At the Rizal/Luneta Park
The day had started early in Luneta Park. We had gone to the park with Masters Ricketts and Galang to see if there were any fighters training. There were just a few young men that were unknown to Master Topher so he decided to give us a tour of the park and to cross the street to enter the new Rizal Shrine. We took a lot of photos, especially of the large, elaborate shrine to Jose Rizal, probably the most honored of all Filpino heroes. We returned to the terraced area of Luneta and found some of the local fighters training there. After a number of introductions, some socializing, lots of Master Topher’s jokes and some demonstrations of techniques ,Chris prepared to spar with a student of Edgar Telebanco. I watched as Chris floated in and out using the Ilustrisimo footwork to adjust his range and avoid his opponent’s strikes. I was jealous and I was afraid we would leave the park before my opportunity arrived. Chris did very well against his opponent and I noticed that Masters Rey and Topher were talking to a young man whom they subsequently introduced us to. He was Jun Pueblos from the Lameco group and he had come to discuss business with Master Galang. He was about to be my savior. As Chris finished his match, Master Topher told him to rest a few minutes and then he would spar Jun Pueblos. My one chance was here. While Chris was still out of breath, I began pushing him toward the wall, telling him to rest, convincing him that he was very tired and I generously offered to spar Jun Pueblos. Chris bigheartedly permitted me to con-vince him.
I started slower than I meant to, and learned, swiftly and painfully, that Jun was an excellent "hand target " fighter. I got into the swing of things and started doing a little better. We were only going for the hand and arm, since we were not wearing helmets. I noticed Master Galang had retrieved my camera and begun taking pictures. Wilson was taping the match and I now had a record of myself in Luneta Park sparring. When I’m old and gray, (not that far from now) I’ll still have photos and tape of a not so legendary but, dare I say, game and willing American fighter, in a legendary place.
The Dasmarinas Center
We packed up our gear and headed for the car. The usual beggars were there with their hands out. Master Topher ignored the adults but had coins for the children, a habit of his that I would get to see several times during our visit. He next took us to the very exclusive Barangay (neighborhood) of Dasmarinas. Here, you enter through a gate staffed by armed security and drive through streets with some of the most beautiful houses in all the Philippines. Each house seemed to come packaged complete with manicured lawns, maids and security guards. We pulled up to the gate and were admitted by a small man in a security uniform. The front doors of the house were large and carved from rich, grainy wood. The foyer had a glassless window opening onto a lush garden full of plants, none of them familiar to me. This atrium occupied the center of the house, an unusual set up for a residence by western standards, but seems to be par for the likes of Dasmarinas Village. The foyer led to a huge living room with polished wooden floor completely devoid of furniture. Here was where we would train most of our time in Manila.
While we stowed our gear, Dodong Sta. Iglesias entered the room. Dodong worked for Master Topher as a trainer. He had been a professional boxer and taught Bakbakan members the sweet science of pugilism as well as conditioning drills. His English was very limited so he instinctively and cleverly avoided misunderstandings by rarely speaking . His taciturn attitude fit well with his no-nonsense approach to training. It would be a day or two before he would start to loosen up and laugh with us, and then only after he had fought all three of us.
Dodong took us through the basic warm-up followed by a series of boxing drills that left us winded and thoroughly soaked in our own sweat. Master Topher began taking us through the Sagasa series, a complicated set of blocking and striking drills that emphasize hip movement to attain and deliver power in your kicks and punches. The room started to fill as more of the students began to drift in. Introductions were being made every few minutes, but it got harder to keep the names straight. Within days we would know them all fairly well, or at least most of them.
I heard Master Topher yelling, "I Need a Cop Here". I figured I was the only cop in the room so I approached him. I was right. He told me to gear up for sparring. I asked who I’d be sparring and he pointed at someone and said, "Caloy". Glancing across the room, I was, in all honesty, not reassured by the prospect of engaging this particular opponent. Picture in your mind Bolo Young of the Bruce Lee film "Enter the Dragon". Slightly modify the image with Filipino features, and you get a fair impression of my adversary. Chris naturally found the situation very amusing, being the sadist that he is.
