He added that Inosanto taught Lee the FMA used in a dungeon scene of the 1974 film “Enter the Dragon.” Orpilla said that Filipino American martial artist Dan Inosanto, known for being one of Bruce Lee’s training partners, is a critical figure in FMA. Orpilla said the featuring of FMA in Hollywood, the ability to share it more widely through social media, and the increase of FMA seminars and tournaments in Northern California have also been helpful. Joseph Bautista, a Filipino martial arts instructor at Eskabo Daan in San Francisco and practitioner for more than 30 years, said the changes he’s seen in FMA throughout the last 20 years, including more instructors willing to teach it more widely, makes him hopeful about its future. “I think in the last 10 to 20 years, we realized that in order for Filipino martial arts to grow and to proliferate, we all need to work together and learn from each other and share our arts,” said Mel Orpilla, a historian and martial artist who has been practicing FMA for more than two decades. Yet even with less visibility than other martial arts, some practitioners say they see signs of FMA gaining popularity and are hopeful that it will continue to become more widely known.įMA instructors who spoke with NBC Asian America all pointed out that the martial art can be seen in Hollywood films including the Bourne films, “ The Book of Eli,” “ Daredevil,” “ Dune” and the Star Wars series “ The Mandalorian.” “And just knowing that I can be directly tapped in by doing these movements is real meaningful for me.”įilipino martial arts aren’t as widely known as other Asian martial arts such as karate and kung fu, but they’ve been practiced in the United States for decades. “By training, we’re evoking and connecting with our ancestry that go back centuries,” Manalo said. He said performing moves makes him feel meditative and empowered.

For Manalo, who has been training in FMA for about 25 years and teaches it in the San Francisco Bay Area, FMA was an entry point into learning more about his identity as a Filipino American that allowed him to tap into his culture and ancestry.

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