First Filipino titlist of Mister International, Neil Perez
Feature Story
Complied by PSR News Bureau
Mariano Perez Flormata Jr., by the screen name Neil Perez, a police officer and a trained bomb and explosives technician clinched the Mister International title in a pageant held in Ansan, South Korea on February 14th. A big leap from 2013’s 4th runner up Gil Wagas.
Consequently, he bagged the Best National Costume category as 2nd Runner up in an Ati-Atihan-inspired costume. He was behind China’s Shi Yu Quan and Indonesia’s Kevin Hendrawan.
Completing the titlists, Lebanese Rabih El Zein was 1st Runner Up, Czech Tomáš Dumbrovský was 2nd Runner Up, Rafal Maslak from Poland was 3rd Runner Up, and Mitja Nadizar from Slovenia was 4th Runner Up.
In one of the interviews prior to the competition, Perez gave his word to bring home the Mister International crown as a tribute to the 44 members of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) who were killed in a clash with armed men in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last month where he disclosed that some of those slain were his batchmates in Batch Mabalasig.
In his TV Patrol interview, “Pinapangako ko po na dadalhin ko po ang korona, ang titulo dito sa bansa.”
Perez, 29, bested among 28 other candidates. His winning piece was his Tagalog answer to the question through an interpreter, “What has been your biggest disappointment in life?”
“Unang-una, ang aking disappointment sa aking buhay ay ang ’di ko paggalang sa magulang ko. Kaya ko pinagsisihan ito dahil malaking bagay ang mahalin natin ang ating magulang dahil siya ang pangalawang utos ng Diyos para sa ating mga Katoliko.”
Here’s the complete list of the Miss International pageant.
COMPLETE RESULT
Winner: Philippines Mariano Perez Flormata Jr.
1st Runner-up: Lebanon Rabih El Zein
2nd Runner-up: Czech Republic Tomas Dumbrovsky
3rd Runner-up: Poland Rafal Maslak
4th Runner-up: Slovenia Mitja Nadizar
TOP 10
Brazil Matheus Martins
Japan Masakazu Hashimoto
Korea Park Young-ho
Mexico Alejandro Valencia
Thailand Vittawat Srikes
TOP 15
Colombia David Ángel
Guam Richard Johnson
Indonesia Yohanes Kevin Hendrawan
Myanmar Aung Chan Mya
Puerto Rico Christian Ortíz
SPECIAL AWARDS
Most Stylish Award : Youngho Park – KOREA
Mister Congeniality : David Angel – COLOMBIA
Mister Photogenic : Masakazu Hashimoto – JAPAN
Best National Costume : Shi Yu Quan – CHINA
From your Philippine Showbiz Republic (PSR) family, congratulations!
