As a young man, his dream was to reintroduce the art that was so long an integral part of Filipino history and culture. However, he realized that the classical systems presented a limited appeal to those living in the modern world. By analyzing the conceptual framework of the classical systems, he revolutionized the native martial arts into a complete effective fighting system appealing to martial arts students in contemporary society.

Grandmaster Presas yearned to introduce the Filipino martial arts to the outside world. In 1975, he founded the International Philippine Martial Arts Federation.

He has published extensively. His books, The Art of Arnis, published in 1981 and Arnis: Presas Style and Balisong, in 1985 demonstrate the basic techniques of single and double cane, espada y daga and the balisong knife.

Grandmaster Presas diligently researched the Filipino martial arts for over 30 years to develop a systematic approach to the application of Arnis style into a complete hand-to-hand combat style called Mano-Mano. In the June 1991 issue of Inside Kung-Fu, he was featured in the cover article “Ernesto Presas: The Father of Mano-Mano.” In the same year (1991) he was invited to a “Budo Gala” in Germany. “Budo Gala” gathers together all the respected martial artists from all around the world. Mano-Mano, introducing unique hand techniques, was a huge success.
Currently, Grandmaster Presas travels the world teaching seminars to propagate this Filipino art. In turn, numerous martial arts students and instructors from around the world express homage by taking advanced lessons from him in the Philippines. On September 6th, 1996 he was awarded the “Grandmaster’s Award” in Jacksonville, Florida.