As told by a mentor in the Martial Arts - Mr. Rodolfo Vivero. This is presented vervatim. As candid as it is, it is what it is... The story and history of Judo in Negros.
History of our Judo club? To begin with, Judo—as a sport of which it is, actually—came to Bacolod when Remy Presas established his club at Rosario-Lacson streets, not far from the residence and club of you dad’s uncle, tio Jose Vinas, the arnis grandmaster. The “White Kimono” club (WKC) was the well-known arnis club for years before the Bacolod-arrival of Remy Presas. Of course, the “White Kimono” club has Judo as part of their course.
The only difference from the club of Remy was the AIM. The aim of the WK club is to use Judo as an adjunct to their already-existing fighting arts, which is varied; whereas in Remy’s club Judo is practiced as a sport, which, as I said, it is actually its purpose. At that time, however, Remy never arranged a contest with the various clubs in Cebu , from which he took the sport. Remy’s teaching of Judo (and Arnis) was concentrated on the moneyed class of Negros Occidental—the hacienderos and their sons in La Salle College . You see, Remy has another aim of his own: “To make money.”
Pat Prologo and I were buddies in high school. We went to Remy’s club, not to play Judo, but to work out with weights. You see, Remy struck a partnership with our friend and idol in Bodybuilding, Mat Llorente, a “Mr. Bacolod” bodybuilding winner. Remy would teach martial arts, while Mat would instruct bodybuilders. Less than a month, I saw Pat in judo gi, playing Judo.
I didn’t like Judo because judoka fought by grabbing each other’s clothes. In a matter of a week, however, I, too, was pushing and pulling and sweating on the mat. Remy really was the one who encouraged me because, at that time, my bodybuilding activities gave a good build and above-average strength. I tell you, Henried, I fell in love with the sport. During those days, Pat even joked that when he dies, he should not be lowered into his grave. Instead, he should be judo-thrown into it.
After three years with Remy, we fought many visitors from other clubs, including from the WKC. Some WKC students wanted to prove that their skill can match our own. Much to their regret, they lost. There are people today who mistake Judo for Jiu-jitsu. The former is the forerunner. The latter is the sport interpretation of it. Because Judo is a sport, it can be practiced with less danger of injuries, thus more practice can be done, until favorite techniques can be applied with greater precision and speed. What I’m driving at, Henried, is this: “Practicing the art as a sport will improve both—as an art and as a sport.” This is the primary reason why I recommended to pare Bert that you study Karate with sensei Mike Vasquez when you were merely a boy. Sensei Mike is an artist and a sportsman rolled into one.
After a year with Remy, Pat and I sensed that our Judo knowledge was stagnant. It was because Remy himself was not a Judo man. He would not even “cross swords” with any of his students. His reason was common among martial arts teachers who are not sportsmen. Incidentally, you ask sensei Mike to spar with you, and he’ll give you the pleasure of “biting the dust.” I am not saying this to disparage Remy, our first teacher in martial arts, specifically Judo. To do so would certainly make me appear ungrateful. And I, for one, hate to be thought of as an ingrate, which I am not (or trying not to be—like everyone else). Remy was not only our teacher but also our friend, although when we gravitate to Anong Javellana, he seemed disappointed.
Remy did not indulge in Judo wholeheartedly, hence his reluctance to really mix it up with his students. But I assure you, Remy had won in various encounters with other arnis men long before he went to the United States and made a name for himself. Black Belt magazine, no less, voted him in its Hall of Fame. I suppose that’s about all I can say of Remy Presas, inasmuch as this piece is about our Judo Club, which metamorphosed into various names before it died out. I must emphasize, though, that Remy was the one who brought Judo as it has always been—a sport—to Negros Occidental. And Pat, Lope (deceased), Marius and I were the first converts.
