Laoag fitness trainer is new Mister Model Worldwide

A 22-year-old fitness trainer from Laoag, Ilocos Norte, who was about to give up on participating in pageants, won as Mister Model Worldwide 2018 in a contest held in India last Saturday night.

Carlo Pasion waited for one year and three months before he could compete in an international pageant. Normally, a Filipino contestant would compete within the year the delegate won in the local search. The pageant in India focuses on modelling and physique.

Other winners for Mister Model Worldwide 2018 were Thailand (first runner-up), India (second runner-up), Bolivia (third runnerup), and Nigeria (fourth runner-up).

Pasion won the Misters of Filipinas contest in September 2017, earning him the right to compete abroad. He was supposed to join the Mister Ocean 2018 contest in China in August but it was cancelled.

"After that, I was ready to give up (on) pageants. I told myself I will pursue aviation this time. Maybe pageant is not for me. Then one day I received a call from Carlo Morris Galang that I will be competing in India in December," Pasion says.

Galang is the president of Prime Event Productions Philippines Foundation, Inc. (PEPPS), organizer of the annual Misters of Filipinas pageant.

Pasion, who graduated with a degree in information technology, had only two weeks to prepare for the contest.

"Carlo (Pasion) promised us that he could enter the Top 5. Instead he gave us a title," said an emotional Aski Pascual, PEPPS Di- rector for Licensing and Expansion.

Pasion, who took odd jobs before he rose to fame, is the last Filipino to compete in an international pageant for 2018. He also won Best Fashion Model special award.

Continental winners were: Tibet, Asia and Oceania; Ethiopia, Africa; Azerbaijan, Europe; and Bolivia, Americas.