Skip to content

The 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 when Doce Pares was formed in 1932.

GM Momoy Cañete
GM Momoy Cañete

The Components of the Multi Style System

There are seven (7) main components of the multi style system:

Single Stick (Solo Olisi)
Double Stick (Doble Olisi)
Long Stick (Bangkaw)
Long & Short Weapon (Espada y Daga)
Knife Defense (Baraw)
Long Blade/Sword (Sundang)
Empty Hand (Mano-Mano)

Three (3) ranges are used:

Close Range (Corto)
Medium Range (Media Largo)
Long Range (Larga Mano)

The three (3) styles of Corto (Close Range)

Corto
Corto Kurbada
Corto Orihinal

The four (4) components of Mano-Mano:

Punches & Kicks (Sumbag-Patid)
Locks & Immobilisation (Lubag-Torsi)
Throws & Takedowns (Lambos-Labay)
Takedowns & Grappling (Layog-Dumog)

Specialised Subjects:

Eskrido
Double Stick (Sinawali)
Sticky Hands (Tapi-Tapi)
Forms (Sayaw/Caranza)