On April 20th, Eskabo Daan hosted the Day of Play at Mission High School. The Day of Play is described Eskabo Daan’s way of “giving back to the community,” as stated by Master Joseph Bautista.

“The purpose was to keep the after school program at Mission High School going because they almost got cut. They came to us saying they’re having problems reaching budget and they asked if there’s anything we can do. And since we are a martial arts school, the only thing we can do is throw a martial arts function, therefore we did.”

The Day of Play is described as a two-part event in which different martial arts schools would come together and showcase their art.

After the showcase, each system would hold a seminar for anyone wishing to learn more. Aside from reaching the quota for the after school program, Bautista explained Eskabo Daan had another goal in mind.

“To help promote, propagate and unify (FMA) Filipino Martial Arts. We invited everyone regardless of political issues and whatever problems they had amongst each other.

We invited everyone and who ever attended, showed unity.” Schools from Stockton, Sacramento and Vallejo all gathered to participate into the Day of Play.

When asked why they wanted other Filipino Marital Arts systems to perform with Eskabo Daan, Bautista explained “FMA as a whole is what our passion is.

We want FMA as a whole to grow and the only reason why FMA isn’t at the same stage as Tae Kwon Do, Karate and Jujitsu is because we are not unified.

This is just one of many attempts to get the cohesiveness amongst Filipino martial artists. The more we do it, the more united and better off as a whole we will all be.”

The Day of Play was successful event as it amounted to more than half of Mission High School’s after school budget.

Eskabo Daan plans to keep hosting the Day of Play every year and making changes to keep make the experience different.

“This year was just demonstrations and seminars. Next year, we plan on hosting a tournament”

The Day of Play is just another way that Eskabo Daan is helping to create unity among Filipino Martial Arts and give back to the community.

With the coming years, the Day of Play aspires to be an event that will carry on for generations and show the world the beauty of Filipino Martial Arts and culture