Once we got going, I found my helmet ringing every time I tried to use an overhead block. Caloy was strong enough to cut right through my blocks. I started moving in and out more in an attempt to avoid his strikes. This caused me to run out of wind faster, but Caloy was almost as old as me, so I had a shot at survival. Master Topher called out "Thirty Seconds" which meant, after getting used to Master Topher’s arbitrary interpretation of stopwatch readings, that we probably had at least fifty seconds to go. Master Topher has been known to be very casual and liberal with the duration of matches, especially if he is enjoying the fight. When I heard," Ten Seconds" I knew I could make it to the end, interpreting this as roughly only thirty seconds to go, tops! Finally, I heard the much awaited announcement of " Time". By this time Caloy and I were walking around heaving like a couple of asthmatics, but I was pretty sure we would both recover and survive.
Wilson Lopez was next. I can’t remember who he fought,(call me self-centered) . He fought better in Manila than he ever had before, constantly backing up, pausing only to land shots with excellent power and considerable precision. All the time that we were in Manila, we hardly ever called him "Ang Batugan" (the bum), a moniker that he earned at NAHQ and is a story in itself. As Wilson’s fight progressed, the inevitable "Thirty Seconds" announcement from Master Topher was met with loud laughter and heckling by everyone, including Master Galang.
Then it was Chris’ turn. This time against Dodong. Two things stand out about Chris’ fight with Dodong. The first was the way Chris would use his free hand to push his opponent off balance then, use the opportunity to land hard strikes with his stick, usually to the ribs. Once Dodong noticed this, he began to retaliate by using his free hand to deliver sharp jabs, rocking Chris’ head back and causing some loud laughs and a bit of cheering. The sparring led to the inevitable clashes and lock ups, with both parties agreeing to break. But on every break, Dodong would sneak one in and hit Chris in the head, followed by an immediate apology and a promise not to do it again. Add to this picture the fact that he rarely backs up, just keeps on relentlessly attacking, especially against a larger opponent, and you start to get a better image of this tenacious little guy.
This was one of many sessions we would spending in this house. Over the next days we would be doing " Cuatro Cantos", boxing drills, footwork, and basic stick technique under Master Topher’s constant and critical eye. The long, tiring sessions during the day would lead to an hour-long trip across town to Tom Dee’s Chinatown Gym with Master Tony Diego for another two hours or so of training. It was a brutal and demanding regimen. This was why we often found ourselves inadvertently dozing off as we drove across town.
Half-awake, or rather half-alive, on a hot October night, we are sprawled in Master Topher Rickett’s van traveling across Metro Manila headed for Chinatown through the bustling insanity that is normal here. Traffic in Manila is constantly bumper to bumper and it is made worse by the Filipino habit of communicating with other drivers by beeping the horn every five or ten seconds. R2-D2 would have been at home amidst this cacophony of beeps, whistles and honks. Add to this the noise of thousands of people on the sidewalks, in alleyways and standing in the streets waiting for a chance to make a suicidal dash for the opposite curb, and you have an idea of the daily normal chaos that is Manila. If New York is called the "City That Never Sleeps" Manila must be the city that never even sits down.
My travel companions, Wilson Lopez and Chris Bengel, were sleeping .We all had a tendency to doze and recharge our batteries when traveling cross town,(a good habit in a city where cross town trips could take one to two hours). I was watching the crowds, still not used to the uniformity of the people. For a kid from New Jersey, where everybody is of different races and colors, seeing a sidewalk full of faces that look like they came from one family was very strange.
The Chinatown Gym
Master Topher pulled the van to the curb, and we began gathering our gear bags and got out through the side door. Master Rey Galang stood outside talking with Master Topher while we pulled our gear together. We approached a large steel gate that opened into a dimly lit alley. This type of gate was common in the Philippines and I thought and completely agreed that it was a necessity in this neighborhood. I wasn’t real anxious to walk down that dark alley and we wouldn’t have if we weren’t with Masters Rey and Topher. This block looked like a piece right out of Newark or Jersey City.
