Some people may say escrima derived from Spanish fencing but many others consider it to be pretty much a Filipino development. Personally, I don't see a lot of similarity in style of technique between Filipino weapon arts and European martial traditions of the same period as Spanish colonization of the Philipines.
As far as learning European martial disciplines, it should not matter where you are...even Australia. I live in the U.S. but that does not prevent me from learning a Korean martial art. As long as there is an instructor present, you can learn it.
P.S. Yes, the word "escrima" is Spanish for fencing but it should be no surprise the word was used in the Philipine Islands. They were dominated by Spain for 500 years. I could refer to kendo as Japanese fencing but that does not mean it is European.
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