A world arnis open

The sport of arnis, through the Philippine Council of Kali Escrima Arnis Masters (PCKEAM), takes a bold new step with the staging of the Smart World Arnis Open (WAO) Aug. 6 -8 at the SM Mall of Asia music hall. It will be a very rare opportunity for local fans of the sport to see how well foreigners measure up to the skills of Filipinos in the sport we made popular the world over.

“This is a big step for us, and we are very grateful to our sponsors Smart, Stix and Harbour Centre,” said tournament director Rey Dominguez of the PCKEAM. “We are happy that we found sponsors who believe in the national sport enough to help us introduce it to our countrymen again.”

In December of 2009, Pres. Gloria Arroyo signed the arnis bill sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Migs Zubiri into law. This mandated all schools to teach arnis as the official sport and martial art of the country. In January, the Department of Education issued a memorandum instructing schools to follow the letter of the law. Since then, Zubiri has been seeking a consensus among all active arnis groups, to have a uniform set of rules to be used in all national and international tournaments.

The Council was formed largely through the efforts of body building and martial arts Hall of Famer, Grandmaster Roland Dantes, who sincerely wanted to reunify the sport. For more than two decades, the various masters have gone their separate ways, propagating their own styles. Dantes was hoping to bring them all together under one umbrella organization that would foster acceptance of all styles and eliminate unhealthy competition. Sadly, he died before seeing his dream come to complete fruition.

Nevertheless, those who respected his wishes sought to pursue his dream. Despite the obstacles of politics and lack of funding, the PCKEAM held a national youth open tournament at the SM Sucat on April 9. Even though the Palarong Pambansa was opening two days after in Tarlac, a capacity number of contestants turned up, with many of the youth wearing costumes of their own making for the forms or anyo event. The tournament lasted up until the mall was turning off its lights past 10 p.m., because there was so much action.

The planning of the WAO has been going on for more than six months, and would not have come together literally without the help of everyone involved, most especially the sponsors. Smart Sports, headed by Patrick Gregorio, realized that they would have to take the leadership in helping the sport’s second life. Meanwhile, Kix, the leading supplier of taekwondo equipment in the country, now has a sister brand, Stix, specifically for arnis. They are providing the tournament mats and gear for all competitors.

“We have been looking forward to this opportunity,” says Ricky Victoria of Stix. “Foreign delegates will be treated to the best competition, and the best possible equipment. Everybody wins.”

Harbour Centre, meanwhile, threw its support behind the event through its head, arnis practitioner and Philippine Patriots owner Mikee Romero.

As of this writing, a large number of the foreign delegates were already in the Philippines, training for the WAO. Many of them will be attending the FMA (Filipino Martial Arts) festival in Palawan this week up to the weekend. They will then fly back to Luzon for a two-day workshop on how to conduct their own arnis tournaments, then plunge into the WAO. As of now, masters from Saudi Arabia, northern and central Italy, Singapore, Romania, Czech Republic and Jordan are confirmed to have participants, while other countries such as Indonesia, Germany and other European nations will confirm the number of participants by the end of this week. All in all, more than 30 foreign masters are expected to compete.

For those who are unfamiliar with modern arnis, the rules are very simple and quite familiar. There are three one-minute rounds. The first fighter to score five points wins the round. Dropping a stick is forbidden. Three judges sit around the competition mat and raise red or blue flags to signify a score. At least two judges must raise their flags for a point to count. Other than that, it is a blur of action, with the smacking of sticks against padding – and flesh – a constant noise. It can be jarring, but very stimulating.

A national open will be staged at the MOA on Aug. 6, with the finals in the morning of the 7th. Winners immediately are pitted against foreign adversaries after lunch on the 7th, with the finals on the 8th. In between, forms exhibitions will be staged to round out the activities.

Smart presents the World Arnis Open, sponsored by Stix and Harbour Centre. Those interested may call the PCKEAM at 669-1200 or 658-4461.