We headed down the alley and made a right turn into the building to start the climb up three flights of dimly lighted, if at all, stairs that opened onto a wide landing where several men were training with sticks. They stopped when they saw us and began smiling excitedly upon seeing Master Galang. He had been away for years, building the North American HQ of Bakbakan International, among other things, and there were plenty of jokes and conversations, all in Tagalog, and occasional curious glances at the three conspicuously out-of-place Americans.
We entered the cramped and dingy studio and listened to more loud greetings while Chris, Wilson and I looked around and noticed how very small the room was. It was hardly bigger than the dressing room at NAHQ. This tiny room was the destination for people from all over the Philippines who wanted to train in Kali Ilustrisimo and quite a few Americans and other foreigners had come over to this room for the same reason.
Master Tony Diego is the heir and current Grand Master of the Kali Ilustrisimo System and had studied under Master Antonio"Tatang"Ilustrisimo as a young man as had Masters Galang and Ricketts. Punong Guro Edgar Sulite of Lameco and Master Yuli Romo made up the remaining elements of the "Five Pillars" of the Kali Ilustrisimo System as they were known. These three men were together for the first time in many years and we Americans were there to represent Bakbakan North America to show that the level of skill hadn’t been watered down in the U.S.
The atmosphere at Master Diego’s was informal and relaxed with Master Topher in the rear of the room, cracking jokes in Tagalog and English, making everyone laugh and relieving any tension we may have felt. Tom Dee began demonstrating the footwork, soon followed by single stick attack and defense drills between Master Diego and Tom. So far, nothing spectacular nor unfamiliar. This changed as Master Diego began his double stick work. He met each attack with a parry and flurry of lightning counters. He ended most of these with a vicious thrust to the face, often punctuated with a raised eyebrow and a cocky grin. He was enjoying himself, showing off a little and impressing us a lot.
Master Galang was enjoying the show, he being familiar with the antics and personality of Master Diego. Even more so when Master Diego would finish technique and walk out of the room. Wilson, Chris and I would stare at each other and wonder if he was doing this for dramatic effect. We found out later that he had an upset stomach and would leave the room to allow his stomach to settle. His return was usually accompanied by one of the inevitable Viagra jokes. In Manila every second joke is about Viagra, the Filipinos, for some strange reason, just find the idea of Viagra hilarious.
The rest of the session was spent sparring. Chris finding it very funny that I was sparring Charley Pastrana , a six foot two fighter from Master Topher’s crew. Master Topher tried to put me at ease by stating how glad he was that I was the biggest of us three so I could fight all the big monsters. Now that’s a pal! All the matches went well. Even Master Galang got into it, sparring "Mon" Tulfo, until Mon ran out of breath. Mon is fifty something of age. I might still be fighting at fifty, but I probably won’ t last any longer than Mon. Every match had Master Topher shouting " Last Thirty Seconds " and "Last Ten Seconds", time parameters that had absolutely no basis in reality. If a fighter showed fatigue, Master Topher would simply explain;" He Just Came From His Girlfriend’s House" or "He Forgot His Viagra".
We changed into dry clothes as Masters Tony, Rey and Topher stood talking, sharing local news and intimate jokes, occasionally broken up by laughter. We waited quietly while they spoke, already beginning to sweat in the humid, night air. We went downstairs to the van and stood around while Master Topher got in a few last jokes. The people in the street stared at these pale boys from the U.S., wondering what we were doing here with our big gear bags.
Over the next few days, we would see a lot of places around Metro-Manila. We trained in Dasmarinas Village and Chinatown, shopped and browsed at the Mega Mall as well as the Glorietta in Ayala. We went to Tagaytay for some sightseeing. We met Ronnie Ricketts, Topher’s brother, an action movie star and a Senior Bakbakan member and also Mansour Del Rosario, another action movie star, who, aside from being a Bakbakan member, is also a national Taekwondo champion.
Of all these, I would remember best the tiny room in Chinatown and the patio at Luneta Park. We must have done well in these two places, because after these sessions, Master Topher did us proud by introducing us wherever we went as ... "My Boys".
Mabuhay!
Copyright © 2000 Steve Antonsson, Bakbakan International