History Of Doce Pares
Doce Pares was founded on January 11,1932 by a small group of Eskrima Masters spearheaded by Eulogio Cañete, Lorenzo Saavedra and Teodoro Saavedra. Twelve of them originally conceptualized it but shortly after its inauguration on January 21 that year, the membership rose to twenty four. Eulogio Cañete and Teodoro Saavedra were elected as President and Vice President respectively. Other elected officers and original members were, Fortunato Peñalosa (secretary), Marcelo Verano, Deogracias Nadela, Strong Tupas, Rodolfo Quijano, Pio Deiparine, Florentino Cañete, Felimon Cañete, Juanito Lauron, Federico Saavedra, Cecilio Dela Victoria,
Lorenzo Saavedra, Margarito Revilles and Anastacio Deiparine.
The name Doce Pares was adopted in reference to the famous twelve bodyguards of Emperor Charlemagne of France (AD 768-814). These twelve people - all top swordsmen - were known to have fought and killed hundreds of enemies in battles. Doce Pares, which means "twelve pairs" in Spanish, was also meant to honor the twelve people who originally planned to form the organization. And when the membership rose to twenty-four at the time of the inauguration, it indeed became more significantly fitting
Eulogio Cañete held on the presidency of Doce Pares until his death in June 1988. His second eldest son Eulogio, jr. succeeded him as President up to the present. His youngest son, Grandmaster Diony is the Executive Director and Chairman of Doce Pares Council of Masters.
(None of the founding members are alive today, the last one GM Felimon Cañete
died in 1995 at 91 years of age)
Subsequently, the organization became Doce Pares, Incorporated when it was registered as non-stock, non-profit corporation with the Securities and Exchange Commission which issued
certificate of registration no. 1373.
Officers and Directors
Every December of each year, Doce Pares, Incorporated as mandated by its by-laws, elects its officers and, for the year 2001, the following were duly elected, to wit:
President Eulogio Cañete, Jr.
VP Paterno B. Ganzon
Secretary Valentin B. Suan
Treasurer Michael R. Cañete
Executive Director GM Dionisio Cañete
Dean, Instructional Staff Arnulfo "Dong" Cuesta
Directors:
GM Vicente Carin
GM Isidro Casio
Eulogio Cañete, Jr.
Paterno B. Ganzon
Valentin B. Suan
Michael R. Cañete
GM Dionisio Cañete
Note: GM Vicente Carin has been a member
of the board for about forty years. While
Ganzon and Suan who are both lawyers have
held various positions since 1970.
Eulogio, Jr. holds the post as President
since 1990 and GM Diony became a legal
officer from the early 1960 until being
elected to the board in 1970.
Multi Style System
For many years and even up to the present people are still confused about the real Doce Pares system.
This is only understandable because while the system is a conglomeration of various styles as introduced
by the founding masters in 1932, there are many instructors and masters today who only teach a
specific style of any one of the original masters. All the founding masters had their own set of followers
and the students who chose not to study and cross-train in other styles naturally learned only the particular
style of his own teacher.
Doce Pares was a virtual supermarket of Eskrima styles, hence, there's the Larga Mano of Eulogio Cañete; the Espada y Daga of Felimon Cañete and Jesus Cui; the Corto Linear of Teodoro Saavedra and later on of Venancio Bacon, Delfin Lopez and Timoteo Maranga; the Corto Orihinal and Media Largo of Felimon and Iluminado Cañete; the Hirada and Retirada of Vicente Carin and Ponciano Ybañez;
the Mano-Mano and Baraw of Maximo Cañete and Jesus Cui; the Corto Kurbada and Abaniko of Ciriaco
and Felimon Cañete respectively.
Thus there are many masters today who only teach and promote one particular style and yet can validly claim to belong to Doce Pares family.
It was in early 1970 when Diony was commissioned by his father Eulogio Cañete, the President of Doce Pares to study, prepare and formulate a program of instruction that would cover and comprehend all the component styles.
The specific objective was to come up with a training curriculum that would give equal treatment and prominence to all the original styles and by all means to afford due
honors and recognition to all the founding advocates. Hence the birth of the "Multi-Style" system which
very much set well with Grandmaster Diony as he and his three elder brothers were among the very few who were fortunate to have learned all the original styles as
brought into and introduced by the founding masters whenDoce Pares was formed in 1932.
The components of the "Multi-Style" system.
The components styles of the "Multi-Style" are:
All the three styles of Corto (Close Range); to wit;
Corto Linear (the traditional linear striking or a blade oriented type of striking)
Corto Kurbada (the wrist-twisting or snap-wrist,curving strike)
Corto Orihinal (featuring low,deep bent knee and wide stance which highly characterized the original Doce Pares close range style)
Media Largo (Medium Range)
Larga Mano (Long Range)
Espada y Daga (Short & Long Stick or Stick & Dagger)
Baraw (Knife Fighting Techniques)
Mano-Mano (Open Hand Fighting)
a. Sumbag-Patid (Punch and Kick)
b. Lubag-Torsi (Locks and Immobilization)
c. Layog-Dumog (Takedown and Grappling)
d. Doble Olisi (Double Stick)
Specialized Subjects:
a. Eskrido
b. Sinawali
c. Tapi-Tapi (Alive Hand)
d. Sayaw/Karanza (Forms)
All the above subjects are incorporated under the comprehensive 5-year training curriculum of the Doce Pares "Multi-Style" system. The program is taught only in schools authorized by Doce Pares International, the original Doce Pares organization and only one recognized by the government of the
Republic of the Philippines, duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as
DOCE PARES INCORPORATED under Registration Certificate No. 1373.
ALL DPI SCHOOLS CAN READILY BE IDENTIFIED
THROUGH THE SEAL AND LOGO WHICH BEAR THE
ORIGINAL SIGN OF DOCE PARES BUT MORE
SIGNIFICANT IS THEIR 5-YEAR "MULTI-STYLE"
PROGRAM OF INSTRUCTION. ONLY THROUGH THE DPI SCHOOLS CAN ONE LEARN
ALL THE ORIGINAL STYLES OF THE FOUNDING
MASTERS OF DOCE PARES.
Courtesy of Grand Master Diony Canete © Doce Pares International