Profiles

 

Not all of the old Masters of Eskrima have left the country to teach the Art to the more lucrative market in foreign countries especially the U.S.A. Many are still around and teaching the Art to the next generation. Among them is Manoy Eusebio "Sebio" Monino. Manoy Sebio was born on December 16, 1928 in Medellin, North of Cebu. A former boxer and construction supervisor, Noy Sebio was a protege of the Balintawak founder GM Venancio "Anciong" Bacon.

Back in the early seventies Noy Sebio was teaching Karate and Judo at the Kyodai Combat Judo Club at the old Osaka Building in Pasil District. One floor below their dojo was the Balintawak Club of GM Anciong Bacon. He was introduced to the late Balintawak patriarch through a close friend and GM Bacon crony Rencio Paredes. Like his mentor, Noy Sebio a natural fighter and quickly absorbed the finer points of Balintawak. With cockiness and pure guts, he would go out of his way to spar with the best and more advanced students of GM Bacon like the late GM Timoteo "Timor" Maranga and GM Teofilo Velez and Sergio Arcel. Noy Sebio remembers GM Maranga for his fast sweeping techniques and lightning reflexes.

During one of his palakaw drills with the late GM Teofilo Velez, Noy Sebio was so carried away with the intensity of their "play" that he hit GM Velez on the cheek. GM Velez visibly irked by the "accident" snapped back hard at Noy Sebio and hit his crown. GM Velez seeing blood spurting out of Noy Sebio's head immediately applied first aid. Both men being good sports did not allow the incident to escalate and they continued to be good friends for many years. Three days before he died, GM Maranga sparred for the last time with Noy Sebio.

Manoy Sebio is one of the few Balintawak fighters that can articulate on the more subtle movements of the empty handed techniques of Eskrima that he calls Cadena de Mano. Today he teaches the pure unadulterated Balintawak system handed down to him by the late Venancio "Anciong" Bacon, and as a testament to his loyalty to Bacon, he maintains the same circle of friends and former students of another GM Bacon protege the late Jose "Joego" Milan.

Noy Sebio, like any archetypal Cebuano Eskrimador has proven himself in lethal confrontations and tamed the toughest bullies in the mean streets of Sambag and Barracks Districts. Since then he has moved to the more peaceful neighborhood of Andres Abellana St., as he said, "age is catching up and I can't fight bullies forever".

---

 

 

Julian Goc-ong lived in Balamban West of Cebu Province.  A World War II veteran, he inherited his brand of Eskrima called Abanico de Vertical from his uncle Felix "Titi" Goc-ong.  Titi Goc-ong once worked as a migrant contract worker in Hilo, Hawaii.  A contemporary  and townmate of GM Telesforo Subingsubing, he once killed an African American in a Juego Todo duel in Hilo.  Felix Goc-ong's style which he later handed down to Julian, traces its roots to the horseback riding Eskrimador of the late nineteenth century named Amboy Kidlat. 

Amboy Kidlat is the son of the early pioneer of Moalboal, Laurente "Laguno" Sabanal, the first Christian civilian during the Spanish period to have repulsed the Moro pirates with the use of his Eskrima skills.

 

After a long and brave battle with diabetes, Manong Julian Goc-ong died on February 19, 2003. 

 

Born in 1926 in Sibonga, Cebu, Uldarico Poldeng" Llanos had a passion for hand-to-hand combat at a very early age. He learned the rudiments of Eskrima from his elder brother the former Governor of Davao del Sur Nonito Llanos. He finished college at the University of San Carlos, Cebu City. Right after college, he went to boot camp in Floridablanca to train as probationary second lieutenant of the Philippine Army. After the Army training, Poldeng went to Jimenez, Misamis Oriental to teach Physics at the St. John the Baptist College. It was in this school that he was hitched by a fellow teacher who later became Mrs. Uldarico Llanos. While in Jimenez he learned of another Cebuano Eskrimador residing just 20 kms. away in Ozamiz City. Grandmaster Jose D. Caballero of De Campo 1-2-3- Orihinal was his first formal mentor in the Art of Eskrima Largo Mano. Poldeng along with ten other co-teachers of St. John the Baptist spent the weekend in Malaubang district of Ozamiz City to study from the one time Juego Todo duelist and champion. They later arranged for GM Caballero to come to Jimenez for a more regular training schedule. He remembers fondly calling the De Campo inventor as Noy "Otek". Poldeng recalls GM Caballero as a stickler for hard training and would not hesitate to drop a student if he cannot keep up with the gruelling pace. He trained with Noy Otek in 1957 up to 1959. A few years later, he met a Japanese businessman he recalls only by the first name Shogu. Shogu taught him aikido and jiu jitsu. When he moved to Manila he taught aikido at the De La Salle University and at the same time cross-trained in Modern Arnis with Pat Gonzales. As time went by he blended the salient techniques of Aikido, Jiu jitsu, Modern Arnis and De Campo. He has also infused some of the effective techniques of Balintawak Eskrima into his stick fighting style. While on a business trip to the U.S. in 1986-87 he taught part time to Filipino expats and a few American friends. Still in top shape at 76 years old, Uldarico "Poldeng" Llanos teaches to a few enthusiastic students and police officers in his hometown Sibonga.

---

Indeed very few practitioners of the Art of Eskrima nowadays specialize only in one facet of a complex fighting system ranging from solo baston, doble baston, espada y daga, pangamot-the entire gamut of the Filipino Martial Arts. One such rare master is Gregorio "Goyong" Ceniza of Mandaue City, Cebu. GM Goyong specializes only in the deadly business of knifefighting, period. Baraw Sugbu formerly known as Arnis Diablo traces its lineage to the patriarch of Cebuano Doce Pares the Great Grandmaster Lorenzo Saavedra. Saavedra taught a distinct brand of knifefighting that he shared to only a few choosen disciples. One of Saavedra's proteges a certain Simo later passed on the methodology to Lucresio Okit Albano who became later Goyong Ceniza's mentor in Baraw Sugbu.
The system was so secret that GM Ceniza says they used to practice under a cloak of blanket to screen the deadly drills.
One of GM Ceniza's top students was the late Aproniano "Rene" Capangpangan who also later became the mentor of Dr. Ned Nepangue.

---

 

Rodrigo "Drigo" Maranga.

|HOME | ABOUT US |PROFILES | FAVORITE LINKS |ARTICLES| TRIBUTE | GALLERY