The Presas family has a rich history of fighting, though the context of their battles shifted over the generations. While their grandfather, Leon Presas, fought in the Spanish-American War (1898-1904)¹, and their father, Jose Bonco Presas (1905 – 1978)², was a Philippine Army lieutenant during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, the brothers Remy, Ernesto, and Roberto Presas fought a different kind of war – one for the survival of Filipino Martial Arts (FMA). They didn’t engage in armed conflict but instead dedicated their lives to reviving and popularizing FMA in the Philippines and around the world.

Each brother played a unique role in this revival. Two of them, Remy and Ernesto, shared their martial art globally. If I created a metric system to evaluate success, my system would include the numbers of:

• Students in multiple and varied locations.
• Students who established their own schools to promote their teacher’s art.
• Published books.
• Produced videos.
• Magazine articles.
• Organizations established to promote FMA.
• Awards and recognition received.

Through these efforts, the Presas brothers created a lasting structure to ensure their knowledge and techniques would be passed down to future generations of martial artists, cementing their legacy as pioneers in the global martial arts community.

My learning objective was to learn about Grandmaster Remy Presas and Grandmaster Ernesto Presas. I started by searching online for information about them. There are a lot of articles, YouTube videos and books about the two of them and their systems. I wanted to learn about them – from them. I refined my search to first-person accounts; therefore, the information in my articles were from Remy, Ernesto or Roberto’s books, articles or videos that I was able find.

Articles in this series:

• Remy Presas – The Early Years
• Remy Presas – The Modern Resurgence of Arnis
• Remy Presas – Sharing Modern Arnis Globally
• Ernesto Presas – The Early Years
• Ernesto Presas – Mano Mano and Kombatan
• Ernesto Presas – Saving Philippine’s Cultural Heritage
• Roberto Presas – coming soon

1. The Presas Family, Filipino Martial Arts Magazine, Jan/Feb 1998. ↩︎
2. Ernesto Amador Presas Family Search website. Information source unknown. ↩︎