All posts tagged: Kirk Bondad

BY THE BEACH. The men competing for Mister International 2026 title during their swimwear shoot in Phuket, Thailand.

Mister International 2026: Türkiye, Spain, and Indonesia Lead the Field as John Wayne Alba Chases a Back-to-Back

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The Philippines has never defended a Mister International crown. On Saturday night in Bangkok, it gets its first real chance. The clearest read on who stands in the way came a week earlier, on a swimsuit stage inside a Phuket shopping mall. On September 19, Mister International 2026 held its King of Andaman swimsuit competition at The Bay, the events arena of Jungceylon, the shopping center in the middle of Patong Beach. More than 50 men walked it. Most of the pageant season runs on fan-page hot-picks graphics and pre-arrival buzz. This was one of the few nights when judges put actual rankings on the record. Türkiye won it. Indonesia finished first runner-up and Mexico second. Spain took the Jungceylon Star award, and Nigeria won Best Performance. The host country’s own delegate, Waranyu “AA” Tharasiriwattanakul, made the Top 5 and advanced through the popular vote. Phuket wasn’t the only scoreboard. Nigeria also won Best Arrival, with Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand as runners-up. Egypt took Man of Creativity, ahead of Canada and North Macedonia. And …

John Wayne Alba, Mister International Philippines 2026, in formal wear

Meet John Wayne Alba, the Philippines’ Bet to Go Back-to-Back at Mister International

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John Wayne Alba has his sash. Mister Pilipinas Worldwide confirmed today that Alba formally received the Philippine sash at Mister International 2026’s Opening Ceremony and Press Conference in Bangkok, the ceremonial start of a pageant window that runs September 12 through 27 across Phuket and Bangkok, with the coronation itself set for September 26. Sash ceremonies rarely make news beyond a photo and a caption. Alba’s carries more weight than most, because of what happens if he actually defends it afterward. Kirk Bondad won Mister International 2025 in Nonthaburi last September, the Philippines’ second title in the pageant’s history after a first win in 2014. No Filipino man has ever defended this specific title back-to-back — not under the Thailand-based organization Bondad and Alba both compete through, the version that’s run the pageant since a 2022 leadership split divided it from a separate, Philippine-based lineage of the same name. A win for Alba on September 26 would turn Bondad’s 2025 title from an isolated result into the start of a streak. Who’s Under the Sash …

Century Tuna Superbods 2026 Grand Winners and Runners-Up

Austin Dizon Cabatana and Vienne Luna Are Century Tuna’s New Superbods. Twenty Years In, the Night Still Found New Records to Set.

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The wait that our men’s and women’s preview pieces flagged ended Friday, September 11, at Solaire Resort North. Century Tuna crowned Austin Dizon Cabatana and Vienne Luna as its 2026 Grand Winners, closing out a 20th-anniversary edition that had already expanded its finalist field to a record 40 before the night even started. The Winners Cabatana, Mister International Philippines 2023 titleholder — he placed 1st runner-up at that year’s international pageant and later returned to the franchise as a host at Mister International Philippines 2024 — took the men’s crown built around an advocacy for accessible quality nutrition. It’s a natural throughline from the “quiet wins” framing he brought into the competition, one our preview piece flagged as his strongest asset heading into finals night. Luna, born Vienne Sirin Feucht, a Calamba City, Laguna native who placed in Binibining Pilipinas 2024’s Top 15, won the women’s title on the strength of Project H.E.R. — Health, Empowerment, and Resilience, her platform for the night. Beyond the Grand Winner title, she also took three individual honors: the …

Mister Pilipinas Worldwide 2026 winners circle

Mister Pilipinas Worldwide’s Kings Are Chasing Their Next Crown

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Mister Pilipinas Worldwide (MPW) — the national franchise that sends Filipino male delegates to international pageants — has produced exactly two crowns in the past two years: Dom Corilla’s Mister Global win in Bangkok in October 2024, and Kirk Bondad’s Mister International win in 2025. That’s a genuinely small number for Philippine men’s pageantry, and this year MPW is sending five titleholders abroad to try to add to it, starting this September. Whether any of them actually bring one home is still an open question — but the closest thing to a rematch starts on September 26, when John Wayne Alba boards a flight to defend the exact crown Bondad won. Raven Lansangan is first out the door. The Kapampangan flight attendant leaves for Colombo, Sri Lanka on September 3, competing against 31 other delegates for the 24th edition of Manhunt International — one of the oldest male pageants in the world, running since 1993. A day later, on September 4, John Eriq Bonifacio boards his own flight, to Nha Trang, Vietnam, for Mister Cosmopolitan. …