Ramiro Estalilla Jr.
Filipino minister and eskrima teacher, codifier of the Kabaroan Eskrima system, who has taught at Fresno City College in California since 1982.
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United StatesBiography
Ramiro Estalilla Jr. is a Filipino eskrima teacher and minister who codified the Kabaroan Eskrima system. He was born in 1930 as the first son of Aurelia Umibig Estalilla and Ramiro Abellera Estalilla Sr. In 1936 the family moved to Mindanao.
He began practicing Filipino martial arts in 1941. His main teachers were his father, his uncle Bernardo Banay, Marcelino Bermudez, Braulio Roque, and Menardo Presas. After finishing high school in 1949, he spent two years in seminary and two years at a Bible school in Manila, earning a degree in theology.
In 1976 he emigrated to the United States and settled in Orange Cove, California, as a resident minister, and that same year he began teaching there. Since 1982 he has led Kabaroan Eskrima courses at Fresno City College. For more than 20 years Dan Inosanto was his student. He wrote the book Estalilla Kabaroan Eskrima: Overview of the 3-Part System. The World Grandmaster's Council granted him the title of Grandmaster of the Year for California, and in 1999 he received a doctorate in martial arts (DMA) from the World Martial Arts Hall of Fame.
According to one source, Kabaroan was popular among Ilocanos in the Ilocos region of Luzon, and before 1900 it "reappeared or was revived" to strengthen, refine, and polish the styles of the time. We have not been able to verify this history elsewhere.