Combative and Sportive Arnis System Association, Inc.
Combative and Sportive Arnis System Association, Inc.
With Guru Nilo Sara as trainer, CASASAI kids joined talentadong pinoy tv program (a national tv program). They joined as Eskrimador Arnis Kids and almost won against the champion in a very close decision. The judges and spectators were so impressed with their performance. They were the texters (people’s) choice.
These kids were recently promoted to Green Belt.
Kudos to Guru Nilo Sara and the kids. In behalf of CASASAI, we congratulate you for the spectacular performance.
Since the inception of Combative and Sportive Arnis System Association Inc., three years ago with its headquarters based in the Province of Iloilo, Panay Island, Philippines, the Eskrima group has proven itself as an avenue of propagating the unique art of Arnis. Besides winning as overall champion in the National Philippine Olympic Festival Arnis championships spearheaded by Arnis Philippines Inc. for three consecutive years 2007-2009, Casasai has been instrumental in organizing Arnis group in Hongkong.Its Grandmaster and masters have taught students from Australia, Norway, and Jakarta, Indonesia.
CASASAI group in Hongkong was organized by Master Guru Eman Pamulag. Majority of her students are Filipina OFWs who practice the Filipino Martial Arts for pleasure, exercise, and self-defense.
Alexander Joco, a Norwegian and CASASAI student was promoted to black belt degree and was authorized to teach the Combative and Sportive Arnis System. He came all the way from Norway to learn Eskrima. Actually Alexander’s Father is a Filipino.Guru Alex was the first foreigner authorized by our association to teach the Art.
CASASAI has also introduced the Art of Eskrima in Jakarta, Indonesia. Guru Rey Damasco, a Filipino and a secondary school teacher in one of the International Schools in Jakarta has been authorized to teach the art.Now Arnis continues to fascinate Martial Art practitioners in Jakarta.
From left to right: Guru Art Guarnes, Father Greg Soldevilla Jr., and Master Guru Melecio O. Balberde
(Written by: Master Guru Melecio O. Balberde)
On August 25, 2009, one of the Old Masters of Eskrima in Panay Island passed away at the age of 82 years. He was buried on September 6, 2009 in the Province of Iloilo.Grand Master Gregorio “Awas” Soldevilla was the originator of the Arnis style in Panay Island, Philippines called ‘Hanot Puerta’ (meaning; striking door) which is patterned from the movement of the door. It has three major strikes called ‘tres teras’ (meaning; three strikes). The major strikes are called Sera which is in Hiligaynon (Ilongo dialect) means closing the door, trangka or locking the door, and bwelta which is bouncing the door.
Grand Master Awas showing his masterpiece; the "Hanot Puerta" or the 'Striking Door' technique
Before his death, Grand Master Awas directly commissioned his son, Father Gregorio Soldevilla, Jr., a Parish priest assigned in Antique, to continue teaching his style of Eskrima to those who are interested and worthy to learn this simple and very effective form of Arnis honed in the province of Iloilo. As a result, Father Greg organized the new group of Eskrimadores called Bastoneros a traditional Hiligaynon term used to describe practitioners of Arnis in the Island of Panay with the help of Guru Art Guarnes which happened to be one of the members of CASASAI Board of Directors and also an incorporator. Eventually, the Bastoneros became the sister Arnis organization of CASASAI headed by Guru Mel Balberde.
On behalf of all the members and family of CASASAI, I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to Our Late Grand Master Gregorio AWAS Soldevilla and to all his family members for teaching us his unique style of Arnis which becomes an integral part of the COMBATIVE and SPORTIVE ARNIS SYSTEM.
We say good bye to his mortal body but not to the man and his enduring fighting spirit! Eskrimadores, let us all together give our grandest pag PUGAY to our Grand Master Gregorio “Awas” Soldevilla!
This is a response to the article written by Talibung Antike (Is “KALI” appropriate to describe an indigenous blade based Filipino Martial Arts?) for Juan Dela Cruz who wrote:
“I think you need to back up your claims with researches and citations from legitimate sources. You’re ranting all these outbursts from hand-down information and passed-by-mouth claims. First of all, try to find out the history of the Muslims, of where they came from and how are they related to the Datu you have mentioned, if you research deeper you will find out they they belong to one ancestral origins. These Datus and the Muslims in Mindanao belonged to the Malay-Indo tribe of Borneo and nearby south east asian countries. Kali is an art from the south, if you happen to know wikipedia, I hope you can look for its etymology. You also happen to criticize and claimed that the right term for the practitioners of the FMA is “eskrimador”, did you ever look up in your sources the root meaning of eskrima??? For one, the term is Spanish, so how would you back up it’s authenticity???