While we were still with Remy, Remy invited, one evening, one authentic Judo black belt from Manila, who happened to be home for a vacation, a certain Cresenciano (Anong) Javellana from a prominent Javellana family of Bago City. We, who were considered the advanced students of Remy, wanted to experience how this man of average build and below average height (5’4”) can ever make any of us barbell-built men slap the mat, i.e., if we could not do the same to him first—which was our intention all along.
While grabbing Anong’s gi and looking for openings to unbalance him, in an instant I was flying blind and instinctively slapping the mat as I was slammed like a dummy into it. I assure, you, Henried, being a Judo man yourself, that a good, well-timed ippon sionagi (one-arm shoulder throw) can be devastating to an unbalanced opponent. When I said I was blinded, I meant that I had some sort of blackout for one short second. From then on, I knew I want Anong to teach me the how and the wherefore of Judo.
Lucky for Pat and me we have friends who were close to Anong and the Javellanas of Bago City. In the next four month hence, Anong established a Judo club in the Bacolod Shopping Center, his club became our Mecca. We frequently frequent it to practice Judo or to simply talk about the martial arts over cups of coffee up to the wee hours of the night. And because Anong is single (Anong was 8 years older than I) we talked about women, or just about anything under the stars. And we talked and joked around until dawn—all six or eight of us inside his dojo, gulping cups of black coffee.
It was in Anong’s dojo that I met one of his students who love the sport of Judo just as intensely as Pat and I did. His name was Dr. Fred Lamayo. I knew Fred before I knew Bert, your dad.
With an authentic black belt in town, Anong Javellana, Remy recommended the three of us—Pat, Lope, and me to take the brown belt examination. The examiner, of course was Cresenciano ( Anong) Javellana. As a consequence, the three of us were allowed to wear brown belts. I’m here writing about our Judo days. So I think I should impart to you some problems that each of us encountered “on our way to the dojo.”
As usual in every life, people fall in love and, fortunately or unfortunately, get married. Without anyone knowing it, Anong, for many years had had kept a secret flame in his heart for the wife of his best friend. When his friend was ill, Anong did everything to help the widow and her children. When his friend died, Anong revealed his tender feelings for his friend’s widow.
And to make a short story shorter, he and the widow got married. It is true that a married man will do anything for money. And as a married man, Anong was no exception. He gave up his Judo club and became a salesman for a certain company. Though I rarely saw him when he became a salesman of…I really don’t know what he was selling.
At about the same time, Pat Prologo (an undergraduate mechanical engineer) was lucky enough to be employed by Caltex. In a short time, Pat, at Caltex, was the repair man of gasoline pumps at various gas stations throughout the province. He travel often that we rarely see each other. Like all slaves of Nature, whose main duty is to reproduce, Pat got married. At about the same time, I failed in my bid for love with a lovely Spanish mestiza that, out of disappointment, I went into a misadventure of sort in Manila.
It was a misadventure because I don’t really know exactly where to go in that big city. Our past association sometimes can help, as it did in my case. While on the vessel, I met a member of “White Kimono” Club, who once tried his Judo techniques against ours. Though we were not really friends (in those days we were more like competitors), he invited me to spend the night at the place of his uncle, which I did and will be eternal grateful for it.
In Manila, I had the opportunity to visit the Philippine Amateur Judo Association (PAJA). The good thing about the PAJA was that they have Japanese instructors, including Japanese women instructors for Filipina judoka. Those instructors were officially “loaned” to PAJA from the Kudokan, the headquarters of Judo in Japan. Right then, I knew what we missed as Judo students in the province of Negros Occidental.
While I was in Manila struggling to survive as a movie magazine (Screenland) associate editor, Pat, in Bacolod, got hooked with Lucy. As a married man, a husband has a lot of listening to do vis-à-vis his wife. And believe me, there are times when you’d wish you are deaf or your wife were dumb. It is the ambition (or perhaps the nature) of wives to remold or reform their husbands. In short, his wife objected to his Judo activities.
