Jerome Barber, Ed. D.
___________________________
Atillo Balintawak - Saavedra Eskrima Successors; My Observations and Comments
On July
10, 2013, GM Crispulo Atillo posted a notice on his FB site announcing his
official listing of the Atillo Balintawak Eskrima, Masters, Disciples and
Successors-Disciples. That notice was
duly reported in the FMA informative, Volume 12, Number 8, on page 17. I’m not going to repost the notice here but I
would like to comment on several things related to the notice because in my
opinion GM Atillo did a very smart thing publicly naming those people who he
wants to see carry on the Atillo Balintawak –Saavedra Eskrima tradition in the
future after he passes on.
Historically there is usually a
very large, nasty and ugly intra-system fight among the top students after a GM
has passed away. Sometimes the fights
have included family members battling amongst themselves and with some non-family
members of the organization. Everyone will
claim that they are the best qualified people to take over the leadership
responsibilities of the system while their opponents are phonies and
under-qualified status seekers. These
fights are never pretty, they drag on for many years and splinter groups are
formed with each claiming to be the only true lineage of the art. I watched from the sidelines as this very
thing happened in Modern Arnis after the illness and passing of the late
Professor Remy Presas. The bickering was
very disturbing to watch and worse yet was the fact that I knew some of the
people participating in the fight. I
refused to get involved or support any of the participants.
GM Atillo’s listing of Masters,
Disciples and Successor-Disciples is a wonderful gift to all of us who have
trained with him and learned from him.
Those people named on the list are clearly legitimate heirs and the next
generation of Atillo-Saavedra Balintawak Eskrima leaders. He clearly states that the list members are
the only legitimate proponents of his system and all others are acting on their
own and without his official sanctioned endorsement. This endorsement is better than being named
in a will because it allows everyone who is interested to ask GM Atillo
directly why someone was left off the list.
It eliminates the shill argument that the endorsements are misleading or
falsely contrived by someone other than the GM.
If only Professor Presas had compiled a similar document and made the
listing public prior to falling ill in 2000.
I want to congratulate everyone
named on the GM Atillo’s list. In
addition I also want to especially recognize three (3) people on the list who 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 listed
as Successors-Disciples,
speaks volumes regarding their martial arts skills, personal dedication and
integrity.
The fact that I am referencing
these three men should not be construed as a slam against the other people
named to the same position by GM Atillo.
It is simply that I do not know any of the others personally and have
not trained with them in the past therefore I can comment on them from my own
personal perspective as a martial artists and teacher.
The Successor-Disciple award recognition
is doubly impressive to me 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 or heard of a teacher-student pair being promoted at the same time
and within the same organization. I also
want to point out that GM Bolden, GM Pierre and Master Vargas, are the only
Modern Arnis trained people on GM Atillo’s 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. These three men have been characterized as
minor or marginal players in the Modern Arnis world, in spite of the fact that
GM Bolden and GM 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 and should not be considered
as Modern Arnis Players. The heads of
the aforementioned groups would not recognize the rank certificates issued by
Professor Presas and insisted that everyone who joined their organization would
have to be re-tested under the new organizational rules and standards. These same leaders, through their own
students/associates were also quite critical of Master Peter Vargas because he
had not trained directly with the late Professor. That standard is very interesting because if
one applies it across the board to everyone some of their own students in 2001
and beyond could not be considered authentic
Modern Arnis students because those people had never had the opportunity to
train under Professor Presas at a seminar or camp. I have been criticized for bring up the
re-testing rule of both the MoTTs and WMAA, but since I spoke with Dr.
Randy Schea, Mr. Jeffery Delaney (MoTTs)
and Mr. Timothy Hartman (WMAA) personally and through e-mail exchanges, there
is no doubt in my mind about their positions in 2002 on the matter of rank
recognition. Their current associates
can decry my statements as loudly and often as they wish, none of those people
were part of my conversations with these three men in 2002. If these organizations have subsequently
changed leaders and/or policies that is fine with me and I am not making an
argument that nothing has changed since 2002.
There is also the matter a good
number of Modern Arnis and Balintawak Eskrima people in the USA are not willing
to recognize GM Crispulo Atillo as a senior Balintawak practicitioner whose
credentials go back to 1953 when joined the newly formed Balintawak Self
Defense Club as a charter member. The
BSDC was founded in Cebu City,
Philippines by Venancio Bacon, Delfin Lopez and Vincente Atillo with Bacon
serving as the lead instructor and Atty. Eulalio Causing as club president. (Cebuano Eskrima, Neprangue & Macachor, p.167).
The BSDC
was the first group to utilize the word “Balintawak” in its club name wnd the
first spin-off from the BSDC was the Balintawak International Self defense Club
led by GM Jose Villasin and GM Teofilo Velez in 1957. GM Crispulo formed the “Ogok Gang” in 1957,
which consisted of a number of younger Balintawak stylists from the BSDC and in
1975 GM Atillo founded the Philippine Arnis Confederation. (Cebuano Eskrima, p. 170). He later changed the organizational name to
the World Balintawak Arnis-Eskrima Association after Marcos era of martial law
ended in the Philippines.
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 Crispulo Atillo assisted his father, GM
Vincente Atillo, with teaching the art of Balintawak to a future Balintawak GM
Arnulfo Mongcol, who in turn was Professor Remy Presas’ first Balintawak
instructor. This is a significant set of
connections because the Saavedras were the instructors of GM Bacon, GM Lopez,
GM Timeteo Maranga and GM Vincente Atillo and all four men trained under GM
Teodoro “Doring” Saavedra prior to WWII at the Doce Pares Club in Cebu
City. Some of the training sessions took
place at the Atillo home and the younger Crispulo Atillo knew all of people
mentioned in this paragraph and witnessed their training sessions at his home. He formally began his eskrima training under
his father Vincente Atillo at the age of 14.