I’m a practitioner of FMA and a researcher as well, I hope that these claims of yours are well founded and backed -up, so as not to make anymore divisions with the practitioner of the Filipino Martial Arts. Regardless of what the term is, whether Eskrima, Arnis, or Kali, you should think that these arts belong to the Filipino culture and we should be proud that these arts are part of our heritage.
I hope one day that all these “pagalingan” and “pataasan ng ihi” will be eradicated from and within the different systems of FMA. I hope that one day we would be united by our differences and appreciate what each of us has to offer, so that… that one day would be a glorious day for the FILIPINO MARTIAL ART and the FILIPINO PEOPLE….
RESPECT- an essential characteristic of a FMA practitioner… RESPECT…”
Juan de la Cruz, or whatever is your real name, as you are very interested in SCHOLARLY RESEARCH, let me share with you what I have uncovered in my years of research about the Kali Myth.
What follows is a partial summary of my detailed and well documented findings which you can find in my upcoming book that will be debunking the Kali Myth.
I would be interested if you can refute my findings point by point with LEGITIMATE RESEARCH AND CITATIONS as you have required from Talibung Antike. If your arguments are strong and logical enough, I would be more than glad to include it in my book in defense of your belief.
1. The Wikipedia you have mentioned, by academic standards, would not constitute as a legitimate source of info unless it is used as a supplement to primary sources. Anybody, especially Kali advocates, can manipulate contents of Wikipedia by editing articles. We all know that.
2. One of the, if not the, best primary sources is the people who speak the particular Filipino language from which Kali supposedly originated. Taibung Antike, a native speaker of Kinaray-a and Hiligaynon, had just affirmed that there is no Kali as a name for Filipino Martial Arts (FMA), in his languages. What more citation could validate that affirmation?
3. Juan de la Cruz, are you a native speaker of Kinaray-a and Hiligaynon? If so, can you please show us that Kali does exist in said languages as a name for Filipino Martial Arts (FMA).
4. If not, why would you be so infuriated with Talibung Antike’s assertion? What is the scholastically researched basis of your outrage?
5. Also, what is your native tongue? Is it any of the Filipino languages? If yes, did you find Kali as a name for Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) in your native tongue? If you didn’t find it, why do you think so?
6. If your native tongue is not any of the Filipino languages, what then is your basis of disagreeing with somebody who is a native speaker of the Filipino languages?
7. There are 171 living and 4 extinct languages in the Philippines today. Of these, 8 are major languages and none of them have Kali as a name for Filipino Martial Arts (FMA).
8. The 1960 Philippine Census tells us that 7 of these 8 major languages comprise 83% of the Philippine population. More recent census showed that Cebuano and Tagalog comprise 50% of the Philippine population. How can Kali be the Mother Art/Term for all Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) if we can’t find it in the 8 major languages of the Philippines?
9. If you, as you have claimed, have also researched Kali, then pinpoint to us exactly from which Filipino language did it came from. An inability to do so in your part would show that it is you who did not do your homework.
10. If Kali came from Malay then why can’t we find Kali as a name for a Martial Arts in the Malay language?
11. If Kali is Muslim, as you imply indirectly in your post, then why can’t we find it in the various languages of Mindanao such as Ta’u-sug, Maranao, Mandaya, etc.? I’ve interviewed people who speak these languages and they affirmed the absence of such word in their languages.
12. The Ta’u-sugs have their own Martial Arts but they call them Silat and Kuntaw, not Kali. Those that practice these arts have told me that nowhere in their lexicon would you find Kali as a synonym to Silat and Kuntaw.
13. If Kali the Mother Art/Term is the contraction of the Cebuano words Kamot Lihok, does that mean that all pre-Hispanic Malays spoke Cebuano? Highly unlikely.
14. Kamot in Tagalog means to scratch. There is no Lihok word in Tagalog. Does this mean that Tagalogs don’t have Filipino Martial Arts (FMA)?
15. If Kali has anything to do with Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) then we will find it together with the pre-Hispanic words Bangkaw, Kampilan, etc. But we don’t.
