Old master fuels wushu resurgence in Baguio

VIENTIANE, Laos – In the Universities and gymnasiums of Baguio, one could see them kick, punch and wrestle, and they do all these day in and day out to perfect the ancient art of Chinese wushu.

The man who developed this sport in the Cordilleras was a restaurateur and kung fu expert simply called by his new Filipino name Tony Candelaria.

“I started this sport when I was regional director for the Cordilleras in 1997,” said Candelaria, 63, a kung fu champion in the US before he embarked on a program to popularize the sport among the Igorots and Bontocs.

Kung fu actually means master,” says Candelaria. “If you are master cook you are a kung fu cook, and so on. Wushu is a Chinese name which means martial (wu) and art (shu).”

Wushu, the umbrella arm of martial arts in China, was not really as popular in China as kung fu, a variation of wushu, which gained worldwide popularity from the action films of Bruce Lee.

‘“I trained the boys and girls everyday and they would come to my gym because the training is free,” muses Candelaria, who owns the restaurant 50s Diner on Leonard Wood St. in Baguio.

The sport got a big boost when the Benguet Amateur Athletic League, which includes top colleges like the University of Baguio, St. Louis University, Baguio Colleges and the Philippine Military Academy, included wushu as a compulsory sport in the regional meet. It is now also part of the physical education curriculum in many schools.

The junior program produced such stars as Igorot Mark Eddiva and Marianne Mariano who won the two golds of wushu in the SEA Games, mixed martial arts fighter Eduard Foolayang, Benjie Rivera, Rhea Mae Rifani, Denver Labrador, and Daniel Parantac who all passed the national tryouts to compete here.

To help them make a living out of the sport, Candelaria encouraged his top wushu practitioners to open clubs or serve as coaches in the various colleges and universities in the Cordilleras.

“I no longer train the boys and girls, I just supervise the program in Baguio,” says Candelaria, a college mate of wushu secretary general Julian Camacho at Adamson University from 1965.

Candelaria recalls that wushu, as practiced today, was in its crude form during the 60s. He says the traditional taolu (form) requires the mandatory 10 routines and there were as many as 10 events for competitions using weapons such as the sword, lance and stick which were played in the SEAG until four years ago.

“In the SEA Games, they now combine this into the taijijian and taijiquan, using the free style format – meaning you can do whatever routine you wish and you will now be graded according to the degree of difficulty,” he said.

The Philippines’ entries in the event were Stephanie Agbay and Parantac.

Wushu, says Candelaria, is a difficult discipline.

“If you have a soft heart, you can’t survive in the sport.

For example, to be able to execute properly even in the sanshou (combat), you must stretch your leg completely and let your knee touch your forehead in straight position,” he said.

He says almost 90 percent of his Baguio wards are in the national team in every SEA Games. In the early years of wushu in the Philippines, the wushu athletes came from a club in Binondo in China Town.

Asked about the current leadership crisis in the wushu federation, Candelaria said the problem can be solved internally.

“Edwin Pimentel (the leader of the other faction) is Julian’s godson,” says Candelaria.

“Regardless of what is happening, we will continue this program. We will continue training our athletes not only for the regional and national competitions but also for the Sea Games and Asian Games,” he said.

With Candelaria doing it from the grassroots, wushu is certain to have a continuous supply of talents for the SEA Games.