In my years
in the martial arts, I have been blessed to cross
paths with some truly great teachers and practitioners.
In the Silat world, Guru Hassan Ali (Brandt Smith)
of KSMA; Pendekar Agus Hiriyadi of Setia Hati Terate;
Pendekar Gus Fud of Perguruan Macan Putih; Guru
Gorka Echarri of Cimande; Saiful Azraq of Silat
Cekak Hanafi; and Ustaz Hussein Udom of Silat Mubai
have each gifted me in their own way and I am honored
to count them as Brothers.
In the Pekiti Tirsia world,
Guro Omar Hakim; Kuya Doug Marcaida; Ricky Rillera;
Robert and Steve Slomkowski - all of whom I have
had the honor of training with and Guro Jun DeLeon
of Kali DeLeon for even the precious little he has
shared with me over the years when we have been
together at seminars.
And of course our leader,
Supreme Grand Tuhon Leo T. Gaje Jr. whose mantle
of Pekiti Tirsia we carry with pride and honor -
is the one responsible for putting my feet firmly
on the Path!
Perhaps our closest friends
in the martial arts community - and life - are the
Pekiti Tirsia clan from Saskatchewan, Canada headed
by the furiously talented Ka Jay Saludo. Ka Jay
and his students are our Blood Brothers in Pekiti,
and together with Kuya Doug Marcaida make up the
"Tri-V of Power" (Detroit, Rochester,
NY & Saskatchewan) dedicated to the refinement
and progression of Pekiti Tirsia and Filipino Culture.
The quiet patriarch of the
Sask' Pitbulls is Manong Leon Saludo, of Lipa City,
Batangas. In October of 2003, in Rochester, New
York Manong Leon gave me a brief and utterly terrifyng
demonstration of the knife-fighting style developed
in his province of Batangas. This system has been
born, bred, and honed through countless knife fighting
encounters in the home town of the infamous Balisong.
I will not divulge the "proper name" of
this style right now for my own reasons, but it
is sometimes known colloquially as VIENTENUEVE.
After this personal demonstration in New York, my
main priority with regards to this system was to
learn how to not get killed by it. As I have said
in previous posts, it is probably the most dangerous
knife system I have seen. I don't care who you are
and what your training may be...unless you are Tuhon
Gaje...if you are ever misfortunate enough to face
a knife-wielding Batangueno, you are going to be
rendered a horrible bloody mess in a very short
period of time, and you are going to the Other World
in shreds. Trust me.
There are less than a handful
of Masters of this style alive currently - Manong
Leon is one of them. It is very rarely taught today
in Batangas, and it has NEVER been taught in the
United States...
Until now.
On Thursday, August 26th,
2005 I had the honor of being formally accepted
into the venerable lineage of the Vientenueve Style
by Manong Leon himself at our training hall here
in Detroit. I was awarded the title of "Dalubhasa"
and am the third person outside of Batangas to have
been taught by Manong Leon. The other two capable
practitioners, much senior to myself, are Jay Slaudo,
and Eddie Panamaroff. They along with Master Leon
Saludo taught a select group of my students prior
to Tuhon's seminar here last month. Although our
instruction actually began in April of this year,
it was during this most recent training experience
that the true foundation of the Vientenueve style
was passed to us.
I consider this one of the
highest Honors I have ever received in over 20 years
of martial arts.
Just as the Batangueno fighter
carries two knives, so it is with us. We carry the
Knife of Pekiti Tirsia firmly in one hand; and now
hold the Knife of Batangas in the other hand. Although
these two systems are different in theory and application,
the common bond between them is our Love and Respect
for the people and for the culture that brought
them both into being - in the magnificent Land of
the Philippines.
- Guro Jeff Davidson
