All three of these men are personal friends and associates
of mine who I have known and trained with for the past 24 years. Given the fact that these men are being
acknowledged by GM Atillo with the highest honor of being both Disciples and
Successors, speaks volumes regarding their martial arts skills, personal
dedication and integrity. This award
recognition is doubly impressive because of the fact that GM Bolden and Master
Vargas is a teacher-student pairing.
This is as far as I can recall in my 35 year career in martial arts the
first time that I have seen/heard of a teacher-student pair being promoted at
the same time and within the same organization.
It should also be pointed out that Bolden, Pierre and Vargas
are the only Modern Arnis trained people on the Atillo successor listing. This is quite significant because most of the
so-called Modern Arnis leaders in the Post-Remy Presas Era that began in 2001
after the passing of the system founder and GM have studiously avoided
acknowledging or working with these three men.
They have been characterized as minor or marginal players in the Modern
Arnis world, in spite of the fact that GM Bolden and Master Pierre were
instrumental in building a following for the late Professor Presas in the
Mid-Hudson and NYC regions respectively.
In fact it was GM Bolden who first brought the art and Professor to the
eastern side of NYS and along the Hudson River Valley between Albany and NYC in
the mid 1980's. The MoTTs (Masters of
Tapi-Tapi) and the WMAA (World Modern Arnis Alliance) leaderships were adamant
that anyone not associated with their respective groups were not even
considered as being Modern Arnis Players, unless those people joined their
groups and retested for the rank grades that were earned under Professor
Presas. They were also quite critical of
Master Vargas because he had not trained directly with the late Professor.
Equally important is the fact that these group leaders were
equally, if not more disdainful of GM Atillo.
They refused to understand that GM Atillo was an original member of the “Balintawak
Self Defense Club” that was founded in 1952 in Cebu. That was the very first Balintawak Club, with
all others being spin offs that were formed years later after some disputes
among the original founding members as well as their students. GM Atillo is among the last of the people who
knew the Saavedra's, Lorenzo and Doring, personally. His art is the closest thing that we have to
the original Saavedra Eskrima System, which is also known more popularly as
"Balintawak Eskrima". Couple
that fact with the reality that GM Atillo assisted his father Vincente, who
taught future Balintawak GM Arnulfo Mongcol, the art of Balintawak. It was Mongcol, who served as Professor Remy
Presas' first Balintawak instructor.
Afterwards, the young Remy Presas was passed along to GM Timeteo
Marranga for further training. GM Marranga was a classmate of Master
Vincente Atillo, under the Saavedra's.
In fact Vincente Atillo was a classmate of Venancio "Ancong"
Saavedra Bacon under GMs Lorenzo and Doring Saavedra. The network couldn't be any tighter and we
must keep in mind that Balintawak forms one (1) leg of the three arts that are
at the root of Modern Arnis.
GM Tom Bolden, Master Douglas Pierre and Master Peter Vargas
have been training with the man who indirectly helped to establish part of the
foundation for Modern Arnis. They have
been accepted and later acknowledged as highly skilled practitioners of the
Atillo-Saavedra connection to Modern Arnis.
I am extremely happy for them and wish each of them even greater success
in the future.
Sincerely,Jerome Barber, Ed. D.
Grand Master, Datu & Principal Teacher,
Independent Escrima-Kenpo-Arnis Associates
