Master Godofredo Fajardo of the International Modern Arnis
Federation of the Phil. (IMAFP) strikes a pose at the
“Petra Rock” in Jordan.
The picturesque site is a popular sight and tourist destination, and has been featured in various works of art and film production such as “Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade” and “Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger.”
Master Godofredo Fajardo of the International Modern Arnis
Federation of the Phil. ( IMAFP) leads his arnis demo team
at the “Petra Rock” in Jordan.
Armed with a laptop, Godo gave me a photo and video presentation of past FMA activities and events in the Middle East. I will be posting these photos and videos with accompanying articles in Master Godo’s website at www.filipinofightingartsintl.com.
In return, I presented Godo with the book “Pananandata: The Guide to Balisong Openings” personally autographed for him by the authors Amante P. Marinas Sr. and Amante P. Marinas, Jr., who are friends of mine in the United States.
Thursday, Nov. 29. 2007 Peninsula Hotel, Makati
This has only peripheral relevance to martial arts, and by Philippine standards is probably not even newsworthy, but I will mention it because it happened during my trip, and I want to have it on record that I had nothing remotely to do with it.
Several former army officers on trial for an earlier coup walked out of the Makati Regional Trial Court with their armed escorts, and stormed and holed up at the nearby five-star Peninsula Hotel, dislodging many of its tourist occupants and disrupting an upcoming wedding. They were led by Antonio Trillanes IV, a former lieutenant in the Philippine Navy who had been elected Senator while incarcerated.
Antonio Trillanes IV
After much posturing and press relations activities, the rebels surrendered when the army crashed an armored personnel carrier into the hotel lobby and lobbed tear gas into the hotel. Trillanes was hauled away unceremoniously in handcuffs.
Only in the Philippines.
Antonio Trillanes IV in handcuffs
Sidebar: As a result of this incident, the government imposed a midnight curfew the next couple of days, slightly cramping our nocturnal carousing these two nights.
Saturday, Dec. 1. 2007, Robinson’s at Ortigas Ave., Manila
Michael Gubat, a good friend, corporate executive and fellow International Modern Arnis of the Philippines (IMAFP) guro, invited Master Godo and myself to lunch at Robinson’s on Ortigas Ave., one of the seemingly hundreds of gargantuan malls in Manila.
There we had an extended lunch and reunion at a Japanese restaurant. Again, the last time we were all together was last year in 2006 during the
3rd FMA Festival in Manila and Tagaytay, although Mike and I did see each other again this year in May 2007 in the United States when he visited with his family.
From left to right, Jay de Leon, Michael Gubat, Mitchell de Leon, and
Godofredo Fajardo, of Filipino Fighting Arts, Intl. taken at the Krocodile Grille in Makati, Philippines during the 3rd FMA Festival in the Philippines in July 2006.
We took this occasion to catch up on each other’s activities both in martial arts and our personal lives. Our reunion is always interesting because the three of us live, and teach Modern Arnis, in different parts of the world—Godo in the Middle East mainly Saudi Arabia and Jordan, Mike in the Philippines and me in the United States.
Michael Gubat (right) and Jay de Leon of the International
Modern Arnis Federation of the Phil. (IMAFP) hoist a few at the
Cameron’s Seafood Restaurant and Bar in Pasadena, California
Saturday, on May 19, 2007.
Unfortunately, this time neither one of us remembered to bring a camera, so I am just republishing our pictures during the 2006 3rd FMA Festival and Mike’s visit to the United States in 2007.
Sunday, Dec. 2, 2007, Alabang, Rizal
As background, I was one of the “pioneer” students of the Ateneo de Manila High School Judo Club. There were three of us classmates who were lifetime members of that club—Johnny Nanagas, Ernie Diokno and myself.
Our first instructor was Jose “Pinggoy” Asuncion, who parlayed his judo prowess, good looks and manly physique into a lengthy movie career as the actor Vic Vargas. Vic Vargas died in 2003 from a stroke at the age of 64.
Vic Vargas
Johnny went on to become a doctor, at one time the Phil. Undersecretary of the Department of Health and is currently a reserve Col. in the Philippine Marines.& Don’t let that reserve bit fool you, because he gets mobilized every time there is a rumbling of a coup or a surge of insurgency in the South, which keeps him in fighting shape.
This December, he went to the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand as the manager of the women’s archery team. He used to be a national competitor in archery himself.
Jay de Leon (right) with former classmate and judo sparring partner
Dr. Juan Pablo Nanagas, currently a Col. in the Philippine Marine reserves and a former Undersecretary of the Department of Health, after lunch at the Spiral Restaurant of the Sofitel Hotel on Roxas Blvd., Manila in November of 2007.
Ernie on the other hand immigrated to Canada, but has spent a lifetime hiring out as a pricey consultant to big corporations in Europe, his last post being in Rome, Italy. He is fluent in half a dozen languages, and prides himself as being just another OFW (Overseas Foreign Worker). He was in the Philippines for the school reunion.
We have maintained close ties over the past years, and while we would see each other during other occasions this trip, we decided to hold a special reunion just for the three of us. Ernie treated us to dinner at his brother Marlon’s home in Alabang, Rizal where he was staying.
But can they still randori? From left to right, former judokas
Dr. Juan Pablo Nanagas, Ernesto Diokno, and Jay de Leon of the
Ateneo de Manila High School Judo Club at the 1st Vic Vargas
Memorial Judo Training Camp in Alabang, Rizal on Dec. 2007.
We decided to call our reunion the Vic Vargas Memorial Judo Training Camp. We vowed this would not be the last, hoping that our health and finances would hold up for the next decade or so.
Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007, WackWack, Mandaluyong
I wanted to get in at least a day of training with my Modern Arnis guro, Master Godofredo Fajardo. My host and former Ateneo classmate who I was staying with, Baby Boy Poblador, volunteered the conference room of his condo building. I got a special treat when Godo brought with him Rei Samson, one of his senior students, a high ranking Modern Arnis lakan, and Commissioner for the Cordilleras for the International Modern Arnis Federation of the Philippines (IMAFP).
During the training, we had a small appreciative audience made up of Baby Boy Poblador’s family as well as tenants of the building, so Godo and Rei put on a spirited demo as well, as these pictures will attest.
At the lobby of the condo before the training. From left to right,
Godofredo Fajardo, Jay de Leon and Rei Samson of the
International Modern Arnis Federation of the Phil. (IMAFP).
Rei Samson is proudly showing off my present to him, the book
“Pananandata: The Guide to Balisong Openings” autographed
by authors Amante P. Marinas Sr. and Amante P. Marinas Jr.
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