Teddy Buot and Grandmaster Venancio "Anciong" Bacon 1973

     Born October 15, 1912 in Carcar, Cebu City, Philippines, He lived in Labangon, Cebu City. He studied under Lorenzo "Tatay Ensong" Saavedra in the early 1920’s in a style called corto linear. "Tatay" is an affectionate term for father as in the American term "pops” or “dad". "Tatay Ensong" organized what was then known as the Labangon Fencing Club, then to be renamed as the Doce Pares (twelve pairs). After the death of Tatay Ensong, through club rivalry, Anciong seceded from the club. Bacon was frustrated with internal club struggles and politics. He and Teodoro “Doring” Saavedra were Tatay Ensong’s most outstanding students. Doring Saavedra died during the Second World War at the hands of the Japanese kempetai.
     Anciong was innovative, original and fearless. Part of his training was as a wrestler. The man was small in stature, probably only 5’2” in height and no more than 120 pounds, soaking wet. Anciong was proponent of the single stick, using the free hand in what is known as tapi-tapi, checking hand or literally translated as the scolding (badlong) hand. The left hand was used to push, pull, clear, parry, punch, distract, chop, lift, carry and swing over the opponent’s stick. It was used in lieu of the daga or dagger that was used in earlier training. This was at first ridiculed by his detractors since the double stick was the standard of the day. The story is that Tatay Ensong took the short stick or daga from him when he would stab his sparring partners. Whether that is a fable or the truth is beside the point. He created and mastered the single stick and stuck to its practical usage. Today it is widely imitated and copied by rival clubs. Anciong abhorred the fancy stick twirling, a signature of the "rival club", as impractical in real fights. Bacon’s moves was music in motion – graceful, balanced, effective and powerful – even mysterious and baffling. He preached balance and was the master of psychological warfare. He called this “taking the power” away from your opponent.
     Bacon established a club in the small backyard of his student Eduardo Baculi. This was at the back of Baculi’s watch shop on a side street known as Balintawak Street in downtown Cebu City, thus the name Balintawak. Balintawak is a place in Caloocan, Rizal, known as Pugadlawin, where the patriot Andres Bonifacio made his famous cry for an armed struggle in revolt against Spain. This was later known as later Sigaw ng Pugadlawin.
     Bacon had several students and he had to make the rounds before he could spend valuable time with a student. Often, a student spent training time with his senior students or head instructor. Anciong would supervise instructions and executions were done correctly. When a student was waiting for an instructor, he had to listen amid the din of clicking sticks, to what the Grandmaster was teaching other students. A diligent and attentive student could pick up and overhear valuable lessons. Therefore, although a student may have spent years at his club, he may not have spent that much time in personalized instructions with the Grandmaster. That is not to say his instructors were not proficient and capable. They were excellent. Bacon’s body was starting to deteriorate from a wasting disease. Many times, he took time outs through long lapses of conversation that would interrupt the workouts.
     Anciong was a genius of his art, certainly a daring claim, not by Anciong but by his pupils. He was fabled and legendary - loved and respected by his student but hated and feared by his rivals and lifetime enemies but never disrespected. He was the single most deadly practitioner of the art with verifiable battles (bahad - full contact duels) to his name, including one that landed him in jail for homicide. He killed a man who waylaid him in the dark among the coconut trees in Labangon. His lawyer failed to convince the judge that what he did was done in self-defense. His lawyer apparently failed to prove that he used necessary deadly force to defend his life. Until his death at his seventies, this little man was known to humiliate young, strong and disrespectful karatekas, martial artists and eskrimadors. Often landing them on the seat of their pants with him standing over them in a menacing manner. His talent was esteemed, admired and even romanticized and embellished by his students and admirers. He was also shunned or avoided by his rivals. Regardless, he was a prodigy and master of his art that gained the respect and admiration of both friend and foe.
     As far as the author is concerned, there is and will always be only one Grandmaster of Balintawak, that is, “Anciong” Bacon. Many so-called masters of other clubs have used the term Grandmaster in a trivial manner as if attaining a self-anointed black belt. So few have deserved the title. The term has been trifled and cheapened - it has become almost worthless. Every so-so eskrimador anoints himself as a Grandmaster. Who grants these grandiose titles of Grandmaster anyway? Is it just bald-faced egotism and immodesty? ‘Just asking. None of his students during his lifetime dared call themselves “Grandmaster”.