Blog Rosemary Presas Interview regarding the state of Modern Arnis
June 29th, 2008
We are reprinting the interview with Rosemary Presas (wife of the late Grandmaster Remy Presas Sr. and matriarich of the Presas family) from the June 2008 FMA Digest Special Edition: Presas Family Institution. This article has generated a lot of controversy in the Filipino Martial Arts world and specifically with Modern Arnis worldwide. The inclusion of this FMA Digest article is very important to MARPPIO and provides the Modern Arnis practitioner a very clear and explicit understanding of the Presas family’s position on the past history, current state and ultimately the future of Modern Arnis.
Interview with Rosemary Presas
by Patrick Armijo
Note: While Rosemary Presas was visiting her children
in the United States, staying with her son Dr. Remy
Presas Jr. Mr. Pat Armijo was fortunate to be able to
conduct an interview with her over the phone.
Pat: This is the first time we’ve spoken.
Rose: Yes.
Pat: How are you? How long are you going to visit?
Rose: I just arrived in the United States two days ago, to
visit my children. I am here for about two weeks. I have
my own business in the Philippines and have to get back to it.
Pat: I wish you would stay longer. It would be nice to see you and meet you and get to
know you.
Rose: I wish, I could, “laughs” You know, lots of arnis players who went to the
Philippines wanted to have a picture with me but I refused. Modern Arnis belongs to the
family. It doesn’t belong to all these “want to be guys”.
There are now many Grandmasters of Modern Arnis and they just came out after
one of the best Modern Arnis players. It is in his blood. You know, Remy P. Presas is the
eldest son of the Grandmaster and Modern Arnis is rightfully his. Other people are trying
to take it and trying to say they deserve this and they deserve that. You know, these
people don’t have humility in martial arts.
Some people who don’t know the whole story are ignorant and they believe those
fake Grandmasters who only want money, not the legacy. They only want money and
fame. They only want to ride on the coattails of Grandmaster Remy. When he was alive,
we used to call him the Professor. Now that he’s gone we call him Grandmaster. Well let
me tell you the woman behind the Grandmaster, the Co-Founder of Modern Arnis is still
alive
Pat: Did you read the Special Edition that we did? Were you able to read that one?
Rose: I don’t read. “laughs” Only those genuine practitioners know who I am to Remy
Presas.
Pat: Who do you consider the genuine practitioners in the Philippines right now?
Rose: In the Philippines right now? Nobody, they are all now men and former students.
They pretended to be loyal and they have turned their back on my son Remy and to
Professor Remy Presas. That is why I accept nobody except my son as the leader of
Modern Arnis. They think the legacy must go on. Maybe there are some of the few but I
am disappointed in most of them.
You know without Rosemary Presas there would be no Modern Arnis. I helped
make Modern Arnis. I was the woman behind Remy. I am the one who wrote the book
and who guided the grandmaster of Modern Arnis.
Pat: Because you were a teacher?
Rose: I was the one who called it Modern Arnis and advised Remy the Grandmaster, that
we should call it Modern Arnis. Because of the politics and different events, now there
are lots of Modern Arnis experts. There are experts all over the place.
Pat: What about some of the original people like Rodel Dagooc?
Rose: Rodel was once my helper. He was one of my instructors. He was OK; but, for me
the greatest is my son, Remy P. Presas, because the blood of the Grandmaster flows
through his body. Rodel is OK.
Pat: How about Roland Dantes?
Rose: He’s good. He’s like a brother to me. He’s good in talking.
Pat: Who else? Who else do you like?
Rose: I don’t like people who have betrayed Remy Presas. Yes, because I’m the only
person who knew my husband and my son. They should help my son because he’s the
only living legend in Modern Arnis. My son is a gentleman.
They made “paninira” to my son. Is that how they honor the Grandmaster?
(Paninira in Tagalog means destroy ones character/reputation). I’m sure Remy Presas, in
the other world, would not be very happy to see those people who have betrayed him. He
gave them, honors, fame, and glory, but now they refuse to recognize my son. That’s why
I’m willing to be interviewed by you now.
Pat: We want to get information out to people so they can learn the truth.
Rose: The truth is I am the woman behind Modern Arnis. I am still the living woman
who was there from the beginning. I am the wife of my husband. I have five children by
him and I am still married to him in the Philippines. Under the Philippine law, there is no
divorce.
Pat: That’s what my wife says. “Smiles”
Rose: Yeah under the Philippine law there is no divorce and my husband is a Filipino
natural born Filipino no matter how many times he gets divorced from me oh no its not
valid.
