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was the reply to the command “ATTACK!” given by Master Instructor Jasper DeOcampo, Chief Instructor of the Philippine Army Pekiti-Tirsia Close Quarters Combat (CQC) program. Jasper or “Jas” has been conducting this intensive six (6) week training and certification program for the Philippine Army since 2008, first at Philippine Army Headquarters in Fort Bonifacio and now permanently located at the First Scout Ranger Regimental Headquarters at Camp Tecson, San Miguel, Bulacan. The Philippine Army General Headquarters-G8 sponsors the program that includes soldiers from other Army units deployed across the country including Infantry, Special Forces, and the elite Light Reaction Battalion – the Philippines top Counter-Terrorist unit.
Force Recon Marines
The Pekiti-Tirsia Close Quarters Combat (CQC) program, instructed by Jas and Assistant Neil Adlaon, is a comprehensive program to train Entry Level Military Instructors in Pekiti-Tirsia CQC. Each day begins at 0500/5:00am with physical conditioning and ends at 1700/5:00pm at the conclusion of the afternoon training period. The training program develops proficiency in five principle (5) weapon categories:
Combat Bolo
Combat Knife
Combat Empty-Hands
Combat Bayonet
Tactical Firearms CQC
The program also teaches the use of field expedient weaponry with anything that can be found on the battlefield and concludes with tactical scenario training in both jungle and urban environments. All student soldiers are veterans that bring decades of combined combat experience to the course and frequently discuss incidents of close quarters combat and their use of tactics and techniques. The Philippine Army General Headquarters-G8 is now conducting after-action reviews of graduates of the Pekiti-Tirsia CQC course to document the use of these CQC skills and the effectiveness of training. All students, usually a team of two (2) soldiers from a particular unit, arrive at Camp Tecson with full combat gear and firearms and are then issued their training equipment which includes an aluminum training Ginunting, an indigenous sword of the central Philippines and the primary Pekiti-Tirsia system combat blade, aluminum training Knife, additional rattan training sticks and knives, and Pekiti-Tirsia gear bag and training uniform/t-shirts.
The formal course begins with an introduction to the Pekiti-Tirsia Kali system and its history as a martial art and as official combat doctrine of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Master Instructor Jasper DeOcampo has been teaching Pekiti-Tirsia to the AFP since 1998 when he served as part of the Instructor Cadre of the first Instructor Certification Course for the Philippine Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance Battalion. This landmark six (6) month course was led by Magino’o Tim Waid, himself a former US Marine, under the command and direction of Major General (then Major) Natalio Ecarma. At the conclusion of this course the Commandant of the Philippine Marine Corps, then Major General Ponciano Millena, recognized Pekiti-Tirsia Kali as the official martial art of the Force Reconnaissance Battalion, and later in year 2000, as the official martial arts system of the Philippine Marine Corps. This was the first time in history that any Filipino Martial Art has been recognized as Official Warfighting Doctrine of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
The success of this program conducted by Tim and Jas, and continued by the Marine Corps Force Recon Instructors led to an overwhelming demand to teach these skills to all branches of Philippine Special Operations Forces (SOF) and Philippine National Police (PNP) special operations units. These skills now have been masterfully demonstrated and instructed to US and other allied forces by Philippine Marines and Soldiers during joint training and operations and has firmly established their professional reputation as military Masters of the Blade.
In addition to the Philippine Army, Jasper, who is the longest serving active Pekiti-Tirsia Tactical Instructor in the Philippines, also conducts training for units of the Philippine National Police and other government agencies, and conducts annual special instructional periods during joint US and other ASEAN military exercises such as Vector Balance Piston and the Balikatan, the largest annual joint military exercise held in the Philippines.
The training day begins with Jas and Neil leading the class in physical training sessions and then continues with an intensive aerobic tactical footwork training session. Footwork is also trained every day at the beginning of the afternoon training block to shake off any drowsiness from lunch. The students then begin a lengthy power striking and conditioning program beginning with the training Ginunting for accuracy and precision, and then move to the rattan sticks to strike a special target, a more than two (2) foot wide airplane tire from a 747 aircraft. This training develops muscular stamina for continuous, effective, and penetrating striking power.
Training then moves back to the tactical use of the Ginunting against the entire range of weapons, including indigenous edged weapons, encountered by the AFP as they have historically engaged the enemy forces of the Philippine government, be they communist NPA rebels, the Moro MNLF and MILF separatists, or the Al Qaeda linked terrorists of the Abu Sayyaf. Soldiers in the Pekiti-Tirsia CQC course quickly realize that the Combat Bolo is the superior weapon for combat survival in the many tactical situations that are possible on the battlefield such as when firearms become inoperable or when forced to escape and evade the enemy.
Combat Knife training includes close quarters use of the knife against weapon disarming attacks, counter-grappling, and sentry neutralization. Students then learn that the same attacks with the Combat Knife directly transfer to empty-hand techniques, which end with a takedown and control of the enemy, as in a POW snatch, or the termination of the enemy with a neck break or strangle. The key attribute of the training course is the effective training methodology of the Pekiti-Tirsia system. The Pekiti-Tirsia Kali system accelerates the development of the soldier into a complete and effective fighting man that can use any weapon, including rifle and pistol, as an effective close quarters combat tool to engage and terminate any enemy combatant. The result is a keen and superior physical and psychological advantage for the Philippine Soldier over any enemy combatant ever to be encountered.
