Marvin is Manhunt Int'l Mr. Personality

Good enough, although he could have done better.

Marvin Raymundo, 21, didn’t come home with the bacon, but only the special award as Mr. Personality, from Seoul where the 13th Annual Manhunt International Model Contest was held last Monday, June 2.

Fifty macho men from the same number of countries competed. The winner was Abdelmoumen El Maghraouy of Morocco. The runners-up were: Egill Arnljots of Sweden, first; Cesar Vegas of Costa Rica, second; Lee Jae-Hwan of Korea, third; and Claudio Furtado of Angola, fourth.

“Indeed, Marvin has made us, his kababayan, proud,” said top PR man Keren Pascual who went to Seoul to watch the contest. “Contending with the world’s best is not an easy task, let alone winning a title. But Marvin has certainly more than good looks under his sleeves.”

Funfare’s “beauty experts” Felix Manuel, Joey Cezeare, Gery Yumping and Francis Calubaquib reported that Marvin also made it to Top 15 (semi-finalists) list, including candidates from China, India, Brazil, Hong Kong, USA, England, Panama, Luxembourg and Venezuela. plus the four runners-up.

One of the ASAP Coverboys (together with Zanjoe Marudo, Jake Cuenca, Victor Basa, Rafael Rosell, John Avila, John James Uy and Ron Morales), Marvin is also a member of ABS-CBN’s Star Magic Batch 15.

According to Keren, “Marvin’s amazing demeanor was undeniably well-complemented by clothes created by the talented fashion designer Frederick Peralta. He modeled the outfits inspired by indigenous Filipino designs with impeccable elegance, showing to everyone how Pinoys can really stand out in a crowd.”

Marvin is not the only Filipino to have ever made his country proud in the past Manhunt International competitions.

Keren and the “beauty experts” recalled that in 1993, Filipino-American contestant Aaron Small finished third runner-up in Manhunt International held in Australia; Vince Pinto, second runner-up in 1997 in Singapore; Brent Javier, Mr. Internet Popularity special awardee in 2005; Iago Raterta, semi-finalist in the 2006; and Don Mendoza, Best Runway Model first runner-up in 2007.

The other special awardees were: Mr. Nepal, Mr. Friendship; Mr. England, Mr. Photogenic; Mr. Hong Kong, Best in National Costume; Mr. China, Mr. Physique; Mr. India, Mr. Internet Popularity; and Mr. Turkey, Best Runway Model.

(E-mail reactions at [email protected] or at [email protected])