He was trained in the Saavedra system of eskrima and credits his father
as his instructor. GM Atillo maintains
that there is no real difference between Saavedra Eskrima and Balintawak
Eskrima other than the name used. After training with GM Bobby Taboada for 4
years in the Toevel’s Balintawak system, plus viewing a number of Balintawak
people on YouTube such as Nick Elizar, Bob Silver Tabimina and Henry Jayme, I
have to agree with him on this point.
The differences are not significant and they all can easily be
identified as Balintawak people.
The Atillo’s taught GM Anfulo Mongcol, who in turn served as Professor Remy
Presas' first Balintawak instructor.
Afterwards, the young Remy Presas was passed along to GM Timeteo Maranga
for further training. GM Maranga was a
classmate of GM Vincente Atillo, GM Bacon and GM Delfin Lopez under the
Saavedra's. The network couldn't be any
tighter and we must keep in mind that Balintawak forms one (1) aspect of the
five (5) arnis methods that are at the root of Modern Arnis. These five roots as mentioned by Professor
Presas in some interviews are Balintawak,
figure 8 striking, banda y banda striking, palis-palis method and crossada
method. The latter two methods are
espada y daga styles of mid to long range fighting and were taught to Professor
by his grandfather, Leon B. Presas, who was Professor’s first arnis/eskrima
instructor at the age of 6.
Based on the information cited above,
I will re-write my own lineage chart to reflect the newest information that I
have found regarding the roots and lineage of Professor Remy Presas through my
immediate Modern Arnis and Kenpo Instructor, Sifu Donald F. Zanghi to myself
and beyond to the students who earned their black belts and instructional
certifications under me.
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 acknowledged and accepted by
GM Crispulo Atillo 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
Modern Arnis Lineage Chart of Founder/GM Remy Amador Presas
Leon B. Presas / Traditional
Arnis: Palis-palis, Crossada, Banda y Banda, Figure 8,
|
|
Arnulfo Mongcol – Balintawak Instructor
|
|
|
Timeteo Maranga – Balintawak Master
|
|
| Venancio
Bacon – Balintawak GM
|
|
Remy Amador
Presas – Founder, Grand Master, Professor,
Modern
Arnis – International Modern Arnis Federation
Palis-palis, Crossada, Banda y Banda, Figure 8, Flow, Up
& Down, Abanico, Rompida,
Espada y Daga, Stick & Sword Disarming,
Trapping Hands, Redonda, Single/Double/Reverse Sinawali, 12 Zone
Striking, 12 Zone Striking Defense
Saavedra Eskrima and Balintawak Eskrima Lineage to Modern
Arnis
Lorenzo Saavedra – Founder
|
Teodoro
(Doring) Saavedra – Master Instructor
| |
Venancio Bacon - Timeteo Maranga -
Vincente Atillo (Balintawak)
| | |
| | Crispulo Atillo
| | (Saavedra & Balintawak)
| | |
| | Arnulfo Mongcal
| | Balintawak Instructor
| | /
Remy Amador Presas – Founder, Grand Master, Professor,
Modern Arnis –
International Modern Arnis Federation
Palis-palis, Crossada, Banda y Banda, Figure 8, Flow, Up
& Down, Abanico, Rompida, Espada y
Daga, Stick & Sword Disarming,
Trapping Hands, Redonda, Single/Double/Reverse Sinawali, 12 Zone
Striking, 12 Zone Striking Defense
Modern Arnis Lineage:
Remy
Amador Presas, Founder & GM - Modern Arnis
| |
Donald
F. Zanghi Vincente Sanchez
|_______________|
|
Jerome Barber, Ed. D.
GM, Datu & Principal Teacher,
Independent
Escrima Kenpo Arnis Associates
Kenpo Karate Lineage:
Hoon Chow
(Hung Gar)
James Mitose
| (Kosho Ryu Kenpo)
| |
William K. S. Chow (Chinese Kenpo)
|
Adriano Emperado (Chinese Kenpo, Eskrima, Kajukenbo)
|
|
Marino Tiwanak Edmund Parker,
Sr.
(Kajukenbo, CHA-3 Kenpo)
(Chinese Kenpo, American Kenpo)
|
|
Florentino Pancipanci Al & Jim
Tracy
(CHA-3 Kenpo, Pancipanci Eskrima) (Tracy System of Kenpo)
| / |
Tom Bolden Ernest McPeek Donald F. Zanghi
(CHA-3 Kenpo)
(Tracy System Kenpo) (Tracy
System Kenpo)
(Pancipanci Eskrima) | (Modern Arnis)
(Modern Arnis) | |
|____________________________|_________________|
|
Jerome Barber, Ed. D.,
GM,
Datu & Principal Teacher,
Independent Escrima Kenpo Arnis Associates
__________________|_____________________________
| | | |
Tim Kashino - Richard Curren - Tom Verga - Paul R. Martin -
Kenneth Q. Boehm
Debra S. Moore - Keith Roosa - James “Buddy” Antonio - Frank
Heinan
Kathleen Geiger - Mary Altair - Keri Marotti – Frankie
Heinan – Stephanie Heinan
Michael Zelli
(Certified IEKA Black Belt Instructors)
Additional Martial Arts Influences for Dr. Jerome Barber:
Bram Frank, Billy Bryant, Dan Donzella, Bobby Taboada,
Abundio Baet, Eddie Lastra, Ric Jornales, Roberto Torres,
John Kovacs, David Battaglia, Ernie Delts, Dan Carr
