Father of Pedoy’s Style of Derobio Escrima. Great Grandmaster Pedoy was born on October 16, 1900 in Ormoc City, Leyte, Philippines.  At the age of six, he ran away from home and traveled into the mountains of the Southern Visayas where he was taken in by General Faustino Ablen.  The General was a leader of the Independence movement against the occupying American forces on the island of Leyte.

For eleven years, the Great Grandmaster lived and trained under the General in the art of Derobio Eskrima. At the age seventeen, Pedoy was tested by the General on what he had obtained in his years with him; their choice of weapon was the bolo.  As it was told , the test lasted almost two hours with Pedoy receiving a cut on the chin and near the eye;  the General none.  Through his ability to survive the battle, the General awarded Pedoy mastership of his art of Derobio and the task to expand his knowledge of the martial arts and travel the land learning other styles of Eskrima.

In 1924, his travels brought the Great Grandmaster to the island of Hawaii where he worked on the Ola’a Plantation.  During World War II he worked as a security guard for the Army.  Later in life he worked and retired from Gaspro Inc.  In 1961, Great Grandmaster Pedoy began the first Eskrima School in the islands. The Great Grandmaster would come to be known for his prowess as a man of counters and as a healer in the art of Hilot; Filipino healing and bone setting.

On April 9, 1976, he was awarded a Certificate of Recognition from the State of Hawaii, House of Representatives; awarded the entitlement “Eskrima Expert Extraordinaire”, House Resolution No. 633.  In 1991, he was inducted into the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame for his outstanding contribution in promoting the Philippine martial art of Eskrima.

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