According to Sijo himself, his escrima training around the time of the founding of Kajukenbo, was very basic and limited. He did not seriously study escrima until his 30's. And he only learned from 2 people during his lifetime. The below description reflects what Sijo told me about his escrima training.
His escrima training started around the age of 11, when he (Sijo) was living in Kauai with his older brother Larry. Although he was more interested in childhood activities and didn't take this training too seriously, he did learn some escrima movements, and the 12 basic strikes from a man he only knew as "Professor Alex".
Around 1960, he greatly expanded his knowledge of escrima by training with his stepfather, Alfredo Peralta*. Peralta was originally from Ilocos Norte, Luzon, Philippines. He had trained in a combination of the Ilocano, Visayan, and Tagalog styles of escrima. He was also a well known escrima fighter who fought in matches at the Civic Auditorium in Honolulu, before these matches were eventually stopped by the Territory Gaming Commission. (* In the past Peralta has been mistakenly referred to as "Alexandro", or "Issac", or multiple people).
Peralta' escrima system specialized in techniques using the single stick, stick and dagger, and single dagger. In describing his training, Emperado said that they very rarely trained with rattan sticks. Instead they would take 2x4 wood boards and taper down the ends to make handles. And then they would workout with these heavy sticks. He said that "after a workout with the 2x4 you could make a rattan stick go like lighting".
