Blaise Loong's Filipino Warcraft Background

Blaise Loong has studied and practiced the Filipino warrior arts for most of his life. Blaise's Great-Grandfather, Simeon Mandac, was a celebrated guerilla leader in the "Kataas-taasan, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan", better known in the Philippines as the "KKK". Simeon fought many a foreigner in order to gain total Filipino independence. Grandmaster Leo Giron, the highly decorated World War 2 commando who developed the Bahala Na system of Filipino martial art, knew the elder Mandac first hand. Felicisimo Mandac, Blaise's Grandfather, was a Major in the Filipino Army stationed on Mindanao. Both Mandacs were well-known throughout the Ilocano tribal regions as experienced eskrimadors. For Blaise, the Filipino warrior arts are more than just cultural treasures. Eskrima runs in his blood

Although Blaise officially started his martial arts education in 1971, he didn't get serious about his combat training until eight years later. In 1979, Blaise was personally invited by Dan Inosanto to become a member of Mr. Inosanto's famous Filipino Kali Academy in Torrance, California. For the next 13 years straight, Blaise studied the essential basics of the LaCoste-Inosanto system of Filipino warcraft in earnest. Guro Lucky LucayLucay, and Lucky's son -- Guro Ted LucayLucay -- were Blaise's official Academy sponsors.

Blaise Loong has been a ranked instructor in both the Filipino martial arts and the Jun Fan martial arts under Mr. Inosanto since 1984. Black Belt Magazine article 1987

In 1985, Blaise set out on the first of several research trips to the Philippines. Having initially travelled to the Islands as a todler in 1965 (and throughout the 1970's) to visit family, Blaise now wanted to make the long journey in order to further study the Filipino warrior arts. Blaise's first couple of training endeavors were spent in Cebu and the Visayas. He would visit the many chicken fighting arenas, do a little gambling, and wind up asking the locals as to where he might find an eskrima teacher. According to Blaise, he often times wound up hitting "a dead end". But, every once in a while, he would stumble onto an experienced eskrimador who was willing to share maybe 1 or 2 closely guarded battle tricks with the eager student from America.

In the early 1990's, Blaise spent many a week deep in the Malaysian and Indonesian jungles studying silat under the watchful eyes of several Mahagurus. However, on his return voyages back to the States, Blaise always made sure that he stopped off in the Philippines. It was during a stay in Zamboanga City on the Southern island of Mindanao that Blaise met a migrant Chavacano eskrimador by the name of Hurtado Arpa. "Manong Hurt", as Blaise fondly calls him, was a World War 2 combat guerilla veteran whose particular expertise was with a razor sharp bolo (Filipino short sword). Manong Arpa taught Blaise the "sun-moon-wind" method of bolo fighting that he and his warband used successfully against both the Japanese invaders and the local gangs of Filipino "pulajans" (bandits).

On his first visit to Jolo island, Blaise took the ferry from Zamboanga City on Mindanao to the town of Tandu Bato. From there, on the advice of Blaise's Tausug friend Saladin bin Abdullah Ismail, the lone eskrima student set out to find an elder Tausug historian --reported to be living in Sang city. Blaise never did find the Tausug historian, but he did meet the oddest Filipino martial arts teacher he's had so far. Ferdinand de la Cruz was born a Samal -- a serf class Moro tribe. He, and many other "secularized" muslims, adopted Spanish Christian names and led sometimes shady lives. Samals are a water people, living either in ocean villages of stilt huts or on their crusty, leaky banca boats in smelly boat ghettos like those in Hong Kong harbor. According to Blaise, Ferdinand was a "gambler, fisherman and smuggler". It was often rumored by the locals that the old man was a gang boss in the infamous de la Cruz prison gang. Every member of this gang took the surname de la Cruz as his identifying mark. Blaise worked on Ferdinand's boat for a couple of weeks -- in return, the old man showed Blaise what he called "bilangguan estilo", the knifing method used by the de la Cruz gang. When asked directly about his supposed criminal affiliations, Ferdinand always smirked and whispered through beetlenut-stained teeth, "Maybe, maybe not". Ferdinand also showed his eager trainee some "taritari" (short knife fighting) and the Samal's unique brand of suntukin (boxing) that utilizes double ice picks. Manong de la Cruz also paid Blaise in pearls.

The final Filipino elder to leave his mark on Blaise Loong (to date) was the late Grandmaster Gar Sulite. Blaise had the honor of being a private student of Grandmaster Sulite from January 1991 until the Grandmaster's untimely death in the Philippines in 1997. Grandmaster Sulite spent many hours training Blaise in the finer points of sword dueling and un-armored stick fighting -- traditional "old school" Filipino warcraft.

Grandmaster Gar's personal blend of several Filipino warrior arts, Lameco Eskrima, is well-known throughout the world today for its "completeness" as a modern Filipino martial art and for its proven combat effectiveness.

In an interview for Filipino Martial Arts magazine (Vol.6 No.2), Blaise was asked about his own blend of Filipino warcraft -- patayin estilo. Here's what he had to say about it:

"Patayin estilo is just a label that I use to classify all of the Filipino warcraft that I've learned so far in my career. Its focus is on the teachings and training methods employed by successful eskrima pit duelists and seasoned combat bolo veterans. I'm not in this for the art. I'm in this for the function. Patayin estilo is not a new "style" of Filipino martial art either...I'm not that vain. I'm just trying to preserve what my teachers have so graciously given to me. Patayin estilo is simply Blaise Loong's personal expression of how to effectively neutralize a hostile human opponent utilizing the battlefield tested, combat proven fighting techniques of the traditional warrior."

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