Balisong and the town of Taal

[harimauhk]

Originally Posted by Dimasalang

I also went to Taal Batangas and visited Barangay Balisong. This place is a lot smaller then I thought. Still had a blast visiting there though.
I visited several of the vendors, but decided to buy most of my blades from a family whos father passed away. The two teenage sons took over their blade making business. Felt sorry for them.
Some of the blades I bought. $2-4 a piece.




Are you a foreigner to the Philippines? Just know, it is legal to have Balisongs packed with your check in luggage, BUT they only allow a certain amount. I forgot the amount, I believe it was something like 6. You might want to ask them.

Hi,

Yes I am. I bought two in January and the Customs guy at the airport tried to get a bribe out of me when he saw them in my suitcase. He tried to be discreet in the way he asked me, but I pretended I didn't understand what he wanted and he finally gave up. lol

I will be picking up quite a few items there. What would you guys like? PM me and I might be able to help you out. My first stop will be the guy Miguel bought his from.

[ThePepperSkull]

Expect a PM later today about some pickups, harimauhk!

When are you heading down to taal?

[migueldiaz]

Houston, we have a problem ...

There's going to be a presidential election soon here in the Phils. And every election period, there's a total ban on carrying firearms and edged weapons in the country.

Thus, while the storeowners will readily sell anybody balisongs, transporting them to Manila might be a problem because the local police have mobile checkpoints, precisely looking for people carrying firearms or edged weapons without authorization.

And then at the Manila airport, the balisongs will be subject to confiscation if detected.

Dimasalang must have bought his balisongs early Jan. 2010. At that time, the gun (and blades) ban is not yet in force ... or Dimasalang was just lucky. Yes, I think he's lucky because he just recently got a nice Phil. dagger for a very good price ... but that's another story

Just thought that I should mention this, so that people will get forewarned (and I sent harimauhk a PM).

Please see also this thread in a Filipino forum.

[ThePepperSkull]

ooh, unfortunate.

Thank you very much for letting us know, Miguel. It's most definitely not worth the risk to pick up a couple of balisongs if there is a ban in place.

[harimauhk]

Hi Miguel,

Thanks. I picked up two in Jan without issue. I don't live in the US and balisongs are legal at home--I'm going to have them mailed out from Batangas directly so I don't have to worry about bringing them back to Manila.

Sorry guys, I have no intention of sending balisongs into the US.

[ThePepperSkull]

Miguel,

I found footage of the Panday Balisong you posted pictures of. This man is FAAST! I have an uncle from Banagas, who carried a beinte-nueve all of his life, and he was nowhere near as fast as this man is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7OjNyYfWx0

[harimauhk]

Originally Posted by ThePepperSkull

Miguel,

I found footage of the Panday Balisong you posted pictures of. This man is FAAST! I have an uncle from Banagas, who carried a beinte-nueve all of his life, and he was nowhere near as fast as this man is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7OjNyYfWx0

Check your e-mail. I hung out with him today and bought some of the best balisongs he had to offer. He taught me how he opens them that fast too. He told me he was inspired to work on his openings after someone pulled a balisong on him on a bus in Manila in the '70s. The guy tossed it in the air and it hit the floor, so he bent down, picked it up and opened it the barako way (with two hands). He got really close to Mang Ona, who then pulled out his own balisong, and said something like, "I'm not joking to you!" in Taglish, The guy backed off, sat down and got off the bus at his stop. Ona's biggest worry at the time was the police, but fortunately, nobody called them (this was prior to the era of cell phones).

I also showed him my Emerson Combat Karambit which I carry practically everywhere. He loved it (but not the price). He said he thinks the karambit is the best fighting knife you can get because of the finger ring.

What an experience! I was so happy and proud to meet him and he told me he was happy and proud to meet me!