Earlier in year, Grand Tuhon Gaje and Master Instructor Tim Waid conducted special instructional periods for the course which included close-quarters use of the Combat Knife and Sentry Neutralization taught by Tuhon Gaje, and, advanced Tactical Firearms CQC taught by Tim Waid. Grand Tuhon Gaje lectured on the unique mental training of the warrior achieved through training in the Pekiti-Tirsia system and the historical application of the Filipino fighting arts throughout history. Grand Tuhon Gaje then taught the use of the knife in extreme close-quarters engagements and termination techniques.
As most Philippine Army and Marine units operate in remote jungle terrain, Tim emphasized the direct parallel between the strategy and execution of infantry/small unit combat tactics and edged-impact weaponry tactics. He explained and demonstrated that the critical skill of maneuvering and closing with the enemy are the same regardless if one is bounding as a team, using fire and movement as a individual team member, or striking and bridging through contact distance with an edged-impact weapon. Speed of movement (team assaulting or using individual angular footwork in close quarters), combined with accurate rifle fire and precise edged weapon striking are the keys to killing the enemy. Tim continued with instruction on the use of the rifle as an edged-impact weapon, with or without the Bayonet, close-quarter handgun employment, and retention and disarming techniques with both tactical firearms.
At the conclusion of the certification course, the graduates are qualified to return to their units and begin instructing other soldiers in the CQC tactics and techniques of the Pekiti-Tirsia system. Currently, Chief Instructors Jasper DeOcampo and Tim Waid are developing an advanced course curriculum for the Philippine Army to train and certify Master Instructors in the Pekiti-Tirsia CQC system.
The performance of a fighter – his form – is determined by various qualities or attributes, that can be specifically trained. Like a well trained fitness coach is able to quickly locate the physical strength and weaknesses of a sports person and then recommends specific exercises using appropriate equipment, so does an experienced martial arts teacher quickly recognize and understand the individual strengths and shortcomings of a person and based on that he knows what training methods will produce best results for that person.
It is because of its importance for the Pekiti-Tirsia system, that the knife is listed as a separate category. As double knifes (one knife in each hand) or single knife (following Pekiti-Tirsia understanding there is no such thing as «single knife» but rather: «knife and hand»; the empty hand is not idle but supports and assists the knife in every action) it combines and integrates the characteristics of the other four named categories. Indeed it is such, that each of the other four categories is emphasizing and detailing a different crucial aspect of fight with or against knife. That is the reason why those five weapon categories have been chosen to establish the functional core of the Pekiti-Tirsia foundation system: Used as a functional framework extending the core field of knife combat, the weapon categories 1) to 4) are perfectly enhancing practical knife training.
These and other physical attributes are based on the non-physical human qualities Spirit & Heart: decision making power, self-leadership, courage, compassion, commitment and self-confidence. In a real world situation, may it be a physical confrontation or a different kind of emergency, those mental qualities make the difference in how well the available physical resources can be put into effective use. All in all Spirit & Heart are providing the solid ground, which allows for the development and manifestation of the persons physical skills.
He knows about the difference between killing and stopping as well as between hurting and surviving. A trained fighter with wisdom, heart and ratio – in Pekiti-Tirsia we consider him a "warrior".
With passing along the knife culture same is true as always, when practical skill is the measure of success: experience beats knowledge. If the balance of the knife culture is to be experienced, then it must be experienced live as an immanent part of practical training. If ever the training is one sided, the balance can be learned knowledge only and it never will be a real habit forming experience as it should be. As Grand Tuhon says: "First you know, then you understand." The trainees have to first collect experience and literally to feel it, before they are able to really understand. Therefore experienced Pekiti-Tirsia trainers prefer to balance the sharpness of the blade by training with impact weapons: stick and body weapons.
Like body weapon or stick training connect to knife training such that they enhance the quality of the knife training results, so do all weapon categories of Pekiti-Tirsia create an interwoven system of mutual support, so that in its entirety it becomes more then merely the sum of all its components.
A self-protection art must prepare for the variety of probable threats. A life art is to support the qualities, which are helpful for success and health in the life. Pekiti Tirsia is both: self-protection art and life art. Risk consciousness, self-assurance, confidence and caution must be held in proper balance. This is the task of the Pekiti-Tirsia trainer. His most important tools are the five weapon categories of the Pekiti-Tirsia.
days where the rich can point his finger and tell every one living in the territory close to his land, which as far as my eyes can see that is my land and all that lives within the site of my finger must vacate the land. Those who lived in these areas of about twenty families were told to vacate the area but not the Tortal family. My Grandfather together with his brothers with the Ginuntings stood on the corners of the land and told the Administrator to get out or else we will chop all of you to pieces. With a truck load of men, the Administrator left and reported to the rich Haciendero what it took place. For fear the Haciendero offered my Grandfather to be the Administrator in an area of hundred hectares and a contractor for roads and bridges going to all the haciendas. The only family left in that area is the Tortal family. 
surprise the enemy. Pekiti-Tirsia adheres to the old adage "that how effective it was, is how effective it is today.” Meaning the true elements of combat is embedded in every movement of the blades and every thrust, an impact of force meant a lot to be remembered. 
Dumog is commonly thought of as the grappling aspects of the Kali warrior. To explain that better, it is the brutal entry to close in into the enemy by destroying all the segments of the arms, the face area, the throat, the carotids, the collar bones and the shoulders. The use of blade of the hand is used to attack the sensitive point to paralyze or put one inactive in split of seconds. Dumog represents power to destroy through breaking specially the arms and down to the legs. There two parts in the body that are targets…the first part is the upper section from the waistline and the lower section of the body that includes the hips line , the major arteries of the legs, and the complete breaking of the ankle, the toes, and the legs with the knees, all of which are attacked to dislocate and not to look for submission. 