PAUL de Ocampo has won several bodybuilding titles: Mr Australia twice, Mr Western Australia eleven times, and Mr Philippines once.
By GLORIA ROSS
Canberra
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De Ocampo comes from a highly talented family: His mother was a beauty queen, his father a martial arts expert, and his grandfather a leading scientist who received a Philippine Presidential Award.
He has picked up the combined talents of his parents and grandparents to be gifted with “beauty, brawn and brains”.
De Ocampo’s idol is former Mr Universe and Holywood action star Arnold Schwarzenegger, whom he met in the USA.
From his radio interview in Canberra with Radyo Filipino Australia (RFA), it became apparently clear that the ‘Singing Bodybuilder’ possessed the high level social and communication skills as well as the legendary cool confidence of his idol “Arnie” who went on to become a Hollywood superstar and Governor of California.
A father of three, de Ocampo produced his first rap video recently. This was in addition to two music videos he released earlier this year. One was “Machong Pinoy, Seksing Pinay” (Macho Filipino, Sexy Filipina), which according to some sources has become some sort of national bodybuilding anthem in the Philippines.
(Watch the video “Singing Bodybuilder” on YouTube).
RFA earlier interviewed the young and beautiful Ms Australia 2013, Jennifer Hunt, the classy and sophisticated Mrs Australia 2014 Cora Bojarski, both of whom have Filipino heritage.
It seems obvious that some of Australia’s top beauty, brawn and singing talent titles are being won by Filipino-Australians who have, so to speak, “Show business in the Blood” and who have “Come, Assimilated and Triumphed”.
This has been of benefit to both Australia and the Philippines. Australia, as a modern cosmopolitan democratic nation occupying an entire continent, prides itself on its multicultural assimilation and regards people from all countries as their own and proudly celebrates their achievements.
The Philippines also benefits because talented people such as de Ocampo and other title winners mentioned above who highly value their Filipino heritage create more quality connections with other countries, as well as creating more international awareness about and respect for the Philippines.
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PICTURE:
Paul de Ocampo, flanked by glamorous women for his YouTube photo-shoot.
