Reviewing the info posted above on the falchion, the bracamarte, and the other cleavers and choppers, one cannot help but see a possible similarity in the evolution of certain ethnic Phil. swords.
For instance in the case of European swords, it was proposed that the falchion was an intermediate form (see att. below), and said falchion then eventually morphed into the cutlass, the saber, etc.
As an aside, one wonders whether the original generic Phil. bolo when it became the pinahig or the binagong or the bangkung, were the equivalent of such intermediate form.
And then (to continue the speculation) the Moros merely further pushed the envelope until they came up with the pira and the kampilan, for instance.
[We can recall that Cato said that the bangkung is a much older form amongst the Moro blades.]
Once again, these are my own "unschooled" musings
Hopefully we get inputs from the experts, to either validate or refute this (wild) theory!
But we are really talking here about European cutlasses and 16th century Spanish swords. So pardon me for the digression ...