In search of the Batangas Blade

I recently went on what I can only describe as one of my favorite type of trip, the road trip. Although this was hardly an epic road trip (it was just for the day) it was still very special. My friend and I recently had a nationalistic debate about the Philippines and it ended up with us wanting to buy something that was very Filipino. Although we both agreed that the Jeepney is the king of all Philippine icons (ie show a picture of a jeepney to anyone and provided they are slightly knowledgeable about the world, they'll know it's from the Philippines) we had no compulsion to go out and buy one of these handmade marvels.

Nope, our trip led us to the beautiful province of Batangas, specifically the town of Taal, and more specifically still, Barangay Balisong.

Yes, we were on a quest to buy ourselves the infamous Balisong, otherwise known as a fan knife. If you ask me, the Balisong has gotten a bad rap. Before Asian gangs started using them, before Hollywood glorified them, the lowly Balisong was a utility knife used by the provincial folk of Batangas. The ingenious design, which allowed the quick deployment of the blade with one hand, something that undoubtedly would come in handy in many utilitarian instances, doomed it to become a deadly weapon making it now illegal in Australia, the UK, several US States and funnily enough, the sale of the classic Bente Nueve (29 cm) knife is also banned in the Philippines. Banned everywhere except in Barangay Balisong in the town of Taal is seemed.

When we got there to track down one of the more reputable knife making families, the Holgado family, we were in for a major let-down. It turns out they had stopped making the knife for over ten years now. To make matters worse, no one made quality balisongs in Barangay Balisong anymore which to me seemed like a crime against the Philippine culture. If the Nepalese have their kukri, then we should have our Balisongs. As we talked further with old man Holgado he said there were a few Balisong makers he can refer us to if we wanted (and yes, we wanted) but before we left he showed us what he was making now, budding / gardening knives. We could not resist, we bought a pair for ourselves before we set off to get our Balisong. It seemed kind of poetic, the old man who made a living making deadly Balisongs has decided to turn to gardening knives.

In the end we were able to buy our knives but to tell you the truth it was bitter sweet. There are not many things the Philippines is known for and it's a shame that something like the Balisong is now doomed to be fade away.