16. Juan de la Cruz, you’re confused with the word EsKrima. EsKrima may have Spanish roots (EsCrima) but it is already a Filipino adoption of the word. I have consulted not less than 10 Spanish dictionaries and they all agree that EsCrima is “Fencing.” However, you will not see EsKrima in any Spanish dictionary, only in Filipino dictionaries.
17. If you can produce a legitimate Spanish dictionary which will have EsKrima as an entry, then I have to concede that it is a Spanish word. Otherwise, your assertion that it is a Spanish word is nothing but conjecture and emotionally motivated.
18. Now, if Kali is Filipino, why can’t we find it in LEGITIMATE Filipino dictionaries, especially those dictionaries published before the Kali-Boom Era, with the meaning of Filipino Martial Arts (FMA)?
19. If you will point out Wikipedia or any of the overseas websites as your proof, the question is where did they get the info? More importantly, are the info correct? You yourself had stressed for a scholastic and legitimate research.
20. The most comprehensive Hiligaynon dictionary written in 1934 had 10,000 entries, none of which referred to Kali as a name to Filipino Martial Arts (FMA).
21. The earliest works, such as the Artes y Reglas de la Lengua Tagala (1610, the first published Tagalog grammar) and the first Panay Visayan grammar (1637), do not show Kali as a name for Filipino Martial Arts (FMA).
22. Nor did Antonio Pigafetta, Ferdinand Magellan’s chronicler, recorded Kali although he did record Kampilan, Bangkaw, etc.
23. We would be interested if you can show us even just one pre-Hispanic, or even Spanish, document that mentions Kali by name. But I doubt that, otherwise we will find Kali in all Philippine history textbooks.
24. No archaeological finds either in Palawan, Butuan, Cebu, or other archaeologically rich places in the Philippines had shown even a shadow of the mythical Kali.
25. No legitimate historical documents, either written by a Spaniard or Filipino, mention Kali. Even Spanish decrees disallowing the carrying of weapons had not mentioned Kali. By legitimate what I mean is that the material was written only after checking primary sources such as pre-Hispanic or Spanish records. Copying and pasting from one website to the other does not count.
26. If the earliest you can go back is Mga Karunungan sa Larong Arnis, wouldn’t Florante and Laura by Francisco Balagtas (later half of 1800s) have come first, in mentioning Arnis? I doubt if you can find any document earlier than 1957 which will mention Kali.
27. And while you’re clamoring for citations, Mirafuente should be questioned for his lack of citations when he mentioned Kali in Yambao’s book. That despite the fact that he was a member of a local historical association!
28. If Kali is Muslim, why then is it also explained as representing the Hindu God Kali?
29. If you continue to stick to your assertion that Kali is Muslim, my question is how compatible are the practices in Kali with the 5 pillars of Islam? True Muslims would have none of Kali because it does not conform to the teachings of the Qur’an.
30. And maybe you can show us a Muslim grandmaster from Mindanao, not influenced by outside sources, who teaches Kali.
31. What particular Muslim tribe are you referring to? Filipino anthropologists had not identified any tribe called Kali or that practice an art called Kali.
32. The renowned anthropologist Felipe Landa Jocano of Cabatuan, father of Master/Prof. Felipe P. Jocano Jr. of the university of the Philippines Diliman, had not revealed any remnants of Kali or any Kali tribe in his anthropological works.
33. Or better yet a Muslim pre-Hispanic, or even Spanish, document that mentions Kali in detail.
34. Grandmasters Villabrille, Largusa, Gaje, Ilustrisimo…they were not Muslims but they used Kali. The senior students of Tatang Ilustrisimo had already publicly announced that there is no Kali and that certain individuals had advised Tatang before to use the term Kali. Originally he used Eskrima and Olisitrisimo to call his art.
35. If you research deeper, you will see that all the people using Kali in the US can trace back the word to GM Villabrille while those from the Philippines can trace it from the US.
36. I personally know at least 4 people with varying degrees of association with kali here in Negros and I can tell you they were originally Arnis people!
37. GM Villabrille originally used Eskrima as did GM Inosanto. GTs Gaje and Tortal originally used Arnis. These are all documented. You just need to find the right sources. You will find these scattered all over cyberspace in different forums.
