Darrin Cook
Yellow Belt
The following is an event from the old school Balintawak days, related to me by GM Maranga.
The Balintawak club had arranged a sparring session with a rival school. The Balintawak members lined up against the wall. Rivals from the other school would pick an opponent out of the line up. One challenger stepped forward and moved down the line of Balintawak practitioners, trying to choose a suitable opponent.
One of the Balintawak guys was very muscular, so he was passed over. Unfortunately, the challenger didnt know that the muscular guy with the ferocious mustache wasnt very good.
As the challenger looked over Drigo Maranga, Maranga did his best to look tough, because at the time he was relatively new to eskrima and didnt feel prepared for the match.
At last the eskrimador from the rival school pointed to a small, older man. He had made his choice.
Rodrigo Maranga and the other Balintawak stylists repressed laughs. Sili kolikot! they sputtered.
You see, in Visayan a sili kolikot is a tiny but very fierce chili pepper (called sili labuyo in Tagalog). The challenger had unknowingly called out the master of the school, the legendary Anciong Bacon, who was small, but hell on wheels, and one of Cebus greatest masters of stickfighting!
The Balintawak club had arranged a sparring session with a rival school. The Balintawak members lined up against the wall. Rivals from the other school would pick an opponent out of the line up. One challenger stepped forward and moved down the line of Balintawak practitioners, trying to choose a suitable opponent.
One of the Balintawak guys was very muscular, so he was passed over. Unfortunately, the challenger didnt know that the muscular guy with the ferocious mustache wasnt very good.
As the challenger looked over Drigo Maranga, Maranga did his best to look tough, because at the time he was relatively new to eskrima and didnt feel prepared for the match.
At last the eskrimador from the rival school pointed to a small, older man. He had made his choice.
Rodrigo Maranga and the other Balintawak stylists repressed laughs. Sili kolikot! they sputtered.
You see, in Visayan a sili kolikot is a tiny but very fierce chili pepper (called sili labuyo in Tagalog). The challenger had unknowingly called out the master of the school, the legendary Anciong Bacon, who was small, but hell on wheels, and one of Cebus greatest masters of stickfighting!
