The Two Conquests By Angel Postigo

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Guro Dino of the Mandirigma Research Organization met Professor Angel Postigo and his father on one of his many business trips to Los Angeles from Mexico. Professor Postigo is a person with a very impressive resume in the warrior arts and journalism, among other things, having written for Artes Marciales, Katana, Kung Fu Magazine, Legitima Defensa and National Sports Directory of Mexico. They found that they both have a passion for history and its relationship to the warrior arts. Some of the discussions they had concerned the connections between the Philippines and Mexico for hundreds of years. Professor Postigo felt that mandirigma.org would be an excellent venue to present his articles of this often overlooked relationship between the Philippines and Mexico in history. Quoting Professor Postigo, "The reason why I am interested in working with "mandirigma.org" is to showcase my work as a writer interested in disseminating and spreading the culture of the Martial Arts of the Philippines, work that I have done in several Mexican magazines." Friday, October 12th, 2007 The Two Conquests By Angel Postigo Suddenly, the ascent they had begun at the beach, finally ended. Thousands of miles behind, their guides had led them to cross between those two volcanoes, the Popocatepetl and the Iztacihuatl. Standing in the snow, those iron men and their heraldic horses had that spectacle at their feet: beyond this wooded spot of splendid beauty, far beyond, into those mountains, a wide green valley was extended, and in the center the lakes shined like silver, and above the islands and the banks, those citadels with plazas and wide roads, the high roofs of its temples upon splendid hand-painted pyramids, and the woods and great fields full of exotic plants that enlightened those magic days of autumn. For the first time, western men looked at that wonderful landscape, as if painted on the evening air, and their eyes glowed as they contemplated the plain and remembered the gold and sacred feathered presents they had been offered as a plead to retire, to stay away. Cortes and his soldiers had started the advance to that plain, to Tenochtitlan, and the battles were about to begin. The great lord of the empire, Moctezuma II, intelligent and educated man, though deeply superstitious as most of his people, knew that his kingdom had come to its end. The news had spread as a desperate scream: Quetzalcoatl has returned, the Serpent God that promised to return in the year one, Acatl (1519), the prophecies are fulfilled now, the white-skinned bearded God has returned. Moctezuma knows a battle against a God is impossible, he has to have the help of other gods in order to save his nation. Being Cortes an extremely skillful politician and warrior, he perceives the rivalries between the different towns, and above all, the exacerbated hate against the Mexicas and their Aztec empire. Cortes returned to Tenochtitlan, not before suffering a defeat known as the Sad Night, when fallen and surrounded he was spared as many soldiers thanks to the tradition of not killing the enemy, just defeating them to take some prisoners for the ritual sacrifices. According to the number of prisoners, those warriors, Eagle men and Jaguar men, ascended in their military ranges. They were true conquerors who went further their frontiers of Guatemala, but their conquest had seeded rancor against the Aztec empire. Their armies were the best armed and trained. They had a regular troop, Yaoquizquel, and a lower but considerable number of noble warriors, Pipiltin, who belonged to a society known as the Eagle men, Quauhtin, and Jaguar men, Ocelomeh. Their elegant clothing had the skins of those felines and the feathers of those sacred birds. They were the sons of nobles who went to the Calmecac to receive military and cultural education, they learned astronomy, rhetoric, poetry, but above all, religion, and their status was well established, and how they could ascent according to their bravery, but above all, to the number of prisoners caught in battle. The Tlamani were the ones in charged of guarding the prisoners. This noble warriors, elegantly dressed, had as their main weapons the Macuahuitl, a kind of long club with sharp obsidian points, a round shield made of leather named Chimalli, an arc known as Tlauitolli, and a throwing spear, Atlatl. As he walks through many different spots of this empire, Cortes realizes the situation. In some places he has battles, but in others he comes to agreements easily, accomplishing an alliance in the first year of his arrival, and after establishing the Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz. One of the alliances was with the Zapoteca people, and afterwards, with others oppressed by the Aztec empire, the Texcocanos, the Huejotzincas and the Totonacas. Cortes starts his first march towards Mexico, Tenochtitlan, on August 16th, 1519, towards the heart of the empire. He has only 400 Spanish soldiers, 15 horses, 3 canons, … [Read more...]

