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Press Release
Philippine Consulate General, Toronto Conducts Kali (Philippine Martial Arts) Workshop for PCG Personnel and Attached Agencies
2019-09-03
03 September 2019, Toronto – As part of its Gender and Development (GAD) program, as well as the cultural diplomacy program of Sentro Rizal Toronto, the Philippine Consulate General in Toronto organized a Kali Workshop for its personnel and the other attached agencies at the Sentro Rizal Toronto on Friday, 23 August 2019. This training project is both a cultural and a GAD activity because of its cultural heritage awareness, wellness, and security/self-defence awareness components.
The workshop on Philippine martial arts, otherwise known in Canada as “Kali”, was led by Ama Guro Virgilio “Jun” C. de Leon, Jr., the founder and chief instructor of Kali deLeon Toronto, and his wife and fellow Kali instructor, Mrs. Teresita “Tetchie” R. de Leon.
The idea of a kali training/workshop for the Consulate personnel was conceived when Deputy Consul General Bernadette Therese Fernandez met Ama Guro Jun in one of the Filipino martial arts training of the Royal Regiment of Canada held in the evening of 4 April 2019 at the Regimental Home Station, Fort York Armoury. The Philippine Consulate General visited the armoury and attended the training upon the invitation of Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Nonato, a Canadian military officer of Filipino descent, who assumed command of the Royal Regiment since 4 June 2017.
The PCG Toronto team was taught the basic techniques of kali, using sticks and rubber knives, which will be useful for self-defence. A pair of sticks each for the personnel of the Consulate and the attached agencies as POLO, OWWA, DTI and SSS, were specially ordered by Acting Head of Post Fernandez from Manila.
Kali de Leon (KDL) is a Filipino Martial Arts based on the creative but disciplined use of various weapons including, but not limited to, sticks, knives, improvised weapons and empty-hand techniques, a melding of battle-tested traditional techniques with modern teaching methodologies. Ama Guro Jun maintains that he is a student first and a teacher second and that KDL is a dynamic art with an ever-developing curriculum because he continues to learn from and develop new approaches.
Everyone enjoyed the training/workshop and is looking forward to another session of Philippine martial art techniques with Ama Guro Jun de Leon. END