costumed as Spanish soldiers with arnes, the harnesses worn during
medieval times for armor. The word arnes was corrupted to arnis to
fit the Filipino tongue, thus, the modern name of a centuries-old
martial art was born.
Jack was standing near the blackboard in front of the room,
practicing her moves with an imaginary opponent. She has been
training for a year. What started as curiosity turned to stress
reliever and finally, to a hobby. Now, she is preparing for an
exhibition as part of their group’s presentation in Night of Art, a
Filipino culture, arts and music program. She would present solo baston with her partner—a single stick routine.
At 4 feet 5 inches, Jack is easily the most petite in the group, but
that doesn’t prevent her from mastering the swift and rough
movements of arnis.
“When you’re just starting, it’s difficult to catch up. Your fingers
get crushed; your hands turn to black and blue,” Jack said, showing
the scars of her past injuries. “But the fulfillment you get is
indescribable. I feel strong despite my height,” she said.
Her master called them, and they formed two rows of three,
stretching their hands to their right. They held their arnis sticks
vertically.
“Magbigay pugay,” their master barked.
They all bowed. It was the end of their session.
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