Lameco SOG – Kapisanang Mandirigma

Lameco Eskrima - SOG, Kapisanang Mandirigma

Lameco SOG - Kapisanang Mandirigma The Los Angeles – Historic Filipinotown Chapter of Lameco SOG - Kapisanang Mandirigma includes Guros Joel Adriatico, Hospecio "Bud" Balani Jr., Mar Elepaño, Choy Flores, Dino Flores, Arnold A. Noche, Gary Quan and Hans Anton Tan . It is also this core group that came up with the term “SOG” with the guidance and approval of the two highest-ranking Lameco Eskrima International members, Master Christopher N. Ricketts (RIP) and Master Reynaldo S. Galang. We are still in touch with the other Lameco SOG members (who are also very busy heading their own organizations) with whom we occasionally get together with to collaborate or socialize. The majority of us who banded together after our teacher's death continue to do so since 1997. When Punong Guro passed away, the members unified to keep his teachings and vision alive in ways besides the commercial route. Hence, we began volunteering / teaching a youth program in the Los Angeles Historic Filipinotown area. The program, which started in 1999, teaches Lameco Eskrima, Filipino Martial Arts, Philippine Culture and History as a diversion for ‘at risk youths’ from the temptations of gangs and drugs. Historic Filipinotown , located in Los Angeles' Rampart District, is notorious for being among the highest in gang, murder and drug activity in the country since the 1960's. In as much so, that Hollywood has portrayed it in television shows such as “Adam-12” and most recently in “The Shield” , as well as in feature films like “Training Day". Even the video game, "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas", contains a story-line reminiscent of the Rampart Police Scandal of the 1990's. It's notoriety is also mentioned in the acclaimed literary works such as Charles Bukowskis' “Ham on Rye” and Carlos Bulosan’s “America is in the Heart”. The initial youth program has expanded into several other nonprofit agencies to include children, adults and seniors.* We even picked up a few awards along the way. Since then we have been involved in many aspects of the Filipino volunteer / cultural community that included being one of only two cultural groups to usher in the First Official "Filipinotown" in America– televised inside the iconic Los Angeles City Hall. Other activities include lecturing at the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) Conferences and a number of prestigious universities as well and doing various newspaper, radio and television interviews in the U.S. and Philippines. To avoid typical martial arts politics, Lameco SOG members teach these Lameco Eskrima-based programs under different organizations. This has allowed us to focus on one of Punong Guro’s visions – to promote the Arts with honor and integrity. Punong Guro was passionate about his culture as a whole. Since Punong Guro Sulite's passing the group has continued to train together and have trained a second generation of students in the Lameco SOG method. Given the nature of our neighborhood, a number of these students have used their lessons for self-preservation with actual knife, stick and even gun situations. We have been teaching these students since they were teens. They are now adults and are now assisting us in teaching the next generation. … [Read more...]

Kali Klub Sa Historic Filipinotown Los Angeles

historic filipinotown

Kali Klub Kali Klub, an award-winning project of Kapisanang Mandirigma, initially started as a positive diversion against drugs and gangs for youths in the Temple-Beverly corridor, now known as Historic Filipinotown. It is; a collaboration with several non- profit agencies in the area such as FilAm Arts, SIPA and PWC. Now entering their 9th year, they have expanded to teaching Children (ages 5-12), Youths (ages 13-17), Adults (ages 18 & over) and Elders (ages 40 & Over) the Warrior Arts of the Philippines in a non-commercial, non-political environment where art, culture and heritage are integrated into their curriculum. Presentations include the dedication of Historic Filipinotown at the Los Angeles City Hall and a lecture/demo at the Filipino Historical Society Conference at Loyola University. Kali Klub sa FilAm ARTS - www.filamarts.org The Association for the Advancement of Filipino American Arts & Culture ("FilAm ARTS") was founded in 1999 but has consistently delivered the annual presentation of the Festival of Philippine Arts & Culture (FPAC) since their early beginnings in 1992 and has now added two other programs: the California-statewide Pilipino Artists Network (PAN) and the Eskuwela Kultura Neighborhood Cultural School. Kali Klub sa FilAm ARTS, established in 2004, is a joint project between Kapisanang Mandirigma and the Association for the Advancement of Filipino American Arts & Culture (FilAm ARTS) under their community-based nonprofit 501(c)(3) status. Kali Klub sa SIPA - www.esipa.org Founded in 1972, Search to Involve Pilipino Americans ("SIPA") has long established itself as a key service provider among the low-income and underserved multi- ethnic youth and families in the Temple Beverly corridor and the Pilipino American community of Los Angeles County. Their mission is to enhance the quality of life of the Pilipino American community by: Supporting youth development and leadership; Providing family programs, health and human services and affordable housing; Facilitation of collaborative actions within multi-ethnic communities. Kali Klub sa SIPA, established in 1999, is a joint project between Kapisanang Mandirigma and Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA) under their community- based nonprofit 501(c)(3) status. Kali Klub sa PWC - www.pwcsc.org The Pilipino Workers' Center ("PWC") was founded in 1997 on the idea that all workers have a right to safe working conditions, living wages, a decent standard of living and quality of life. Their mission is to organize Filipino Workers to collectively address our needs and issues both in the work place and in the community. Kali Klub sa PWC, established in 2003, is a joint project between Kapisanang Mandirigma and Pilipino Workers' Center (PWC) under their community-based nonprofit 501(c)(3) status.   … [Read more...]