Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Atillo Balintawak Successors - My comments

I am writing this separate post regarding the official listing of the Atillo Balintawak Eskrima successors, disciples and masters that was first published on July 10, 2013 on the FB site of GM Atillo.  That is in my opinion a stand-alone announcement and it deserves to be seen in its entirety without any accompanying statements.  I want to congratulate everyone named on the list.  In addition I also want to especially recognize three (3) people on the list whom I know personally,  GM Tom Bolden, Master Peter Vargas and Master Douglas Pierre.

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

3 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. The critics that are too afraid to comment here but feel free to drag this over to forums where they feel 'safe' are more wrong than they could know about the Atillo/Bacon thing for two basic reasons. They are all assuming that when Bacon and Atillo were kids back in the Philippines that it was like living in middle class in America: you took classes, paid for uniforms, studied different arts because martial arts was a ‘hobby’ or a ‘recreation’…

    They were not “contract martial arts schools” as we know them with a Business owning “Chief Instructor” who hires others to help him… Bacon was the Head Instructor but NOT the “FOUNDER”… the FOUNDERS were a panel of people from the same family/clique of friends/relatives who were given club officer titles like President, V.P. Secretary, Treasurer. The same structure as any other legit clubs would have had... same as the Elks Lodge, Moose Lodge... The DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY/RESPONSIBILITY would have been political. Bacon NEVER STUDIED A DIFFERENT SYSTEM except the Saavedras. These were FAMILY groups/Tribes (aka "Gangs" by today's language in some cases) that trained together in something that gave them pride/dignity in a world where they seemingly had no ‘upward mobility.' It even generated some income from underground betting on the fights between schools – just like they bet on cock fights and dog fights and many other things. Many of these club/family members were even hired out for security jobs based on the reputation of the individual and school – including Bacon who was hired to be a strike buster. These WERE NOT “SCHOOLS” like the suburban corner martial arts schools of today and to assume so is culturally ignorant.

    SECOND: The other point of confusion seems to be the term SCHOOL… for this discussion SCHOOL is not the same as SYSTEM. To make my point let me use Tim’s school for an analogy - since it is clear that Tim was the naysayer who dragged it over to his safe haven, but lacks the fortitude to actually discuss it where the point was made in its entirety. Hypothetically, Horizon Martial arts teaches a specific program to the students through the instructors. Eventually, students leave/open their own school at a new location – theoretically near the corner of Harlem and Genesee - and teach students the only thing they ever studied – Horizon Martial Arts Program. They break up the duties so that each one of the 'founding members' has different duties like book keeping, enrollment, instruction, advertising, maintenance… all are equal in martial arts rank but have different duties within the new school house. As time goes on the casual slang creates a shortened form of the two schools from “Horizon Martial Arts” and “Harlem and Genesee” to “Horizon” and “HarGen.” BOTH teach the same program but out of different locations. OF COURSE there are differences between the schools because of the individual style of the teachers and the students but the end product and standards are the same because both schools work from the same outcomes/goals.

    Eventually “Horizon” closes, changes hands, or – as has happened on more than one occasion – the head instructor dies. So the only school is the “HarGen” school still teaching the SAME program that was originally taught at Horizon Martial Arts. So, is it a new "School" or just the “Next Generation” for the same PROGRAM? Is the 'Head Instructor' the "Founder" of the "New School" or should that credit be given to all the original members? These terms need to be clarified and defined for an intelligent discussion. I hope this clarifies the second point of confusion/assumption. Of course anyone is free to read and comment here where the conversation makes the most sense - at the source. But that means the risk of leaving the safety of your own haven. Something that isn't necessarily in their courage meter from my own experience with Tim about face to face meeting either.

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  3. This discussion is interesting and important since it discusses the 'origins' or 'sources' of many arnis tactics, styles, systems, teachers,etc. that have been, as noted, distorted and obscured by innumerable 'self-serving' 'guros', groups, and 'masters' who either learned from certain followers of the masters, or students, and expelled practitioners, and a number of other persons. tracing the lineages is not an easy task or a cut-and-dried affair and will always remain controversial,especially if rumors and innuendo are kept going, as they obviously will in any case. I think that one has to listen to what everyone says or claims and then not bother further to accept or unaccept claims that cannot be readily verified since many, if not most,of the old and great amsters are dead and many of them never held what we consider ranks, titles, and the like.

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