Filipino martial arts (FMA) integrates a "system-of-systems" approach to combat readiness. Filipinos have made significant sacrifices to develop their arts. Throughout the ages multi-cultural, multi-national invaders of the Philippines imposed new dynamics for human conflict and combat. FMA, the "system-of-systems" transformed itself as a direct result of an appreciation of their ever changing environment and circumstance. The Filipinos' intrinsic need for self-preservation was the evolutionary genesis of these analogous systems. They learned often out of necessity how to prioritize, allocate and utilize common resources in combative situations. Filipinos have been heavily influenced by the phenomenon of cultural and language mixture. The multitude of languages spoken in the 7,107 islands have not only diverged into dialects, but they have been constantly mixing with one another on all levels: vocabulary, grammar, syntax, and usage (see Languages of the Philippines). As a result, Filipino martial arts and its homogeneous systems comprise a vocabulary of heterogeneous terms. Change is the norm. Some of the specific mechanisms responsible for cultural and martial change extend from phenomena such as war, political systems, social systems, technology and trade. For over three hundred years the Spanish had control over much of the Philippines. The Spanish regime often enforced royal laws and decrees limiting and prohibiting weapons use by the indigenous people. These restrictions of use were partly responsible for secretive and underground nature of FMA. Spaniards often employed Filipino warriors known as eskrimadors for various battles and wars. The Filipinos' battle-tested tactics proved strategically effective from angle of old world weaponry and hand to hand conflict. Highly skilled Filipino martial artists are often characterized by a state of "flow" that is decisively responsive, deployable, agile, versatile, lethal, survivable, and sustainable. In 1972, the Philippine government included Filipino martial arts into the "Palarong Pambansa" or National Sports arena. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports also included it as part of the physical education curriculum for high school and college students. Knowledge of the Filipino martial arts is mandatory in the Philippine military and police. Today, the traditional Filipino martial systems continue to grow, new ones emerge, and new transitional FMA stylists continue to arrive on the martial arts scene.
Note: This page is meant to serve as broad overview of the core components and advanced capabilities supporting the Filipino martial arts. The three major branches of Filipino martial arts are "Arnis" typically from the northern Luzon regions, "Escrima" or "Eskrima" from the central Visayas regions, and "Kali" from the southern Mindanao regions. Within these branches dwell a long line of masters, families, systems and history. Most Filipino systems will associate with one of these terms and their respective Regions of the Philippines.
Ranking systems, proficiency levels and terminology can differ greatly from system to system, organization to organization. FMA instructors employ a wide range of training methods to demonstrate the knowledge, skill and best practices necessary to address a situation and to assess their students understanding and proficiency. Mastery is not identical. Thus, higher or lower levels of proficiency can be applied to each assessment/training method depending upon the maturity of a particular student. These individual exchanges/assessments can then be used to identify gaps in proficiency for individuals within specific areas.
Martial arts ranking systems are a modern adaptation that developed during the commercialization eras of karate. For example: Shotokan Karate master Gichin Funakoshi's original ranking system consisted of: white belt: five kyūs; brown belt: three kyus; black belt: five dans.
FMA has not become a highly commercialized art, therefore it has retained its traditional forms hierarchy: master/instructor/student; or grandfather/father/son. Some FMA systems have adopted or created their own ranking systems.

Filipino martial arts - Basic training and tactical methods
List of eskrima systems