  I read an article: The Influence of Spanish Renaissance Swordsmanship on Filipino Martial Arts? by John Clements found in http://www.thearma.org/essays/influence.htm. I want to tell everyone how true this is. I am a Filipino and also an exponent practitioner of Kali as I studied the moves and compared them to other martial arts and studied the martial history of the Philippines through the design of our weapons it proves so true that our martial art was not as good as Myth makes us believe. Sad but true. Our blades were imbalanced, they were simple iron and they did not have the refined craftsmanship found in countries who have been making swords since the founding of iron.
The bagani though still kicked allot of ass. Being Muslim, they had education and the smithing arts of middle east with them… with their culture mixed no wonder they were masterful swordsmen of the era. They were the ones who were able to keep up with European martial culture… coupled with their bloody profession and quota (they had to kill pretty often… and fight larger numbers by themselves) they got better than the rest of the warriors of the islands.
Unfortunately their skills died with them. Their was no method of passing on the prowess without killing the previous holder. But Filipinos should not be distressed by this. Pride is much a sin as a virtue. Especially false pride. As a colonized people and those who have lived in exceptional hardship even up to these times, the ability of the Filipinos lies in their ability to adapt and survive. Adaptation may have skewed our perspective and our minds given such terribly corrupt, immoral, uneducated and decadent times but it has helped us survive till this day.
We have already come to a point that we should start thinking more than adapting. Time has change and the next evolution of our cultural survival is the strengthening of our culture’s positive traits and playing down the negative ones. Understanding Western martial arts have helped me understand Arnis better… and improve on the techniques of my ancestors. What better way to make them proud. 
