User:Warichardson1

Siete Pares Escrima

Siete Pares Escrima is a system of Filipino Martial Art while can be traced to a certain town in Iloilo, The Philippines as practiced by seven brothers each one with a different style. For many years, they were the defending champions of their town until a young man by the name of Carlos Jaranella came into the picture and easily defeated the seven brothers.

Sosing Labor was from the town of Janiway and a prodigy of Carlos Jaranella, an adventurer and fighter who learned his skills in Cebu before traveling to Iloilo to fight as a Guerrilla and Death Match Tournament fighter during World War II. Sosing Labor had originally learned the basics of Escrima from his father, Zacarias Labor, a De Campo and Disalon fighter whose favorite weapon was the bamboo lance. Carlos Jaranella than took Sosing under his wing to train him for tournament fighting and after the eldest of the seven brothers suddenly died, the remaining six turned to Sosing for leadership and guidance.

In the early part of 1976 Lamberto "Bert" Labitan, a U.S. Navy Sailor who learned Escrima from his Grandfather as well as several other well known Escrimadors., was on shore leave in Subic Bay. After giving an Escrima demonstration he was approached by Sosing Labor and challenged to a fight. He was quickly knocked our by Labor and awoke at his mothers house several hours later. The next day Labor appeared at the house and asked Bert if he was ready to begin his training. They trained daily and on the third year of training Bert was able to differentiate and isolate each style of the system as follows: Siniwali, De Campo, Tinulisan, Figura Ocho, Orabis, Disalon, Binukidnon, Pupog, Combate General and Cruzada.

On November 30, 1994 Sosing Labor passed stewardship of the art to Bert Labitan making him Grandmaster of the Art of Siete Pares Escrima and in June 2008, Grandmaster Labitan established the Guardians of the Art with Nelson Estanol as Presiding Grandmaster,Grandmaster Joe Giron as Trainer of Fighters, Grandmaster Ernesto Hernandez as Grandmaster of Chinese Kempo and Dumog and Grandmaster Cesar Jolivar as Grandmaster of Spiritual Battles.

Sosing Labor passed away on June 29, 2008 at his home in the Philippines. The ultimate fate of the seven brothers is unknown although rumors of a Siete Pares group in the Philippines headed by Vicente Labor, the younger brother of Sosing Labor, have surfaced.

In June 2015, Grandmaster Bert Labitan passed away in San Diego, Ca. Before passing he named his granddaughter as the ultimate heir.

There are currently training groups across the United States and several also in Mexico. __NOINDEX__