Filipino Martial Arts Masters
Who Are Also Law Enforcement & Military Trainers
By Jay de Leon

Originally published in FMADigest, 2006

Primarily because of their familiarity with weapons, many Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) instructors are much sought after by law enforcement, military and security officers as trainers.  Many FMA sub-systems and techniques are geared towards combat on the battlefield; for example, the Pekiti-Tirsia system had bayonet systems, as part of World War II battlefield techniques.
Some subsystems or techniques lend themselves to law enforcement or security work, like baton techniques, control and restraint techniques using weapons and empty hands, etc.  Many of these FMA trainers are battle-tested, street-wise, and well versed in the total spectrum of weapons, including modern weapons like firearms, tactical folders, and non-lethal weapons.

Here then are the elite FMA instructors in the U.S. who are also law enforcement, military or security trainers.  You will note that some are in law-enforcement or the military themselves, while some are strictly civilian trainers.  Their original FMA styles are also denoted.

Tuhon Leo Gaje, Jr. (left) and Timothy Waid

Timothy D. Waid – Pekiti-Tirsia Kali
Timothy D. Waid is a certified Master Instructor of the Pekiti-Tirsia Kali system, and serves as Director of the Pekiti-Tirsia Global Organization -–North America.  Guro Waid served with distinction in the U.S. Marine Corps, beginning his study of FMA while stationed with the Marine Corps in the Philippines.  As Director of Survival Edge Systems/Pekiti-Tirsia Tactical Training Institute, Tim Waid instructs military units and law enforcement agencies worldwide in officer survival and tactical training programs.  Tim Waid currently serves as a Consultant and Tactical Training Instructor to the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, government agencies, and private business.

Hock Hochheim – Modern Arnis, Kombatan
W. Hock Hochheim is the Founder of Scientific Fighting Congress (SFC), which uses a hybrid of military, police and martial arts tactics.  He is a 23-year Texas Police and Military Police veteran.  In addition to various traditional martial arts, he has instructor ranking in Modern Arnis under Professor Remy Presas and in Kombatan under Grandmaster Ernesto Presas.  He has taught weapons and close quarter combat to over fifty military and police units, and has authored several books as well as over forty instructional videos for both law enforcement and civilian use.

William McGrath – Pekiti-Tirsia International
William “Bill” McGrath carries the rank of Tuhon (Chief Instructor), the first person outside the Tortal family (the founding family) to attain such rank in the Pekiti-Tirsia Kali system.  Today, he is president of Pekiti-Tirsia International and lives and works in New York as a New York State Court Officer.  He is also the Chief Impact Weapons Instructor for the New York State Court System and author of the New York State Court Officers Defensive Tactics manual.  He is certified by the FBI as a Police Defense Tactics Instructor, and by the State of New York as a Police Firearms Instructor.

Bram Frank – Modern Arnis
Bram Frank is a first generation student of Professor Remy Presas (Modern Arnis) with instructor rankings in the traditional martial arts of wing chun and karate.  He is respected as a blade master, and has won awards for improving edged weapon tactics, designing innovative tactical folding knives (such as the “Gunting”) and less-lethal control tools  (such as the CRMIPT, or the Close Range Medium Impact Tool), and producing first rate instructional videos on edged weapons. He has trained the U.S., Russian and Israeli security forces, law enforcement and civilians in the use of edged weapons and control tactics and tools.

Erwin Ballarta – Pekiti-Tirsia Kali
Erwin Ballarta is a master instructor of Pekiti-Tirsia Kali system.  He was the first full-contact arnis champion at the Palarong Pilipino Pekiti-Tirsia tournament in 1977 in New York, New York.  With over 22 years of law enforcement experience in Texas, he is the defensive tactics coordinator and instructor for state and federal police, FBI, tactical teams, narcotics agents, recruits and many other enforcement agencies nationwide.  He has been assigned to very high-level security and protective details, both public (e.g., President Bush Presidential Campaign Protective detail) and personal (e.g., bodyguard for Lance Armstrong during the Tour de France 2002-2004).

Phil Rapagna – JKD, Lameco Eskrima
Phil Rapagna is an eighteen-year veteran police officer in southern California, with a wealth of real-world tactical and instructional experience.  He has spent over twenty-five years in the martial arts, with emphasis on FMA, having instructor ranking under Dan Inosanto and Edgar Sulite.  Phil is a Post and FBI certified Firearms Instructor, a recognized authority on SWAT, a USMC Urban Warfare instructor, a USMC Primary Marksmanship Instructor, and a USMC Rappel and Fast Rope Master, a Master/Rescue scuba diver, and a nationally certified tactical medic.  He is currently a consultant to the U.S. government and military on firearms, tactics and Close Quarter Combat.   He has also worked on very high-level security and protective details, in both the public and private arena.

Felix Valencia – Lameco Eskrima
Felix Valencia is a senior instructor for Lameco Eskrima, a full-contact stickfighter, a blademaster, and   one of the premier law enforcement edged weapons training specialists in the country with an elite clientele.  He has provided defensive tactics training to numerous law enforcement agencies like the Los Angeles Police Dept, the Toledo, Ohio Police Academy, Arizona Highway Patrol, the U.S. Marshals (Honolulu, Hawaii) and many others, and firearm/weapons schools, like Front Sight, Halo, Close Quarters Battle (CQB) and Gunsite.  In addition, he has served as master-at-arms and training instructor for knife companies including Cold Steel Knives and Trident Knives.

Marines practice knife drills.

Rommel Tortal – Pekiti-Tirsia Kali
Rommel Tortal is the nephew of Grand Tuhon Leo T. Gaje Jr. and a senior instructor in his Pekiti-Tirsia Kali system.  He is the chief instructor of the Pekiti-Tirsia Pitbulls of Manila, Philippines, and serves as Grand Tuhon Gaje’s partner for demonstrations and training activities.  Currently, he leads all ongoing instruction for the Pekiti-Tirsia programs in the military, such as the Philippine Marine Corps, and law enforcement agencies including the Philippine National Police.

Christopher Ricketts – Kali Ilustrisimo, Lameco Eskrima
Christopher “Topher” Ricketts is a designated senior instructor of Kali Ilustrisimo, the founder and chief instructor of Bakbakan, International, and a grandmaster of Lameco Eskrima.  A tournament competitor and street fighter, he has produced many champions, many of whom have become part of Philippine teams in Asian and international champions.  Together with other Bakbakan senior students including his brother, actor Ronnie Ricketts, he has conducted numerous training camps for various branches of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, such as the Joint Special Operations Group (JSOG).

Ron Balicki – JKD, Lameco Eskrima
Ron Balicki is senior instructor of Lameco Eskrima, a full instructor in jeet kune do (JKD) and Inosanto Kali under Guro Dan Inosanto, and an instructor in Maphilindo Silat, Thai boxing, savate, and wing chun.  He was a professional Shoot Wrestler who competed in the U.S. and Japan.  His law enforcement training expertise is extensive; starting when he was a Cook County Deputy Sheriff stationed in Chicago, Illinois and helped train officers in riot control.  He has trained U.S. military personnel, anti-terrorism enforcement units, the French President’s Secret Service, and members of SWAT and the DEA.