This post is
dedicated to SGM Cacoy Cañete. I never had the distinct honor
of ever training directly with this legend, but I have met many who have.
If the character of the teacher is measured by the character of his
students, then SGM Cacoy Cañete was indeed an honorable man.
As I write
this, I am actively doing everything within my power to propagate the Filipino
Martial Arts (FMA). I have hosted seminars and tournaments, and I believe
I have done a lot to showcase these beautiful martial arts. But just like
many journeys, it requires a point of origin. It is easy to forget that
the Philippines is still a relatively young country. Although it’s people
have existed there for hundreds (and maybe thousands) of years, the Spanish occupied
the Philippines from 1565 to1898, and after that the United States colonized
the Philippines from 1898 to 1946 – so the Philippines has been under foreign rule for over 300
years. It is only now in recent
times that we are coming into our own identity.
The Filipino
Martial Arts are experiencing a renaissance, where more practitioners are
joining, and great instructors are emerging. On July 27, 2009, Republic
Act 9850, declaring Arnis as the National Martial Art and Sport of the
Philippines, was brought into existence.
Hollywood has started to recognize the beauty, combat effectiveness, and
dynamic nature of FMA, and the rest of the world will soon follow.
Instructors such as Ray Dionaldo, Doug Marcaida, and Percival Pableo are
starting to break ground and are increasingly recognized by a growing audience
of Filipino martial arts enthusiasts. I know there are many more instructors
out there that haven’t been recognized yet, but I strongly believe that they
will soon, for FMA is growing – and this era of social media is helping to push
the Filipino martial arts into the front and center of people’s awareness.
It is
important to appreciate the future, and to appreciate the future we must covet
the journey, which must inevitably start at the beginning. George
Santayana said, "To know your future you must know your past." This is surely a journey that will
bring us full circle.
No matter how
fast the Filipino martial arts seem to be growing, we must never forget where
we came from. Many of the Filipino
Grand Masters, the true pioneers of FMA, are dying at a rate faster than anyone
can fill in the void that they have left in their passing. How many more times will
be left where we can we say that we trained with those people who proved the
effectiveness of the Filipino martial arts on the battlefield?
These Grand
Masters are national cultural treasures, and as such, we must seek to preserve
both their knowledge and the spirit of their arts. They are the last vital link to our past – our proud
heritage that is soaked with the blood of our warrior ancestors. We must
cling to them with all of our might and study the fundamentals of critical
knowledge that they left for us, so that we may take the art to new and higher
levels. Advancing the Fundamentals begins with mastery of them, and the
practitioner’s journey begins from there.
The only way for us to take FMA to the next level is to know and respect
where we came from…to walk the path of our venerable ancestors – and walk new
paths to greatness, so that one day, we may stand beside them…kindred spirits
from the past and the future, connected by a timeless art, and a warrior’s
destiny.
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| Master Nito Noval of West Coast Doce Pares |
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