Any activity requires time, and a married man should spend his time with his wife at home. A wise, married man should know that once he got hitched, he should stay hitched by ditching all his bachelor ways and sport activities. There are, of course, wives who understand, but most of them mistrust their husbands once they are out of sight. Knowing how men are as men, I must admit that their suspicion is usually true. There were times when Pat’s Judo activities angered his wife. As a result, he responded by burning his Judo gi and Judo instruction books.
Yet, the desire to play and teach Judo was in Pat’s blood. At Caltex compound, he and some employees began the Caltex Judo Club. One of them was Manuel Villalobos. When the company offered severance pay for those who want to retire, Manuel took it. I think Pat also did. With their money to appease their wives and with the freedom to pursue their Judo ambition, the decided to link with the Cebu Judo Club, for the club in Cebu is a registered member of the PAJA.
Only clubs with PAJA membership can purchase tatami Judo mats from Japan. Manuel Villalobos was the most tenacious in recruiting members for the future Judo club. Finally, the mats arrived and the place to house and use them was in agricultural building of the Provincial Capitol complex. Why? The mats were placed in that building because three or five of the members of the newly formed club were employees of the Bureau of Agriculture of Negros Occidental.
I’m sorry to hear that pare Bert could not give you the complete list of the first fifteen who started the club. The one who really worked for the organizing of the club was Villalobos. Pat really got him interested in the art that he spent his time looking for people who would join establish the first Judo club to use tatami mats exported directly from the Kudokan. Manuel Villalobos has to disturb my office work at Philamlife office to sell the idea of separating me from my money so that we can play Judo again.
Frankly, I don’t want to fall into the mat or throw somebody into it again, since I was already thirty-one years old and had a new baby daughter at the time. Villalobos, however, was so formal and office-oriented that his courteous and friendly approach, plus his enthusiasm fired in me again my love to grab and throw another Judo man—or to be thrown in return. As you know, Henried, in Judo the contest may be so heated and intense but the pain is not as bad as in Karate. In Judo, one you are thrown, all you have to do is break your fall. Or once you are locked or choked, simply slap on your opponent or the mat.
To illustrate: once in a Karate sparring session, I had Bing Leong as my opponent. Bing was one guy who loves the martial arts. Bing delivered a kick into my gut—solar plexus—“bang” Obviously, my gedan barai failed. ! I felt like going down, knees first. But sensei Mike ordered that everyone should stop sparring and sit and listen to what he had to say. So when I got down, nobody knows I was in pain. Even Bing did not know that he connected effectively. I don’t know if sensei Mike saw the hit. I think he did, thus instruction to sit down. God, Bing’s front kick really skewered me because he delivered it in perfect timing—at the very second I was breathing in. In Judo, the same is or should be observed. If you still can remember, the instruction is to attack when your opponent is breathing in. And the reverse of that is to make your breath imperceptible as possible to your opponent.
Going back to Judo, I would like to place Pat as the number 1 member, after all, he was the very heart of the club. Then No.2 was Manuel Villalobos. No.3 was Jun Caduhada. No. 3 was Bert Mirasol. No. 4 Bert Lamayo. 5. Guanco (I can’t recall the first name). 7. Rolando Vivero. 8. Rudy Vivero. 9. A Chinese guy whose name escapes me. 9. Another small fellow who was a government employee of the province. I’m sorry, Henried. I cannot recall the other names of members, simply because, at that time, I simply didn’t see the list. The record was with Manual Villalobos and there were no meetings. We simply go there, donned on our gi and start warming up, and play.
As I see it, the club was established for people who already were familiar with the sport. But I realized that original fifteen members did not want to play randori anymore. Many were like me—past their thirties. Pat once complained that Manuel Villalobos didn’t play randori to improve his Judo. Instead, he wants to teach the young students, who loved to mix it up, simply because of their youth. That is only half of the picture. A few who acquired their original training from that university in Iloilo (I forgot the name of the university—a common mental lapse that is now plaguing my fading memory.) were good. A guy named Bibut from Iloilo throw me three times in one session with his diashi barai (advancing foot sweep). He was so good that the only way I know how to throw him is to strong-arm him with my tai otoshi. Guanco was also experienced and a stronger Judo player.
