Ciriaco ‘Noy Cacoy’ Cañete

Top 100 Cebuano

CEBU, Philippines — A 12th degree black belt, Ciriaco ‘Noy Cacoy’ Cañete is a legend in the indigenous Filipino martial art of arnis (eskrima). He is widely regarded as one of the driving forces behind the growth and development of eskrima not only in the Philippines but also in other parts of the world.

Under the wings of Doce Pares Eskrima Club, which was founded in 1932, he started learning the ropes of stick-fighting at the age of seven with his brother Filemon “Momoy” Cañete as his first mentor.

When the Doce Pares club reorganized in 1947, Noy Cacoy was a senior single stick instructor. He is also an expert in ‘pangamot’ (empty hand versus weapons). He later incorporated his ‘pangamot’ style into the concept of jujitsu and judo to develop his own personal system he christened as ‘eskrido’ in the early ‘1950s.

Noy Cacoy was also a sublime eskrima warrior. Even at the age of sixty, he still emerged as champion in the 1st Open Arnis Tournament in Cebu City as well as in the 1st National Invitational Arnis Tournament in Manila, both in 1979. In that same year, he played himself in the Filipino film Arnis:The Stick of Death.

After the death of his elder brother and the club’s founder Eulogio ‘Yoling’ Cañete in 1988, Noy Cacoy served as president of the Doce Pares club until his death in 2016.

Aside from teaching eskrima in various martial arts clubs here and abroad particulary in Europe, Australia and United States, Noy Cacoy has also authored numerous books, the most latest was the ‘Olisi-Baraw’ in 2014.

Noy Cacoy’s greatness was further spotlighted when he was enshrined in the Cebu Sports Hall of Fame in 1997.

In January 2000, Noy Cacoy was honored as one of the “Most Outstanding Cebuanos of the Century” by the Cebuano Studies and Historical Association. In that same year, he was installed in the Filipino Martial Arts Hall of Fame in El Paso, Texas.

Three years later, he was named as the “Most Distinguished Grandmaster of the Year” at the US Martial Arts Association Hall of Fame in St. Louis, Missouri. Also in 2003, he was inducted into the World Martial Arts Hall of Fame in Columbus, Ohio.

Noy Cacoy’s countless awards and accolades during his lifetime are an indelible proof of his storied legacy in Philippine sports.