Grandmaster Bobby Taboada was raised in Cebu City. After studying karate, boxing, and other fighting arts, GM Taboada was introduced to the Balintawak school founded by the Great Grand Master Venancio “Anciong” Bacon, headed at the time by Grand Masters Teofilo Velez and Jose Villasin. His training was “old school”. Sessions would end bruised, battered and potentially bloody. Out of this fire, guided by Masters Bacon, Velez, and Villasin was forged an effective, tested, and highly skilled martial arts master and teacher.
GM Taboada still teaches at the headquarters for his Balintawak International organization, in Charlotte, NC. Since his arrival in the U.S. he’s been a self-defense instructor for the North Carolina Justice Academy and has assisted in crime prevention programs sponsored by the North Carolina Sheriff’s Academy, and been featured in dozens of articles and magazines. GM Taboada has trained martial arts experts and practitioners all through the US and around the world, in countries such as England, Australia, Germany, and Canada. He has produced a dedicated handful of Fully Qualified Instructors (FQI), authorized to teach his Balintawak curriculum that are scattered throughout the world.