My Bb. Pilipinas Experience by Regina Han (Bb. Pilipinas 2009 1st Runner Up)

My mother, Chiqui Brosas, was a former beauty queen (Bb. Pilipinas-Universe). A very gregarious and outgoing person, she placed fourth in the 1975 Miss Universe pageant in El Salvador. I grew up quite the opposite.

I was timid and shy. Following in my mother’s footsteps was never in my plans. I knew my strengths so I chose to concentrate on my studies. I graduated as a dean’s lister in 2004 from Ateneo de Manila University with a degree in Computer Science. In five years, I went from being a programmer, to a project manager for a large telecommunications company, to an I.T. consultant for an international firm.

Needless to say, being an I.T. programmer and a beauty queen were on completely opposite poles. I must admit I had never watched a beauty pageant, even my mother’s. I had almost no modeling experience. My world was different from the glitz and glamour of Bb. Pilipinas, but I did not let that stop me. I wanted to try and I wasn’t going to let my inexperience discourage me.

The pageant was not without challenge. I was constantly asked whether I was pressured by my mom’s legacy. Strong competition surrounded me and there were expectations to do well in the question and answer portion due to my “bookish” background. Without focus, it could have been very easy to lose confidence and be overcome with anxiety. But I did not allow myself to become distracted. This for me was a competition against myself.

I worked hard to learn the ins and outs of being a beauty queen. Many sleepless nights were spent “YouTube-ing” past pageants. I read up and wrote down my thoughts on almost every world issue. I learned to put on make-up by watching the artists paint my face.

I experimented with different hairstyles to see what best suited me. Despite the initial awkwardness, I found the courage to go out in my swimsuit and strut my stuff in front of millions of viewers. I swallowed my fear of tripping on my very long gown and learned how to walk down the stage with the confidence of a pro. I smiled like a winner every day despite the lack of sleep, an aching back and painful throbbing feet. To me, success was measured by my ability to bring out the best in myself, to lose all inhibitions, fears, and insecurities. I stood there and gave it everything I had. I knew I did my best, and with that alone, I felt that I had won.

The night before the pageant, every contestant was dreading the Q&A portion. Standing in the spotlight at Araneta Coliseum and on national television, dressed in a two-piece swimsuit, expected to think quickly and speak sensibly was no easy task. As with every other night, I read one chapter of my Bible before going to bed.

It so happened that that night I was on Exodus, Chapter 4, Verse 12 (Exo.4:12) reads, “I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” I was overwhelmed. Right then and there, I knew that He was with me. Come pageant night, I lifted my eyes in prayer and dedicated the competition to Him. True enough, He carried me through. My prayer always was that His will be done in my life. I knew that any outcome was part of His perfect plan for me. Now I am excited to see where this will lead me.

I’ve learned from this experience that anything is possible with determination, hard work and prayer. I want my story to be an inspiration for Filipinos to believe the same. We are a very gifted and talented people. We can succeed as a nation if only we learn to believe in our own potential and unite to work towards a common goal.

Let us stop looking to others for salvation, but instead act within our capacity to contribute to the betterment of our country. So stand up and do something. Do not be afraid to try. Start that business you’ve been dreaming of. Stop corruption.

Restore your family. Encourage your children. Instill in them good morals and values. Recycle. Excel in every good thing that you do. There are many ways to contribute. Now is the time to act. Our country’s future is in our hands, if we would only try.

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The beauty pageant business is back

Another set of national beauties was crowned during the 2009 Binibining Pilipinas pageant at the Araneta Coliseum last Saturday night (telecast was on GMA 7). It turned out that it was the beauty contest’s 45th anniversary, but I only found out about that when host Iza Calzado said so toward the end of the three-hour show.

No, there was no grandness to the production, but director Al Quinn still put together a very cohesive show.

The opening number, however, was overextended — with the contestants dancing in what looked like light, but colorful overcoats that they eventually peeled off to reveal casual clothes that they wore while introducing themselves to the Araneta crowd and to the viewers at home.

I don’t know if it was my TV set or the lighting in the coliseum, but no one looked impressive in that part of the show, except maybe for Rich Asuncion, who I thought that time was a cross between Pilar Pilapil and a now very pretty Imee Marcos. And it was only then that I found out her real name was Richelle Angalot. To think I’ve known her this long — she being part of our group that graces openings of Flawless branches all over the country.

