Thursday, July 24, 2008
Zubiri wants Arnis promoted in RP schools
SENATOR Juan Miguel Zubiri, a staunch eskrima supporter, expressed his disappointment at how Filipinos treat the Filipino martial art and wants to correct it.
“Foreigners are prouder of our very own Filipino martial arts than the Filipinos themselves,” said Senator Zubiri, who was the guest of honor in yesterday’s opening of the 10th World Eskrima Kali Arnis Federation championships at the Ayala Activity Center.
“This sport is renowned the world over. Across the globe, everyone is excited at the mention of arnis. The foreigners want to learn it. However, here, Filipinos think it’s baduy. So kids, at the mention of martial arts, right away go to taekwondo, karatedo—the more popular ones because of the UFC, instead of learning our very own, which is arnis,” said Zubiri.
As proof, the Wekaf world championship has attracted more than 500 fighters from close to 30 countries.
To show his sincerity of the matter, Zubiri filed the Senate Bill 1424, which pushes for the creation of arnis as the country’s national sport.
“Our national sport right now, is sipa, which is not of Filipino origin, but actually the national sport of Malaysia. Arnis, on the other hand, is purely Filipino,” added Zubiri.
Zubiri said that it is actually the second time that he pushed for this.
The senator added that his purpose for this is to promote the indigenous martial art form to the entire country, making it mandatory for all schools to include arnis in the curriculum.
Apart from this, Zubiri also wants to unite all arnis factions—a thing he is familiar with because, even if he had not fought for 10 years, he has been involved in the sport since he was young.
Respect
“Whatever style, whatever group, I salute you for propagating our own martial arts. But the way to unity is respect for all styles,” he added.
Zubiri said that the sport is worth promoting it not only is a good combat sport, it is also a good form of exercise.
“Women, children, even senior citizen well into their 80s can still do the forms to get in shape,” said Zubiri, who was an undefeated arnisador in his youth.
Yesterday, Zubiri showcased his knowledge of the sport, where he displayed the techniques alongside Master Val Pableo, who is a four-time world champion. (MCB)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 24, 2008 issue)
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