Long believed to be going the way of the dinosaur, arnis is set to be revived with the signing into law by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo making it the country’s national martial art and sport.

Authored by Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, RA 9850 was signed into law last December 11 with fellow lawmakers Henry Tevas, George Arnaiz and Cesar Jalosjos throwing their full support to make it a national obsession.

“From Aparri to Jolo, there are arnis practitioners,” said Zubiri, also a top-notch practitioner of the sport also known as eskrima and kali.

“It breaks my heart that arnis is even more popular outside the Philippines than here. It shocks me even more when the grand masters of the art live so poorly, whereas those foreigners that they train and go abroad to teach live like kings,” stressed Zubiri, who often sees familiar arnis moves being played out in numerous Hollywood movies, testament to its enormous popularity overseas.

Zubiri said the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) will play a major role in arnis’ quest to gain popularity among the populace, citing that an additional P5 million will be injected into the PSC budget as part of its bid to rebuild arnis.

Zubiri said the special forces of different nations are also experts in stick-fighting.