Pat: It has been said that you have been the business end behind your husband. What
was the perspective you had on Modern Arnis in promoting the art?
Rose: A long time ago Remy Presas my husband was only practicing arnis or escrima. At
that time he was practicing judo, jujitsu, karate, wrestling, and boxing. I told him why
don’t you combine all the martial arts that you know and then improve them in your
arnis. We should call that modern because it is a compilation of different martial arts and
since it is modern we called it Modern Arnis I encouraged him to called it Modern Arnis.
Pat: Professor Remy had a Shotokan background who did he get his karate training
from?
Rose: He trained with the late Dr. Lengzon. Dr. Lengzon learned arnis from Remy. They
exchanged talents and then he got his judo lessons from the Japanese Founder, I forgot
his name (Jiguro Kano). He even got lessons in kung fu from the kung fu Master Leo
Fong.
Pat: How about Max Pallen? Do you remember him?
Rose: Yes I know him. He’s a friend of Remy and they go together. Remy helped him
promote his martial art Senkotiros. Max Pallen is still alive. I met him two years ago.
He’s in San Leandro, CA now.
Pat: How about Dean Stockwell do you know him?
Rose: Yes he was a frequent guest in the Philippines they were together with Remy
during the filming of “The Pacific Connection”. Remy taught Roland Dantes, Dean
Stockwell, Gilbert Roland and Nancy Kwan. He taught all of them at the time because he
was the martial art director of the film “The Pacific Connection”.
Pat: Can you please tell us about General Febian Ver and is that why Professor Remy
Presas left the Philippines?
Rose: Yes formerly the men of general Ver. He formed an arnis he was a student of
Modern Arnis, Recardo Mascardo he was my, in my dialect, compadre. He’s a buddy of
Remy.
You know what he did he organized a tournament using Remy and printed tickets
with triplicates and they only showed one number to Remy and Remy got mad and then
they got separated because of money. After that they went to general Ver to practice
arnis. They wanted to liquidate Remy because they wanted Remy to join them, he can’t
do it because he’s the Founder and Master. Why should he be under former students of
him. A friend of Remy who was the secretary of tourism advisor of the country helped
Remy to get out of the country. I don’t know what would have happened to his life if
Remy would have stayed. Remy never came back to us because he was afraid for his life.
Those people around here who are splinter groups of Modern Arnis used Remy
and told him not to be homesick there are lots of women here in America and lots of
casinos. They would go together and then Remy forgot us; but, I have no regrets only a
few and only god knows what will happen. They gave us another life. This surprises me
but I’m telling the truth, just ask questions I’m willing to answer. You know there are lots
or writers in the United States. They write me but I never answer why should I do that? I
will only talk to a nice guy like you because I know you help my son.
Pat: We have heard some stories about Professor Remy’s desire to prove his fighting
skills could you please tell us about his sparring matches or challenges?
Rose: I don’t remember because we were apart. There are lots of organizations in the
Philippines. They would come over to challenge Remy, and Remy would say come over
to America because he couldn’t go to the Philippines.
He had many challenges in the Philippines. A long time ago, a group of martial
arts members, in arnis, came to our gym and they challenged Remy. Remy would say
“first defeat my instructor then you can challenge me”. It would be like lighting. It would
be very fast. He fights wild. “But if we fight, he loses to me. …she laughs.”
Pat: I understand you were helpful getting Grandmaster Remy a teaching position at the
college?
Rose: You know I’m sad to say. Remy could not speak English, at that time. I was the
one that did all the communication and all the talking. I tutored him, do this, do that, I
taught him a lot. I was the one who interpreted the literature. I was the one that wrote all
of his books and now some are claiming it is theirs… Roland Dantes and all the original
Modern Arnis practitioners know how I helped and suffered a lot for Remy’s martial arts.
Pat: In Professor Remy’s first book there was an artist in there that did some drawings.
Was Joe Tan the artist who did the illustrations in the book?
Rose: It was Joe Tan. He’s a cartoonist. He’s a good friend of ours. I think in the book the
last page in the acknowledgements, you can find his name there. I think he’s the one. Yes
the Modern Arnis book published in the Philippines covers those names. Joe Tan was a
good friend of Remy.
Pat: Can you please name the students that you know of that were dedicated to
Grandmaster Remy?
Rose: Roland Dantes, Vic Sanchez, Rodel Dagooc when Remy was alive it was ok. Now
they have their own Organizations.
Pat: Jerry Rave? Is it different from Jerry Dela Cruz?
Rose: Yes it’s Jerry Dela Cruz.
Pat: And who’s Jerry Ray?