38. True, the Maragatas has been invalidated as a historical document. However, what you failed to discover is that the original writer of Maragtas did not claim it to be historical but made it clear that it was based on stories gathered from many sources. Most likely you have only read a translation of the Maragtas, if you have read it at all. The various translations had chosen for one reason or the other to exclude certain portions of the original work.
39. Even Sir Henry William Scott who disproved Maragatas as a historical document did admit that it must be considered as a combination of folklore and history for we do not know which is which. The Code of Kalantiaw, however, was the one branded as a fabrication.
40. If you turn back you will realize that it is the Kali Myth blowers who had made divisions in the Filipino Martial Arts by making unvalidated, unhistorical, and commercial claims that downgrade Arnis/Eskrima just to market Kali the supposed Mother Art.
I can go and on but I don’t want to consume so much space here. I’m hoping that you can refute point by point my findings with legitimate proof.
For those who would like to add their own research, experiences, etc. to my upcoming book, I would be glad to include them, provided proper citation of sources and the like.
Earlier of December 2008 a family from Australia represented by Elaine Wilson told us that her husband and three children were very interested in learning Arnis/Eskrima system of Panay being promoted by the Combative and Sportive Arnis System Association Inc.
Elaine was actually a native of Iloilo and was married to Tom Wilson a Scottish and now living in Australia. When they came to Iloilo for a vacation her husband and three kids namely Rupert, Margaret, and Isabel learned the basics of Eskrima under The President and co-founder of CASASAI Guru Mel O. Balberde. The Wilson’s family has expressed their gladness of being a part of the CASASAI family based in Australia.
Above is the Wilson’s family together with the members of CASASAI, Iloilo.
See Pictures of Arnis/Eskrima Training below:
In my life, I never dreamed that I could go to the beautiful places in Hong Kong because of Eskrima. Then one day, the founder and leader of Thunderbolt Arnis Martial Arts Association, Guru Eman Pamulag approached me after our Arnis Martial Arts Exhibition in SM city, Iloilo City and told me that she would sponsor me to go to Hong Kong to help her in sharpening the Eskrima skills of her students.
When I arrived in Hong Kong, I was cordially welcomed by some of the Philippine heroines- the Pinay Overseas Filipino workers who have been working there for several years already. Their newly organized martial arts group called Thunderbolt Arnis Martial Arts Association is now affiliated with CASASAI. As founder and president of CASASAI, I was inspired by their dedication and commitment to practicing the Filipino martial arts. In the midst of the busy life style in Hong Kong, they still find time to gather together to fellowship with one another and practice the exotic Filipino Martial Arts called Eskrima or Arnis. It became part of their lifestyle to gather from time to time to practice Arnis. For them, practicing martial arts is a good form of exercise as well as to be able to learn self-defense techniques and it was a great honor and privilege of having the opportunity to share my knowledge and skills in Arnis with them. I am looking forward to meeting them there again soon.
Shown in the pictures below are the members of Thunderbolt Arnis Martial Arts Association during the Filipino Martial Arts seminar in Happy Valley HK.
Team Anyo Doble Baston by: Jesus Valenzuela, Mike Banguiran and Ryan Robles.
True blooded genuine Eskrimadores in the island Panay from the coastal plains to the hinterlands of Aklan, Capiz, Iloilo and Antique who are mostly if not all are World War II underground guerrilla fighters pitted their craft using “Talibungs”, “Sanduko” and “Ginuntings” against the Japanese soldiers’ “Katana” swords and Bayonets in hand to hand combat when they ran out of bullets. One will never hear a word “Kali” from any of them that alludes to fighting whether unarmed or armed confrontation where sticks, spears, or bladed weapons are used. It should be noted that the word “Kali” in the major languages of Panay and Negros (Hiligaynon and Kiniray-a) means “to dig” which refers to a farming or harvesting activity when one has to dig something from the ground like: “to dig camote=kali camote”, “dig peanuts=kali mani”, “dig gabi=kali gabi”. The word in itself has no reference to fighting at all whatsoever. All these veteran fighters and war survivors refers to their craft as “Eskrima, or the act of “Eskrimahay” which refers to skirmish, a confrontational exchange of blows/attacks, offense/ defense- it may be used outside the context of physical combat, as in “eskrimahay ka tinaga” which means a fierce verbal exchange, and may also refer to the use of weapons like: “baston, talibung, binangon, ginunting, sanduko, lantip, sanggot, espading, daga, lugod, bahi, bugsay, tungkod, yaming, tuwang-tuwangan, garab, kaw-it, hal-o, etc”. The experts and practitioners of these indigenous martial arts systems are either called “Eskrimador” or “Bastonero” not “Kalista”, “Kalidor” nor “Kalinero”.
