Doce Pares
Filipino eskrima system from Cebu, whose beginning the Cebuano press places in 1932 and links to the Cañete family. Dionisio Cañete founded the WEKAF federation out of it.
Quick Facts
PhilippinesCharacter & Origin
Training
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
Catalogs & Databases for Doce Pares
About Doce Pares
Doce Pares is a Filipino eskrima system from Cebu City. The daily SunStar, in the 2021 obituary of Dionisio Cañete, writes that the style was founded in 1932 by the Cañete brothers, and Philstar in 2012 calls Doce Pares eskrima that began in 1932. The Freeman wrote in 2016 that the Doce Pares Club was founded in 1932 by eight Cañete brothers, and named Eulogio Cañete as the original founder. The Cebuano Studies Center, by contrast, says only that Eulogio Cañete was president of the club from 1933. Who exactly founded the club differs between sources. FMA Pulse states that the club was founded on 11 January 1932 by a group of masters led by Eulogio Cañete, Lorenzo Saavedra and Teodoro Saavedra, and formally established on 21 January 1932 with 24 members. English Wikipedia speaks of twelve founders. According to FMA Pulse the name means twelve pairs in Spanish and refers to the twelve bodyguards of Charlemagne. According to SunStar, Eulogio Cañete led the organization until his death in 1988. According to The Freeman, his brother Ciriaco Cañete, called Cacoy, then became lifetime president and in 1951 developed his own system, eskrido. According to Cebu Daily News, Dionisio Cañete founded the WEKAF federation and wrote its rules.
History
The Cebuano Studies Center states that Eulogio Cañete was born on 11 March 1901 in San Fernando and that from 1933 he was president of the club, which the source writes as Dose Pares. English Wikipedia places his presidency in the years 1939 to 1988 and in its list of founders names Lorenzo Saavedra, Eulogio Cañete and Filemon Cañete. FMA Pulse gives Eulogio Cañete as the first president and Teodoro Saavedra as vice president. Ciriaco Cañete, called Cacoy, was born according to English Wikipedia on 8 August 1919 in San Fernando and died on 5 February 2016 in Cebu City. Wikipedia does not consider him a founder, while SunStar in 2010 called him the last living original member of the club. Dionisio Cañete, Eulogio's son, belonged according to SunStar to the second generation. Green (2001) lists Doce Pares only as one of the Filipino systems associated with Ciriaco Cañete.
Technique
Green (2001) states that the Original Doce Pares system uses a stick of vara length, a Spanish unit of roughly 31 to 33 inches. According to him, two-handed styles such as Dos Manos in Doce Pares Eskrima arose as a reaction to Japanese swords. According to Green, in Doce Pares Eskrima single-edged knives are thrown by the blade and double-edged ones by the handle. Green further writes that Felimon Cañete, called Momoy, developed many-bladed strikes from his experience on jungle patrols against Japanese soldiers and that he handmade twelve-foot rope whips. English Wikipedia states that Ciriaco Cañete developed the close-range style Corto Kurbada and the eskrido system and that the Doce Pares Multi-Style System is a government-recognized arnis curriculum program.
Ranks and progression
We have not found a complete order of belts and grades of Doce Pares in the sources. The Freeman wrote in 2016 that Ciriaco Cañete held a 12th-degree black belt. Philstar in 2012 mentions the titles Supreme Grandmaster and Grandmaster and gives Dionisio Cañete as the Supreme Grandmaster.
Today
The official website of WEKAF states that it was formally established on 11 August 1989 at the Sacred Heart Center in Cebu City and that a provisional World Arnis Federation had existed since 1987. The Freeman gives the year 1987, Cebu Daily News the year 1980. According to the WEKAF website, Dionisio Cañete wrote the rules and designed the helmet, body protector and gloves. Philstar wrote in 2012 that the first WEKAF championship took place in Cebu on 11 to 13 August 1989 and the twelfth in July 2012, again in Cebu. At the 16th World Championship in Mandaue City in 2022, according to Cebu Daily News, the Filipino team won 418 medals, 141 of them gold. Cebu Daily News reported in 2019 that WEKAF has 40 member countries. Philstar in 2012 named Doce Pares branches in Hawaii, France, Australia, Germany and Indonesia and stated that Alfredo Bandalan brought the system to the USA. English Wikipedia lists the organizations Doce Pares Inc. in Cebu City, Cacoy Doce Pares World Federation and Guba Doce Pares International based in London. SunStar reported in May 2025 on the creation of a new Doce Pares, Inc. in Cebu City.
Did you know
Ciriaco Cañete published five books according to The Freeman, from Basic Doce Pares Eskrima in 1988 to Olisi-Baraw in 2014, and in 1979, at the age of sixty, he won the 1st Open Arnis Tournament in Cebu City. Inquirer Sports states that he died at the age of 96 and calls Doce Pares the oldest eskrima organization in the country. Philstar mentioned in 2012 the Eskrima Temple at the Doce Pares Mountain Park in barangay Malubog.
Frequently asked questions
What does the name Doce Pares mean?
According to the FMA Pulse website, twelve pairs in Spanish. According to it, the name refers to the twelve bodyguards of Charlemagne.
When did Doce Pares come into being?
SunStar, Philstar and The Freeman all give the year 1932. The Cebuano Studies Center writes of Eulogio Cañete as president of the club from 1933 and English Wikipedia from 1939.
How is Doce Pares connected with the WEKAF federation?
According to Cebu Daily News, the WEKAF federation was founded by Dionisio Cañete, son of Eulogio Cañete. The official WEKAF website states a formal establishment on 11 August 1989 in Cebu City.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.