Latosa Escrima

Latosa Escrima is the second pillar taught in every EBMAS school. It is a Filipino fighting system that begins with the stick, extends to other weapons, and finishes with what is in your hand at the time - a phone, a pen, an umbrella, a bottle.

A weapon-first heritage

Filipino martial arts grew out of centuries of historical conflict on the islands. Unlike many systems that put empty-hand work first and weapons later, Escrima starts with the weapon - usually a single rattan stick - because that is the most direct way to teach distance, timing, and the consequences of a missed read. Once those qualities are honest, transferring the skills to the empty hand is short work.

The Latosa lineage

The system taught in EBMAS comes from Grandmaster René Latosa, one of the central figures in bringing Filipino martial arts to the West. Sifu Emin Boztepe trained under Grandmaster Latosa for years, and the curriculum is taught in EBMAS with his full sanction.

Five principles

Latosa Escrima is principle-driven rather than choreography-based. Its training is anchored in five qualities that every technique should express:

• Speed - moving faster than the threat develops.
• Power - the right amount of force, delivered through structure rather than muscle.
• Focus - landing on the target you intend to land on.
• Balance - staying upright while doing it.
• Transition - flowing from one technique to the next without a gap the opponent can use.

Drills are designed so you cannot succeed without all five at once. That is why the system feels different from a sequence-based art: you are not memorising responses, you are training qualities.

Why it pairs with Wing Tzun

Wing Tzun and Latosa Escrima sit well together because they share a bias toward directness and toward doing more with less. The empty-hand framework of Wing Tzun gives Escrima a structural backbone; the weapon work of Escrima gives Wing Tzun a sharpened sense of distance and timing. EBMAS students train both, and most quickly recognise that the two systems sharpen each other.

Who it is for

Latosa Escrima is taught at EBMAS schools to the same broad audience as Wing Tzun - adults of every background, with no prior martial arts experience required. It is also frequently chosen by people in security, law-enforcement, or close-protection roles, because the principles transfer cleanly into improvised-tool scenarios.