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Manong Leon "Tito Jun" Saludo

Jeff,

Thanks for the write up and the memories. Can't believe it's been that long. Rochester was first of the seminars which were followed by gatherings in Detroit that Jay and I had attended and had never missed any since.

Yes, Rochester was where it all started. Where the three great minds and practitioners in FMA Pekiti in particular formally met. Doug Marcaida of Rochester, Jeff Davidson of Michigan and Jay Saludo of Saskatchewan Canada who got together and later founded and formed the formidable "Brotherhood of the Blade". Rochester was also the place where the exposure of a knife style that was, as Jeff always say "honed and proven on the streets of Lipa City, Batangas" in which later on was baptized by Jay as the "Barako Batangueno Knife" in honor of the handful of men called "Barakos" of Lipa City, Batangas.

The Barako knife as mentioned was first informally shown and introduced to Jeff Davidson which I recall started in a hallway then to a dimly lit room adjacent to the seminar. The meeting was short and sweet which was ended with a small talk about the style to the rest of the Detroit boys Bassam, Little Damon, Dean, Jeff D. and Jay M. It was a year later in Detroit that Barako was introduced to Doug Marcaida and the rest was history.

Barako is not for eveybody it is not a martial art or a system. Yours truly is not even a martial artist.

In Barako there is no such thing as rankings. Barako knife did not exist in the public eye till it's exposure 6 years ago in Rochester. However, there was a knife style exclusive to a handful of individuals (seven to be precise) honed on the streets of Lipa Batangas that started 46 years ago.

Saying so, in RECOGNITION of the individuals who embraced Barako, Jay and I decided to honor such individuals by presenting them with full certification of instructorship in Barako Batangueno. The current and only recipients are Jeff Davidson, Doug Marcaida and upcoming Ed P. of Saskatchewan. For now Jeff and Doug are the only one's who has the authority to certify an associate trainer whom they see fit in the style. Most likely there will be one more individual in the very near future for full certification but that would be more of Jay's choosing. It would involve the old barakos with a slight taste of something fresh.

In closing, to Jeff thanks again and to the others (Doug and Jay) all responsible for the evolution, growth and propigation of Barako knife on what it was before and what it is (still) now however small, raw and un-orthodox it may be.

Tito Jun