My deepest sympathy and condolences to the family of Great Grandmaster Ernesto Amador Presas. I remember me on the first arnis seminar in Germany in 1991 and it was great! He give us many exciting Arnis demonstrations with a special kind of humor!

All the members of the Arnis Club in Berlin/Germany we would like to express our heartfelt condolences to Great Grandmaster Ernesto A. Presas's family.
GGM Presas was a trusted Philippine Martial Arts teacher and brother! Together with his brother GM Remy Presas (R.I.P.) he reawake the classical Filipino Martial Arts and build an effective system of self defense called Modern Arnis and Mano Mano known today as Kombatan.

Ernesto A. Presas was a big-hearted and down-to-earth Grandmaster, it was a honor for me to meet him personally. We will miss you!

Expert/Trainer Dirk Müller and FMA Club members of Berlin/Germany

Ernesto Amador Presas was born in Hinigaran, Philippines on May 20, 1945.

He began his training in the Filipino martial arts at the age of eight under his father, Jose Presas.

Grandmaster Ernesto Presas is a multi-talented athlete.

He was a collegiate athlete in track and field, football and basketball.

His training in the martial arts is eclectic.

He holds the rank of Lakan Sampu (10th Dan) in Arnis, Lakan Sampu (10th Dan) in Mano-Mano and

10th Dan in Filipino weaponry. He is recognized as a ranking expert in Judo, Jujitsu, Bo Jitsu, Kendo, Tonfa, Sai, Chaku, Balisong, and Karate.

As a young man, his dream was to reintroduce the art that was so long an integral part of Filipino history and culture. However, he realized that the classical systems presented a limited appeal to those living in the modern world. By analyzing the conceptual framework of the classical systems, he revolutionized the native martial arts into a complete effective fighting system appealing to martial arts students in contemporary society.

A turning point came in 1970 for Grandmaster Presas. He began teaching the Filipino martial arts at the University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas and the Lyceum of the Philippines.

In the same year, he was invited to Japan to demonstrate the art of Arnis at "Expo 70." Challenged to compare Arnis to the well-known sword styles of Japan, he quickly earned the respect of the Japanese masters who called his art Filipino Kendo.

After returning to Manila, he established his first dojo. Later that year, Grandmaster Presas founded the Modern Arnis Association of the Philippines International and ARJUKEN (Arnis-Jujutsu-Kendo) Karate Association International to formally propagate the native art within the Philippines.

His martial arts teaching duties expanded to include classes at the University of Santo Tomas, Central Colleges of the Philippines, the Far Eastern Military Academy, Philippine National Police Academy and the Philippines Air Force Officer's School.

Grandmaster Presas yearned to introduce the Filipino martial arts to the outside world. In 1975, he founded the International Philippine Martial Arts Federation. From that point on, his Presas Arnis style and techniques became widely adopted in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Canada, United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Australia.

He has published extensively. His books, The Art of Arnis, published in 1981 and Arnis: Presas Style and Balisong, in 1985 demonstrate the basic techniques of single and double cane, espada y daga and the balisong knife.

Grandmaster Presas diligently researched the Filipino martial arts for over 30 years to develop a systematic approach to the application of Arnis style into a complete hand-to-hand combat style called Mano-Mano. In the June 1991 issue of Inside Kung-Fu, he was featured in the cover article "Ernesto Presas: The Father of Mano-Mano." In the same year (1991) he was invited to a "Budo Gala" in Germany. "Budo Gala" gathers together all the respected martial artists from all around the world. Mano-Mano, introducing unique hand techniques, was a huge success.

And then Grandmaster Presas traveld the world teaching seminars to propagate this Filipino art. In turn, numerous martial arts students and instructors from around the world express homage by taking advanced lessons from him in the Philippines. On November 1th he died.