Dr. Fred Lamayo, your late uncle, now and then came to practice his Judo forms. Your dad, Bert, in my judgment, was (and still is, no doubt) realistic in his approach to the martial arts. He was realistic in a sense that he viewed every move as a real fight, whereas many of us saw (and still do) the martial arts as sport. Your dad wanted every move as “deadly” as possible. I do not fault him a bit at all, for the martial art is truly “martial” before it deserved the additional term “art.” Your dad has the mentality of the ancient samurai warriors, if I have to make a comparison. Pare Bert loved knives, swords, bolos, weapons which can cut, slash, and decapitate.
Henried, I’ll write some more later. I’m now an old man, and old men get sick—a natural course of events. So I feel like unburdening myself of many things in my mind regarding the activities (Judo and Karate) that once consumed my time—in practice and research. As you know, every man is limited in time in this earth. I must say, though, that I have little regrets. I enjoyed the rough and tumble that were necessary in the life of every man.
My only regret is that I sacrificed my college studies for my studies in Judo, as Anong Javellana sacrificed his Engineering ambitions to the Judo blackbelt. Like him, I spent more time in the Dojo than in the classroom. What the heck, Henried, what we did cannot be undone. I hope you will not have too much regret in your life because regret is a sign of weakness.
Always strive to be strong as your dad did with all his martial arts and a lot of long-distance running. He should see his pare Rudy here, who can hardly walk three blocks from the house to the drug store. Old age truly sucks. But if you can feel what old people feel, you’ll agree that the toughest guys on earth are the old guys with health problems, like high blood pressure, heart condition, arthritis, prostate cancer, kidney failure, etc. There are doctors who do nothing but think of names of new diseases that are about to plague aging senor citizens like me and your dad.
This the last write-up on the first Judo club in Bacolod. Sometime after the club’s location in the agricultural building at the provincial capitol, Pat got the permission of one authority in that Paglaum stadium. I cannot say more on this, since I was not involved in the transfer of the 15 pieces of tatami mats. And I didn’t care. I was not tired of Judo, but I was busy with work. Actually, I wanted to be with my children.
At Paglaum Judo Club, the one in charge was Pat. I believe it was the time when he taught Boy Mondejar the game. Jorge Prologo (Sota), younger brother of Pat was also giving his all to the practice of the game. My brother-in-law Rene Cornel got his first taste of Judo after he asked me to recommend to Pat that he will be admitted. At about this time, your dad brought you—his young son—there to know the art of Judo. At this time, you could hardly see the first fifteen. Instead, other recruits, young ones, were the beneficiaries of our generousity.
When Pat was recruited to work in Saudi Arabia, he left the teaching job to Boy Modejar and his brother Jorge. I don’t know how hard you worked to get knowledge and experience at Paglaum under the tutelage of Boy and Sota. I understand Manuel Villalobos sometimes gave some instructions there, since that Manuel loved to teach, though I must be honest that Manual did not have much randori experience. Manuel reminds me of Anong Javellana’s friend and Judo classmate who taught Judo so well that he even drooled, giving away all the “secrets” of the game to his students. But when he played randori, he, most of the time, ended thrown on the mat. In the martial arts, the teacher is always thought to be an expert and cannot be defeated. This is crazy, of course. On the other hand in professional boxing, the trainer-couch is not expected to last one round or two against the boxer he trains and coaches.
Manuel perhaps considered himself a good Judoka because, at one time, a man, who was slightly tipsy, was pushing Manuel around, threatening physical violence. Manuel really looks like a push-over because he looked like a typical office worker, which he was. Your dad was an office worker, too, but he took care of his physical condition that he looked ready for any emergency. Incidentally, Manuel and your dad are good friends. In fact, your dad was instrumental in Manuel’s employment with your dad’s workplace.
