[Jim McDougall]

In the Philippines under Spanish suzerainty, there was a great deal of weaponry etc. deeply influenced by Spanish/European examples. This, as Mark Eley has well noted, is reflected in the shape of the hilt and guard including the riveted grip panels.

The shape of the blade indicates of course it would be in the spectrum of edged implement/weapons known loosely as bolo's (if I understand correctly as these classifications are often somewhat vague). These are as suggested used as machetes as would be expected in these regions, and the 'espada ancha' of Spanish colonial frontiers in Mexico and the American Southwest, was used very much in the same manner.

With the colonial connections with the Philippines being the far east sector of the 'Spanish Main', the diffusion of these elemental styles is of course quite expected. In the time I collected and studied the espada ancha, I had examples of these Philippine weapons with such similarity included in the spectrum as extended examples of the type.

The espada ancha proper, that is from Spanish colonial regions in the Americas, did not have a specific blade style or form, but in fact were mounted with Spanish 'dragoon' or military blades to locally fashioned heavy blades which were very 'cutlass' like.

In many cases, the ''machete' is believed to have evolved from naval cutlasses and the Spanish 'espada anchas' (Brinckerhoff & Chamberlain, 1972).

Attached are two espada anchas, which have the characteristic knucklebow, but the riveted plate grips are similar in styling to the example. The heavy 'blacksmith type' blades are also typical, with those with 'dragoon' or military blades more 'dress' types.
These were carried on the frontiers by mounted soldados who used them to chop through the heavy chapparel and vegetation of the deserts in the Southwest.