Stickgrappler's Sojourn of Septillion Steps: Punong Guro Edgar Sulite Remembered

PG Edgar Sulite (September 25, 1957 - April 10, 1997) would've been 58 today!

In his honor, I'm posting an excerpt from a new book by Guro David E. Gould.

Enjoy!

Sifu Alex Co Remembers Guro Edgar Sulite

*The following is excerpted from the new book, Lameco Eskrima: The Legacy of Edgar Sulite.

I first met Edgar Sulite in the early 1980s under very unique circumstances. I was invited by Yuli Romo, an Arnis grandmaster, to attend a tournament sponsored by Master Picate. Yuli told me that the grandmaster considered the “King of Kings” in the field of Arnis, named Antonio “Tatang” Ilustrisimo, shall be present in the tournament. Usually, I don’t attend tournaments because I find them boring, as I am already used to their routines. But this time, curiosity got the better of me; I desired to meet the grand master touted to be the king of Arnis. Ironically, as even in kung-fu events, which is my field, I am hardly present; but in this event, with its system then alien to me, I was very visible.

I asked my best buddy, Topher Ricketts, to come along with me. It was when we reached the tournament site that we found out that Yuli will challenge and fight a young master from Cagayan de Oro, one of the provinces of the Mindanao region. Their fight will be the main highlight of the event, using live sticks and without the use of body armor. Unfortunately, their anticipated fight did not push through, as Master Picate failed to come up with the prize money. Considering that the renowned masters were already in the venue, it was decided that there would be a demonstration where each master would be presented. In the event, I was introduced by Yuli to the great “Tatang” Ilustrisimo. I cannot remember the other demonstrators, but what I vividly remembered were the ones presented by Grandmaster “Tatang” Ilustrisimo and Ka Piryong Lanada of the Lanada Style. “Tatang” did the single baston, and Ka Piryong did the double baston. The reason why I singled out these two was simply because they were the ones I knew; “Tatang” having been introduced to me there by Yuli, and Lanada, who had been featured in Inside Kung-Fu magazine through the workings of his students in the U.S. So basically, knowledge wise at that time, I could not distinguish the versatility and salient points of their different styles.

After the tournament, Yuli introduced me to Edgar Sulite, whom I noticed to be very well mannered, respectful and who projected an aura of self-confidence, though still younger than most masters. I had just finished publication of my first book on Ngo Cho Kun, and I was aware that there as a demand for reference materials for the ever-growing market of Arnis practitioners. During those times, the only available book on Arnis was the one published by Remy Presas.

In the course of our conversation, publishing a book on Arnis came up. I thought a book on the art would be a great idea as the art of Arnis, though well-known in the Visayas and Mindanao regions, was then not so well-known in the metropolis of Manila and its neighboring cities. In fact, it was widely believed that Arnis was personified and represented only by the style of Remy Presas, who had established quite a name in this field, by virtue of his book. I found the young Edgar Sulite very skilled, educated and very passionate about Arnis. I gave my business card to him to pay me a visit, and sure enough, the following week, he appeared at my doorstep, presented me with a manuscript of his work, and was indeed looking for a publisher.

This started our business and personal relationship, and together with Topher Ricketts, we three established a lifelong friendship. Edgar would come to my office almost every day to discuss his book and demonstrate his Arnis knowledge to us. I would in turn expose him to the field of kung-fu, sharing my knowledge of Ngo Cho, Hung-gar, Praying Mantis, internal strength training, while Topher would delve into full-contact, pugilistic fighting with boxing basics and scientific training methods. So, in essence, we three became brothers in the martial arts, and at nighttime, would regularly practice at the penthouse of my residence in Makati.

Since the three of us were in constant company, I got to introduce Edgar and Topher to the different kung-fu masters, and Edgar also utilized some internal kung-fu techniques in his Lameco Eskrima, which explains his seemingly internal strength. I also learned Edgar’s Arnis style: Lameco. So the three of us each had knowledge in Arnis, Kung-fu, pugilistic fighting with specific strength on our own individual systems.

The publication of Edgar Sulite’s book was a great challenge to me. First, we had to change his original manuscript to be able to appeal to the readers. As I was more experienced in the field of book publishing I suggested we incorporate many items to make the book attractive enough to the readers, like putting its history, calisthenics, basics and fundamentals, strides, attack and defense techniques, closed inter-relations between a stick and dagger, plus introduction to some well-known masters. The latter was to expose these masters so their students would like to have their own copies, like a sort of marketing strategy. I published his first book with the title Secrets of Arnis.

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Friday, September 25, 2015

Punong Guro Edgar Sulite Remembered

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