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WHO AMONG THEM COULD HAVE GIVEN THE COUNTRY A TITLE OR HIGH PLACEMENT?
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Filipino pageant aficionados equate the Philippines’s success in pageantry with an impressive performance in Miss Universe. Since the inception of this most popular, most followed and most exciting beauty pageant in 1952, not a single decade where the Philippines didn’t place…until the new millennium came.
From year 2000 to 2009, a disappointing 10 looooong years, the Philippines clapped.
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Fastforward to 2017, the Pearl of the Orient is now enjoying an 8-year placement streak in this most prestigious pageant of all. This conquest was made possible primarily because of the emergence of BEAUTY CAMPS…and their not-so-silent rivalry to be the best beauty queen maker in the land.
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Going back to those 10 dark years, Philippines actually had a Miss International and two Top-5 placements (coupled with a 4-year placement streak in Miss World, but these pageants don’t have the same impact as Miss Universe to Filipinos.
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There were lots of factors why in those years, many crown-worthy Filipinas opted not to become crown-keepers:
· No credible beauty camps back then to hone their winning potentials. Yeah, KF was already there and A&Q started mid-2000’s but their formula back then was still slapdash: they were still crawling in the dark.
· Stella Araneta’s monopoly of sending the representatives to the 3 major pageants (Miss Universe, MW, MI) paving way for her to set rigid screening rules that either terrify girls or shame superbeauties who were able to get through the first mesh of the screen.
· Many of these A-List girls knew they had small chance placing in the global arena because there was no rigorous training regimen to upsurge their chances.
· Tacky wardrobe provided by Stella’s Cumbia and the bin-worthy Barraza evening gowns.
· No social media yet that time to scrutinize and expose BPCI’s inept preparation works for the Philippine representatives. Stella didn’t realize how many Filipinos were raring to stop her with that ineptitude.
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Surely, if the Philippine beauty pageant circuit was as perfect (almost) as it is today, we would have seen girls with the calibre of Megan Young, Pia Wurtzbach, Catriona Gray etc. during those dark years.
There were many girls in those era whom fans hoped to hop in the beauty pageant scene...but, fans hoped in vain. Below is a rundown of the girls whose name would always pop-up every year in pageant forums during Binibining Pilipinas season. Any of these girls could have easily given the Philippines a crown or high placement in Miss Universe, MW or MI.
JOANNA ANGELES
She is popularly known as Joey Mead, a model and MTV VJ at that time. Along with her superbeauty fellow Filipina MTV Asia compatriots: Donita Rose and Belinda Panelo, only Joey got the height to become a beauty queen. She was in wishlists of people during those years, and it almost came true. She actually took one step forward by applying in Bb. Pilipinas 2001 screening. However, as fate would have it, she was disqualified. The reason that surfaced that time was either her age (26 turning 27 that time, which was considered over-aged) or conflict about her real name. I remember her being interviewed on TV and she said her name was actually Joanna Angeles but it was in conflict with some official documentations. She had no choice but to let go of that beautiful dream.
CRISTINA GARCIA
She was number 1 in all wishlists of ‘bekilandia’ to join Binibini from year 2000 to forever. Not only that she’s stunningly beautiful and a staple face on TV commercials in her prime, she also comes from an affluent family. And that maybe is one reason why she was never interested in beauty pageants. She was the most sought-after model (commercial, print and the runway) during her time. She could have been the Pinay dominatrix during Trump’s era in Miss Universe. Before Riyo Mori showcased those Gucci dresses in Miss Universe 2007, Cristina have already donned them all for magazines (like the one in her photo above). If only there were persistent beauty camps that time there could have been a chance of seeing her in the nationals. And if she did, there would surely be no 10-year drought in Miss Universe.
NAFSIKA DROUSSOU
She is Greek-Filipino by blood, who opted to study Civil Engineering in the University of the Philippines – Diliman (rather than in Europe like her siblings) to get closer to her Asian heritage. Her mother comes from the wealthy Consunji clan. She speaks Greek, English, French, German, Italian and Filipino. She was the face of Citibank, Avon, Olay and Penshoppe in the early 2000’s. It took her more than 2 years to finally give in to prodding of her becoming a model. Many wished her to enlist in Binibini but she never did. She could have been a perfect representative in Miss World or Miss International.
GRACE TAGLE
Grace is perfect face of a Filipina oriental beauty. She was always seen on TV commercials for beauty products, print ads and runway shows. Like Cristina and Nafsika, she was always on everybody’s wishlist. Her serene and classy beauty could have given the Philippines a high placement in Miss Universe, MW or a crown in MI.
MARY JEAN MAYCON
Before the Philippines was swept-off their feet by a girl nicknamed MJ (Lastimosa) in 2011, MJ Maycon was already a talk of the country from late 90’s to mid-2000’s especially during Binibini season. Even the young kids today might still be familiar of her face because she still has couple of commercials running on TV. As most of us would always say, her mestiza beauty perfectly fits Miss International, but hey, her beauty and intelligence would also go far in Miss Universe and Miss World.
CYNTHIA KRISTINA KURLETO
Known as Cindy Kurleto in the Philippine entertainment industry, she was discovered to become a model and later MTV video jockey, while she was on a vacation to her mother’s homeland and never went back to Austria where she grew up. Cindy’s charming and classic aura would have been perfect in a time when Miss World consistently chose girls of such beauty type as winners. During the Ruby Anniversary of Binibining Pilipinas, Cindy actually submitted her application for screening. Mysteriously, Cindy did not attend the screening in that year where many celebrities (Anne Marie Falcon, Jezarie Javier) and celebrity relatives (Sanya Smith, Angelica Sandel, Rafaela Yunon) participated. Rumour was going around that time that Cindy would be disqualified for citizenship and residence issue. After few days, it was announced that she would be representing the Philippines in Miss Hawaiian Tropics. However, few days later, Cindy said her father did not approve of her participation in that Bikini contest…hence, Cindy never had a chance to set a foot on a beauty pageant stage.
