A native of Dumangas, Iloilo, Phillip Delarmino's family lived in poverty. His father worked as pedicab driver until the patriarch became blind due to diabetes.[4] Phillip would resorted to scavenging as a means to earn money to support his education.[5][6] He also experienced being a street urchin.[4]
Career
Delarmino would later take up Muay Thai and would be known under the moniker "The Destroyer". He and his sibling would frequent a gymnasium. Due to lack of funds to pay an instructor to teach them, he and his sibling would just watch sessions and would just imitate what they observed. They would join competitions at the local fiesta. His career took off, when he won a national championship at age 16.[4] He and his siblings, Leonard and Agustin would also fight in the Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC).[7]
He would return again for the SEA Games in the 2019 edition, his third time. He would win his first-ever SEA Games gold medal in the tournament hosted at home.[5]
In the 2021 SEA Games, which was postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Delarmino settled for silver after his opponent Nguyễn Doãn Long was judged to be the winner in the highly disputed match. He would file a successful protest and he was ruled to be the winner after a review.[14]
He would compete in the 2021 World Games in Birmingham after qualifying through his feat in the Muaythai Championships.[1] However he failed to secure at least a podium finish after losing to Vladislav Mykytas of Ukraine in his opening match.[15] He would be the first-ever Filipino to be nominated for the 2021 World Games Athletic of the Year,[16] an honor that would be bestowed to India's P. R. Sreejesh.[17]
Delarmino is an enlisted personnel for the Philippine Navy and have the rank of Seaman 2nd Class as of June 2022.[19] He is also a taekwondo practitioner, competing for the navy under the said discipline.[8]
^"4th Asian Beach Games: Delarmino silver lang" [4th Asian Beach Games: Delarmino silver only]. Pilipino Star Ngayon (in Filipino). The Philippine Star. November 24, 2014. Retrieved December 17, 2022.