Rose: Jerry Ray I don’t know. I can’t remember anymore there were lots. When Remy
left us I don’t know his friends here anymore. What I know is I heard Kelly Worden I
think he’s a very die hard friend of Remy.
Arnis in the Philippines now is booming because it is a martial art with or without
weapons and now you can fight your opponent. It’s because of Remy Presas innovation
before you can you use stick to fight now you can fight empty hand with self defense.
Pat: What can you say about all the people that say they represent Modern Arnis. Are
they truly dedicated to the promotion of Modern Arnis? What would you like to see from
them in their promotion of Modern Arnis?
Rose: I think number one, many of them, want to be famous and they want to be rich.
They want to be known throughout the world but, they cannot compete with Remy Presas
in promoting Modern Arnis. What we got is tears and I did not get any honor. I was left
behind when in truth I was the woman behind the Founder.
I gave people rank and recognition to people in the Philippines because Remy was
not around. I had my own Organization which I continued with Remy’s work because I
didn’t want Modern Arnis to die in the Philippines; so, I continued Remy’s crusade in my
country. If I did not continue it, Arnis might be dead in my country and might have only
survived in America. There have been lots of sacrifices because of Modern Arnis.
<Dr. Remy Presas Jr. comes on the line>
Remy Jr: Hello Pat. What do you want to do? Do you have any plans to make some kind
of an article?
Pat: I do. I do.
Remy Jr: So, what is your wish?
Pat: I just want talk to her and have a recording of her. I asked some questions so that it
will directly come from her mouth. I asked a couple of questions that are from the very
beginning when people got involved and how it got started.
I liked what she had to say. She is very loyal to you and supportive. I asked who
you do you like in Modern Arnis… “Nobody, just my son… They laugh”.
Remy Jr: Yeah because what happened, it was, I guess it was a huge mistake for them to
re-introduce to the world of being the first generation of Modern Arnis. It went over to
their head you know; and that’s good because they were there. They started Modern
Arnis from the very beginning; but when my dad left they moved to a different system.
Just like some moved to other styles and when papa died, he wanted to get the
“Grandmastership” of Modern Arnis from the family, at the funeral. The family refused…
no this is not yours why would you want to get this?
Right after the funeral of my dad, Rodel, Jerry, Vic Sanchez, Roland Dantes and
myself were there and we were discussing about the Grandmastership and all of a sudden
someone said openly "Why don’t you have me as the Grandmaster?" And I just looked to
Rodel and to Jerry and said “What are you talking about?” And the person said, “I am
one of the first students of Modern Arnis” and I said, “I don’t think your the first one
because Rodel and Jerry came ahead of you,” and I told them, “that the only way you can
be the Grandmaster is if you should come from within the family; and since your not part
of the family I don’t think you can become Grandmaster of Modern Arnis”. You can
make your own but you cannot claim something that’s not there for you. So you know
these are people that came out after my dad passed away, and that’s ok.
Pat: Did you show your mom the Special Edition that we made?
Remy Jr: She hasn’t seen it yet but I’ll open it up so she can see it. But even though seen
it or not its better for her not to see it, it is better for her to discuss the topic and discuss
your questions.
Pat: I just want her to be proud of what we did.
Remy Jr: Yeah she is. I was telling her that Pat is really a good man and he’s helping me
and she said “I’ll talk to him”.
While the FMAdigest was in the
Philippines recently, it had the opportunity to
meet and talk with Rosemary Presas. Since,
Mr. Pat Armijo conducted an interview with
Rosemary Presas the FMAdigest only asked
a couple questions.
FMAdigest: Can you just say a few words
about your children, oldest to youngest?
Rosemary Presas: Yes would be happy to
and brief.
1. MaryJane: wanted her to pay more
attention on education but she learned
and trained for the knowledge to
defend herself. Father taught her how
to handle stick and play Modern
Arnis at an early age.
2. MaryAnn: She has the blood of Arnis, loved to train in Arnis rather than go to
school and was always going with her father abroad to help promote Modern
Arnis. She did finish school as an X-ray technologist.
3. Remy Jr.: Since his elementary and high school days he was teaching. Spending
many hours with his father. I told him that he would not become rich and famous
in Arnis, but found that I was wrong for his father did become rich and famous
with his art of Modern Arnis.
4. Maria Teresita: A good player of Arnis
5. Demetrio: A good player of Arnis
When their father left them they began to forget some of the Arnis and I told them to
give priority to their education, because knowledge is power.
FMAdigest: Mr. Pat Armijo and I would like to thank you for talking to us about the
Grandmaster, yourself and your children. It has been a pleasure and an honor.