KRISTINE HERMOSA
If there is a Liza Soberano now, there was a Kristine Hermosa in the late 90’s to the 2000 decade. She was considered the most beautiful in her generation. And she was always prodded to join beauty pageants in her showbiz interviews. She never said she would not and she never said she would too. However, her popularity and numerous TV projects never gave her the time to consider joining pageants. She, however, was a beauty queen, but only in television shows. Sad… There would be no international pageant that would not place her in their Top 10.
VERNALYN BUCKLEY
Verns, as she is fondly called, hit the wishlists of pageant online forums in the mid-2000’s. Her towering height and stunning beauty were the main considerations why she was on people’s wishlists knowing that Trump’s era elected the dominatrix-slash-supermodel-slash beauty-queen mold of women to wear the Mikimoto crown. Verns never graced the beauty pageant stage but she became a finalist in Ford Supermodel contest and modelled in New York and Paris. She’s a painter, a poet with an IQ of 135. If she’s a Miss Universe contestant these days, she would definitely pull off those back-story rugs.
ISABEL ROCES
She’s one of the most beautiful faces in the Philippine Modelling Industry: a commercial face that is apt for both modelling and beauty pageants. She was one girl Filipinos would be elated to see representing the Philippines in major pageants especially Miss Universe. Not sure if some beauty scouts out there tried to persuade this Ilongga beauty to try Binibining Pilipinas, but one reason that she would never opt to was the fact that she was in demand in the modelling world to date and she doesn’t need pageants to make her portfolio more impressive.
JULIANA PALERMO
Alvi July Juanico in real life is the only one from these set of girls who didn’t need persuasion to join Binibining Pilipinas. She had the heart and determination to join, and she tried couple of times, only to find out that she would never pass the screening committee of BPCI to make it as official candidate mainly due to her ‘burlesque’ photos as a sexy actress. Unlike other sexy actresses her age, Juliana is intelligent and thinks deeply of life basing it on how she answers the press in interviews. In 2005, she even attended the Miss Universe pageant in Thailand where Donald Trump himself asked her why she doesn’t join beauty pageants with that beauty she has.
MARA MORELLI
She shocked the country with the news of her winning the Miss Italia Nel Mondo 2005 representing the Philippines (this makes the Philippines as the only Asian country to win this pageant). Every one was asking where did this girl come from and everyone expected to see her in the coming years in Binibining Pilipinas knowing that most winners n Miss Italia Nel Mondo had successfully represented their countries in Miss Universe, MW, ME (Colombia’s Catalina Acosta in Miss Universe, Venezuela’s Valentina Patruno and Silvana Santaella in MW & ME respectively.) Mara’s face was very Miss World back then; however, other photos of her also exuded Miss Universe aura! But everyone waited in vain to see her participate in any of the Philippines national competition.
ANNE MARIE CURTIS
It is still debatable up to today whether or not Anne submitted her application for Binibining Pilipinas screening in 2006. Many pageant followers claimed that she did and the reason why she was not accepted was a youtube video (yes! Youtube was already popular back then) of her and her then-boyfriend Richard Guttierez kissing passionately that became viral it even reached TV screens via mainstream news agencies. I remember Anne saying in an interview when she was merely 12 years old that her biggest dream is to become a beauty queen. Sigh…it did not happen. But still, she is one beauty that many Filipinos adore so much today that she is sitting on an invisible beautiful throne for her many followers.
HILLARY CHOO
The name of this Cebuana beautiful model first hit the pageant forums in 2007. Her beauty was fresh to the eyes coz she suddenly popped up out of nowhere. Her aura exudes an air of mystery at the same time a mesmerizing beauty. Since then, her name would be included in all wishlists and everyone was waiting for her to pop up in screenings but she continued her modelling career in the US until everyone forgot about her in the dawn of the 2010 decade.
GEORGINA WILSON
When she blossomed into a full-grown woman, and became eligible for pageants in 2004 standing tall at 5’9”, die-hard Pinoy pageant fans hoped for her to join Binibining Pilipinas; especially that she’s a niece of Miss Universe winner. However, the limelight was so generous for her that she didn’t need much avenues like beauty pageants to make herself more known to people. She would have been eligible to compete in pageants until 2012 (agewise). Her beauty would make waves in any pageant.
MICHELLE BEA PALOMA
She started off by winning a beauty pageant that launched her to showbusiness and modelling world. She might not be familiar to most Pinoys because most of her big modelling projects were in Thailand. That’s right, she became more known as a model in Thailand than in the Philippines. She was the face of Ponds beauty products and other beauty and hair-care products in Thailand. She had several TV commercials and print ads also in the Philippines but not as much as in Bangkok. Michelle’s beauty is a chameleon. Like in the photos above, she could easily look like Paulina Porizkova or even the iconic Twiggy. She would easily place in the BIG4 pageants with that beauty she possesses.
ISABELLE DAZA
Belle turned 18 years old in 2006, marking her eligibility for the nationals. Since then, everyone waited for her, just like her cousin Georgina, to one day surprise everyone in the portals of Araneta Coliseum. We all knew it never happened, mainly because her Miss Universe mother was not prepared to see her daughter undergo the same rollercoaster she had ridden on, for whatever reasons she has. Well, if Belle joined pageants when she was 19 or 20 (just like her mother), she would surely cut-short the drought duration.