MY FIRST FILIPINO KARATE INSTRUCTOR

Armed with ZEN COMBAT's list of addresses of martial arts groups and teachers in various parts of the world, I found two listed under Philippines. One, was the Commando Self-Defense Club which,at the time was headed by LATINO GONZALEZ,who later became the FATHER OF PHILIPPINE KARATE, by taking up SHORIN-RYU KARATE (Kobayashi-Chibana style), and whom I later met in,though he never answered my letter written from Marinduque to him, but he did mention at a stage exhibition held in MANILA for the first karate movie, KARATE,HAND OF DEATH, with Jack Holt, that 'someone from the provinces had been writing him about karate". Then in 1964, I contacted BERNABE PARAGAS, whose name was spelled in Zen Combat as PARAKAS, and went to visit and train with him in San Fernando,La Union, after spending time in Baguio, Bontoc,etc. We became good friends and he taught me the Kyokushinkai style and had me learn what is now Pinan Two but which was originally, if I am not mistaken, Pinan One,along with other things. Bernabe and I also planned to do a book on arnis but that is another story, etc. My next 'work' in karate was with the Matson Academy via correspondence and letters of suggestion,etc. I might add that during this time, I taught judo to some school children,mostly boys but a few girls, and met some fellows who had been in WWII that knew some jiu-jitsu,etc. but it was difficult to find people to teach me anything I really wanted to know.