By: Celestino C. Macachor
December 2001
He is one of the few Filipino Martial Artist today that rightfully deserves the title grandmaster. A reservoir of 60 years of martial arts studies from Hung Gar Kung fu, aikido, karate and eskrima Johnny Chiuten now sixty-eight years old still exudes the youthful enthusiasm in his quest for martial arts knowledge. His reputation as brawler and street fighter is beyond reproach. Back in the sixties while hopping from one college course to another from engineering, commerce to pharmacy he has already carved a niche in the Martial Arts circles of the University of the Philippines campus and in Chinatown.
Johnny F. Chiuten, Jr. of pure Chinese Cantonese descent grew up in Cebu City. Right after the World War II, he was sent by his father to Taishan, Canton with along four sisters to learn the Chinese culture and language. He lived with his grandfather who practiced martial arts at the Shaolin monastery and on the side assisted Chinese immigrants. He was at first reluctant to learn the martial arts until his grandfather gave him two choices: to practice the martial arts or wash dishes. Chiuten, Sr., sensing an imminent communist takeover of mainland China and also because of his disappoint that his children never learned to speak the Chinese language, shipped his children back to Cebu.
Johnny came home with a good background in the Shaolin kung-fu taught by his grandfather. He was close to learning the katas and forms from his grandfather prior to his trip back home. His rigid "bootcamp" conditioning in Taishan prepared him later in his apprenticeship with Lao Kim of the Hong Sing Athletic Association in Manila.
In his teenage days, the young Johnny Chiuten hung around with rich Chinese brats at the Blue Danube Dance School along Sancianco St., Cebu City. Born with natural thespian grace, Johnny became a dance instructor of the Blue Danube. Most of his dance students were teachers at the nearby University of San Carlos. He later dated one of them and often came home late to the chagrin of his mother. He became a celebrity in the dance circles and was the most sought after consorte (escort) of the town princess during fiestas because of his dancing talent. He went around the province from the north and south of Cebu whenever there was a fiesta celebration.
His popularity later paid a price. The envious local guys who never got a chance to dance with their town's prettiest princess pounced on him. Not one to run away from fights even in somebody else's turf, he got embroiled in more than one fracas that later drew his father's ire. He was shipped to Dumaguete to continue his high school studies. He didn't do well in Dumaguete either and was later sent to the Ateneo (now Xavier University) in Cagayan de Oro City, Mindanao. The Ateneo then was the famous exile of the notorious sons of the rich and famous in the Visayas and Mindanao. Shipping magnate Victor Chiongbian was on of his classmates. Johnny turned a new leaf at the Xavier with the watchful guidance of the German priests and could have graduated with Valedictorian honors if only he met the residency requirement.
He went to college in Manila and lived in Chinatown where met Shakespeare Chan the assistant instructor of Lao Kim of Hong Sing Athletic Association. Shakespeare tried to block his enrollment in Lao Kim's dojo.
Admission to the secretive kung fu school was through board nomination. Through his father's intercession he got the nod of the board whose members were mostly my father's friends. Shakespeare was furious and gave him a tough beating during his initiation. Shakespeare later accused him of being a spy from another school because of his unusually strong straddle leg stance.
Grandmaster Lao Kim gave him three tests prior to his admission. First, he was told to place a match under a bridge, second he had to make an offering to a tomb in a cemetery at midnight. The third and final test happened while he was opening the door, which was booby-trapped with a large basin filled with water that really gave him a good drench. Lao Kim later told him that it was to test of his temper and emotional control.Johnny got knocked out during his first full contact sparring with Lao Kim. In the second fight, he dislocated a right elbow. Master Lao immediately applied first aid and Johnny lost consciousness again when the old man pulled it to align the bones back in shape.
All in all he spent a total of ten years in Manila shifting from one course to another from Engineering, Commerce, Pharmacy. He did this to prolong my martial arts studies at the Hong Sing and other martial arts school.
His mastery in the Cebuano art of eskrima was precipitated by a challenge from Remy Presas founder of Modern Arnis. Presas armed with rattan sticks dared Chiuten to pick any Chinese weapon of his choice. He picked a 9-sectional steel whip to the horror of Doc Lengson who predicted a mismatch and persuaded Remy Presas not to proceed with the fight. Johnny asked Remy to give him one year to learn eskrima so that he can take on his challenge with the same weapon to level the playing field.
The young Johnny Chiuten dropped all his college subjects for the year and went back home to Cebu to study stick fighting with the masters. Momoy Canete of Doce Pares turned him down. He learned later that the Doce Pares bigwigs were insecure of his Karate ranking. He turned to Anciong Bacon of Balintawak who accepted him without reservation. Anciong who had difficulty pronouncing his family name fondly called him "Tuten". Johnny went through the three levels of Balintawak curriculum. His elementary level was handled by Atty. Teofilo Velez, high school level by Atty. Jose Villasin and college (advanced level) by Anciong Bacon.
He broke away from Balintawak due to his frustration over the agak(pre-arranged tandem drills). As much as he wanted to be loyal to the club, however his suggestions to introduce innovations to Balintawak were ignored by the senior members. Johnny was also averse to the drinking sessions that often resulted in heated arguments and also of the persistent wild claims that their style is unbeatable - the best. He once challenged them to prove they are the best by participating in tournaments, but the usual flimsy excuse was: "Our style is too deadly for tournaments", by which he often retorted by: "Oh really, how can you be so sure? Have you tried hitting the other guys? Have you proven it in combat? Disappointed that his proposed innovations were ignored by the Balintawak hierarchy, Johnny left the club to avoid an open confrontation.
He approached GM Filemon Caburnay a former member of Doce Pares. They had good chemistry and the two of them later invented Lapunti Arnis de Abanico. Johnny Chiuten introduced the footwork and locking techniques of Hung Cha kung fu into Lapunti.
Today, Johnny Chiuten, one of the few remaining icons of the Chinese and Filipino Martial Arts lives in virtual seclusion in Bantayan Island. A consummate martial artists with a vast array of techniques in his repertoire, he is truly a Grandmaster in every sense of the word.
