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Saturday, March 08, 2003
Mhardo Palaganas: Life in high spirits
By Giovanni Madrid
THERE'S something beyond
22-year-old part time ramp model Mhardo Palaganas' chinky-eyed and
dimpled-cheek vibrancy that makes him different. The local fashion runway's
latest discovery, he has astoundingly taken a sweeping turn in his life.
Born and raised in the sleepy town of Sta.
Barbara, this suave and sensual well-built
5'10" frame guy is slowly but surely getting a lot of attention. Modest
and soft-spoken, he expresses himself and his thoughts with toughness.
Surely, he makes it a point that he makes sense.
In a way, Mark as he is fondly called, lived a bit vicariously. With his
ebullient personality and sly sense of humor, young girls hanged on to him
like he was a king. During his younger years he did have dates for some of
his high school proms. But romance seemed out of his reach. And while
everybody was out experimenting with girls and all those stuff, he was the
lone man out.
"I was particularly motivated at school and I was never interested in
cutting classes. I showed initiative to my classmates and attentiveness to my
studies," opens Mark who was Mr. TOYS '93 during his high school days at
Daniel Maramba National
High School.
As an adolescent, he became interested in various sports such as swimming and
volleyball where he dedicated himself with great passion. At 17, he enrolled
at the Philippine Maritime Institute in Manila
wherein he was an academic scholar and where he earned his Associate in
Marine Transportation and later his BSMT degree.
"Traveling is relentlessly cool at first, but like anything else - it
becomes a job. Life on the sea is exactly like the movie Titanic. You really
have to respect the same routine over and over again with slight vibrations.
After a while, you want to do something just to alleviate the monotony,"
he explains.
"Seafarers try to maintain a certain level of comfort during the
drudgery. As a result, they can become really particular about little
things," avers Mark who has managed to maintain a very good relationship
with his family and close friends even though he's very far away from home
and sees them only rarely, "What keeps me going are these people whom I
really miss so much every time I receive calls or letters from them."
Mark declares he is grateful to his family, especially to his parents for
their all-out support and prayers. He enthuses they played an immense role in
setting his character and strengthening and intensifying his inborn traits.
"My family helped me a lot to become goal-oriented and ambitious. They
likewise inspired me to attain greater heights and to rise myself above
others," says Mark adding "Besides my parents, I'm grateful to my
elder brod Alfredo, a generous man with a big heart who inspired and
influenced me to go for what I have attained today. He also supported me
morally and financially during my college days."
Mark is a chameleon. While he loves the energy of being a seaman, he was also
especially drawn to other opportunities during his short vacation stints. His
global travels compelled him to adapt to the do-it-yourself mantra.
"It was something that I knew I was destined to do. But while I was
here, it was also a matter of finding other jobs to keep myself busy,"
he says.
Mark who keeps his cool with an unimpeachable collection of casual designers'
wear admits he wasn't actually interested in becoming a model not until after
his triumphant appearance as a ramp figure, "I was pushed in joining the
search for Ginoong Calasiao 2002. I tried it for fun and never imagined I
would emerge as a runner-up, besides being adjudged as the Best in Talent and
Mr. Congeniality," he laughingly exclaimed.
"Finally, I've discovered that I'm enjoying every bit of it - meeting
people," enthuses Mark who is one of the featured ramp mannequins of
Gerry Imbuido in the upcoming fashion event dubbed as "The Color of
Summer" which will be held on March 15 at the grand ballroom of the posh
Pangasinan Regency Hotel.
Mark who will be leaving the country again this summer to work towards his
doctorate in the blues is a mod man. While other guys his age grow and color
their hair like yard birds, he sports a clean-cut hairstyle and dons preppy outfits.
"You couldn't miss Mark," says a top fashion designer here. And I
agree not because he is my ward, but because he really dresses up so
specifically with a style that nobody else has --- even in his faded jeans.
With a haircut here, a little facial care there, and an occasional strategic
trip to the haberdasher, Mark has truly undergone more personal
transformation than any ramp icon this side of the local fashion industry.
Shifting the topic to his ideal woman, Mark says she should be one who is no
stranger to house work. One who can cook, who can clean the house -- which is
basically everything that he always wanted in a woman, "I've been raised
by my mom in a certain way to always appreciate women, and I'm going to
appreciate a woman, the same way that I love my mother. Then the perfect
woman that I'm going to be living with is going to have similar ways as my
mother who possesses all the traits in the way that I was raised. She must
also be honest, faithful, responsible and foremost, God-fearing."
On his favorites: "I love the movie Titanic, the story although tragic
is inspiring and heartwarming. But I don't wanna die like its hero,
Jack."
On his perfect romantic date: "It has been my wildest dream to have a
romantic dinner with my special girl inside a submarine, travel under the
sea, and witness the bountiful treasures of the ocean"
On his other other goals in life, Mark says he is nevertheless aiming to
become a Master Marine Engineer in the near future, "I've been there,
done this and that. It's not really an easy life. I need challenges. Every
day I need to have a challenge," Mark says finally with a wink.
(March 8, 2003 issue)
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