GMA sports' Chino Trinidad recognized for work on Pinoy martial arts

GMA News sports correspondent Chino Trinidad received a special award for Meritorious Conduct at the Dangal ng Maharlika Awards  ceremony organized by the Mataw-Guro Academy for Filipino Martial Arts.

The journalist and sportswriter joined sports luminaries at the the Cavite State University where they were honored for their invaluable contribution to filipino martial arts (FMA).

Trinidad, who has been working on a documentary on arnis de mano and Filipino martial arts on his own initiative and expense, was recognized for "contributing to the promotion, awareness, and appreciation of arnis and FMA."

During the event, Mataw-Guro Academy President and CEO Luis Rafael Lledo, Jr. emphasized the need for unity as Arnis, declared the national martial art and sport, "remains obscure and even misunderstood" in the public sphere.

Moreover, the academy said unity among various arnis groups in the Philippines has been "hampered by competition and in-fighting among arnis groups."

Thus, the academy launched what it called a “Universal Curriculum on the Four Classical Maneuvers” meant to teach arnis using a formal education approach.

A memorandum of agreement (MOA) on a "mutual effort to enrich each other's martial arts knowledge" was signed between he Mataw-Guro Academy and the World Sikaran Brotherhood during the event.

With this, Mantas Mataw-Guro curriculum director Ipe Penales Jr. hoped the arnis community in the Philippines would finally "work together in making arnis truly vital to Filipino  culture and identity – by putting in place the right support systems that will transform it into a national sport and national martial art; not just on paper but in every day reality for Filipinos." — Margaret Claire Layug/DVM, GMA News