The claim that the word “Kali” came from the Muslim chieftains that established a colony in Kalibo, Aklan — (sometimes cited as the origin of the name “Kali”) is very wrong and has no historical basis at all.
The official history of Kalibo on record states that, Kalibo is a town in Aklan, founded by settlers from Malaysia who came with Datu Bangkaya (The Muslims had never been successful in conquering Panay Island despite relentless attempts even during Spanish times). Upon the arrival of the Spaniards, Madianos (Madyanos) is the primitive Pre-Hispanic name of Kalibo. It was found to be the first place in Aklan with houses grouped together, the inhabitants thereof, already having some form of political organization.
How Kalibo got its present name was because of a mass Christening of One Thousand (1,000) natives in “Madianos” in May, 1566, by a Spanish priest, who came with Adelantado Don Miguel Lopez de Legaspi. One thousand (1,000) is written in the Aklan dialect as “ISA KA LIBO”, “SANG LIBO”, and in order to commemorate and perpetuate this historical fact, the name “Calibo”, a contraction derivative of these three words in the Aklan dialect, was given to the town instead of “MADIANOS”. From year 1566, “CALIBO” was the official name used up to about 1929. Upon the recommendation of the Committee on Geographical Names, the official name “KALIBO” was finally adopted.
If Kali as a blade based fighting system is to be alluded to the word “Kalis”, it is even farther from the true meaning of the Hiligaynon word “Kalis”. “Kalis” in Hiligaynon and Kiniray-a is a verb which means “to scrape off” and if used as a noun it refers to the straight edged wooden or bamboo slat used to swipe the excess grains being measured. The word “Kalis” is a measuring device or activity to ensure accuracy of measurement where the excess are scraped off or leveled out or “kalison” using a “kalis” before counting it as one full unit volume. Traditionally the grains or farm produce like: rice, corn, monggo, sugar, salt, beans, etc are quantified based on traditional volumetric measuring containers like: “ganta or gantangan” (25 gantas = 1 sack), wooden box “panega” (3 panegas=1 sack), “tabig”, and “tabungos”.
(Note: The use of kilograms in measuring plant or farm products is a relatively recent development when the Philippines adopted the metric system during the 1980s)
Hence, based on the aforementioned elucidations the use of the word “Kali” parallel with Arnis and Eskrima in Filipino Martial Arts if it has to be used at all is absurd and very etiologically inappropriate. Example: you “Kali” your opponent! That would mean “you DIG your opponent!” or say: Lets practice “Kali” that would mean “Lets practice DIGGING”
If you KALI your opponent, you DIG your opponent! So he must have been buried, must have been dead a long time ago or a victim of a land slide! That would be the most absurd FMA indeed!
The languages used in Negros Island are “Hiligaynon” (most of Negros Occidental close to Panay Island) and “Bisaya or Cebuano” (Negros Oriental close to Cebu Island). These languages are influences brought by migrants from both islands as workers in the Haciendas of Negros mostly owned by the Hacienderos who are landed elite migrants from Jaro, Iloilo City. If there is no KALI in Cebu Island nor in Panay Island, then claiming KALI as indigenous blade based fighting arts of Panay Island brought to Negros Island is one of the greatest frauds that ever plagued the Filipino Martial Arts History and Martial Arts World as a whole.
It is high time to “KALI” deeper= to “DIG” deeper and ferret out the “TRUTH” about “KALI” as clearly it has no rightful place in the Filipino Martial Arts World historically and etiologically.
This is a big challenge to the well meaning Filipino Martial Arts enthusiasts, avid practitioners, scholars, researchers & historians to start retracing back and DIG deeper into the true Filipino Martial Arts History…. there are still lots to DIG out (KALI) into the open here in PANAY island… the center of the PHILIPPINES.
Welcome to Panay Island PHILIPPINES!
Grand Master Cortez is among the few Grand Masters of Eskrima who is still alive in the island of Panay, Philippines. Panay is believed by many historians as the origin of Eskrima. In this video, he is performing with his more than 50-year old ginunting (sword).
Arnis Sinawali – Double Stick Coordination Exercise performed by Master Guru Mel and Master Guro Lino.