Going back to that slightly innervated guy who was a threat to Manuel’s physical safety, Manuel was certainly ready to react if the attack would come. Well, it did, the guy threw a punch, Manuel blocked and rotated his body inside, and close to the attacker’s front, then he throw the guy with a well-executed hip throw. The guy landed in shock. Henceforth, whenever we are with Manuel that incident would crop up. There were times that I didn’t like to be with Manuel anymore because I was so tired of hearing the same story over and over.
Before Pat left for Saudi Arabia, he officially connected with PAJA Cebu. That connection was the beginning of Judo contests between Cebu and Negros. Paglaum Judo Club went as far as Mindanao to try their abilities and luck with other Judo clubs. I remember that one contest was held in La Salle, Bacolod between Cebu and Bacolod. I wonder if you were one of the contestants in that tournament. Pat Prologo, indeed, was the spirit in the rise of the first sport Judo in Negros Occidental.
Later, much later than Remy Presas and the “White Kimono”, I heard that Judo training was done at the Vasquez red house. All I know was that Bandot and Chugging, our fellow barbell men long before, were among the members. I was not able to get there because at that time, Judo was far from my mind. I don’t know if that was the Judo club wherein, sensei Mike Vasquez practiced Judo.
Later on the mats were transferred to St. Joseph’s High School. Many students there were trained by Rene Cornel and Jorge (Sota) Prologo. Then much later the mats, found a home at YMCA bacolod. Many of my fellow Judo buddies are now gone. Anong died from diabetic stroke, my brother Rolando died of a stroke, Sota, who was trying to supply me with fact regarding the club, died of a disease I did not know of. The last time I saw him, he looked like a dead man already. Rene Cornel died of kidney stones. I don’t know about the others. When I left Bacolod Jun Caduhada was thin and pale, owing to a bad heart—his own.
Whatever happens, it will, especially to old people like me. If this one old man is ever physically threatened (I hope not), I have my Judo and karate to defend myself, if I still can—hopefully.
My best regards, Henried. RUDY
After receiving the emails which came in four installments, I presented them to my father who in turn gave me his own list of those original members he can only recall which due to memory loss brought about by old age were also lacking. My father could only recall eleven out of the original fifteen namely:
- Bert Lamayo
- Bert Mirasol
- Rafael Claver
- Romeo Dilag
- Rudy Vivero
- Pat Prologo
- Junie Caduhada
- King Guanco
- Dominador Tan
- Marius Arcilla
- Manuel Villalobos
After a year names came up and were verified:
- Horacio San Juan
- Willy Chan
Rolando Vivero was a dedicated judoka but did not contribute to the fund used to purchase the original tatami mats from Japan at the time the propagation of Judo was started. Hence, he was not considered to be among the original or pioneers. The word pioneer is to be taken to mean those who invested time, effort, and money in the propagation of Judo and not only in its teaching. Thus, while others have taught Judo, only fifteen have dedicated to its propagation by investing time, effort, and money to buy the tatami mats and find a home for Judo in Negros and propagate the art.
Other people have argued about who's who claiming to know more about the history of Judo in Negros. However, it would take a practicing judoka family member of these original fifteen people to validate such claim. At present, we are still patiently working on getting the names of the other 2 of the original fifteen.
PS. - after a long search, I have established contact with one of Sensei Pat Prologo's dedicated student in Aikido (by this time he has been teaching Aikido to some dedicated people) and have gathered this information:
Pat Prologo, Chief Instructor
Shinsei Aikido Society
3rd Floor, LBC Building
Araneta Street, corner San Sebastian Street
Bacolod City
Sensei Pat teaches on sunday mornings with a closely knit group of students. This information was given to me by Mr. Ricardo Cordova and Mr. Jun Montemayor - members of his core group.