When the show got into the swimsuit competition — with the contestants doing the mandatory poses in a resort in Batangas — I thought most of the shots were unflattering. Was it the camera angles that showed most of the contestants with bulging midsections? It was either that or the contestants had too much Pizza Hut.

Then I saw the tale of the tape flashed on one side of the screen: Some of the girls had waistlines as wide as 26”. You could actually mount a flat screen on each of them. To the pageant organizers, send the winners to Gold’s Gym — pronto.

The program, of course, had other features aside from the contestants parading around the stage. This being the pageant’s 45th year, they gathered as many former Binibining Pilipinas winners as possible. Great idea, but messy and tedious in execution.

The cameras could not locate the former titlists. They were either on the wings of the stage waiting for their duties as presenters or scattered all over the coliseum. Some of the names called by host Paolo Bediones probably weren’t even in the venue — like Pilar Pilapil, for example.

In one segment of the pageant — still in line with the organization’s 45th year — handsome glass trophies were presented to the Pinay beauty queens who brought home major international beauty titles. Only three were honored in that portion of the show: Gloria Diaz, Margie Moran and Aurora Pijuan.

Of course, Gemma Cruz wasn’t there because when she won Miss International, Binibining Pilipinas was not yet the local franchise holder of the then Long Beach-based international beauty pageant (besides, didn’t she picket outside the Araneta Coliseum during an edition of the Binibining Pilipinas in the ‘70s and denounced beauty contests as a mere exploitation of women?). But baffling was the non-appearance of Melanie Marquez, while the absence of Precious Lara Quigaman only confirmed rumors that she is at odds with the Binibini organization after she and other beauty queens put up their own pageant last year.

But back to the real stars of the program: The contestants vying for the three major titles at stake. After the presentation of special awards, they were made to parade in evening gowns to the tune of a jazzed-up Hindi Kita Malimot, the arrangement of which worked well for the segment.

Then it was time to reveal the 10 semi-finalists and 2007 second runner-up Abby Cruz, who joined a second time hoping to finally bag one of the crowns, wasn’t in the list. Abby is actually even prettier now, but at 5’5” she was easily dwarfed by the taller candidates. But I have to give it to Paolo for not letting the unfortunate turn of events for his girlfriend Abby affect his job as pageant host. He went on with the show like a pro — like he didn’t have to do a lot of comforting later that night. His female co-hosts Iza and Carlene Aguilar also carried on with their duties like veteran special events emcees.

After the announcement of the 10 semi-finalists came the much-awaited question and answer portion. To the disappointment of the Araneta Coliseum hecklers (and even those at home), there was no Janina San Miguel. Playing it safe, none of the girls winged on and on and most of them kept their answers short and rushed to end their statements with their that’s-all-thank you safety net.

But while grammars were correct and their sentences were well put together and made for pleasant listening, most of the answers were lacking in substance. Very Chiz Escudero — you know, nice to listen to, but is there actually anything there?

But I did admire the contestants even more by the time they got to this round because — for all that pressure (what with the crowd waiting to boo and jeer them with one single slip of the tongue) — they got out of that alive and in one piece. And quite frankly, some of the questions that came from the judges were crappy and didn’t deserve decent answers.

As the pageant got deeper into the night, I noticed that the girls were finally getting prettier. Not just pretty, but lovely. Maybe because there were just 10 of them and that made it easier to dissect every face and figure.

Right before the names of the winners were announced, I had finally placed my bets (I was slow that night). Second runner-up was Regina Hahn, daughter of one-time TV personality Chiqui Brosas, who earlier was 1975 Binibining Pilipinas and fourth runner-up in that year’s Miss Universe pageant. Regina has great personality and maybe should have joined the contest earlier. This close to getting a title was first runner-up Richelle Angalot, who probably should join again another time (or wait for one of the winners to get into trouble and assume the crown).

The Binibining Pilipinas-International title was given to Melody Gershback, who, with her very mestiza features, is so doll-like — very much the kind of look they favor in Miss International. For Miss Universe, they are sending Pamela Bianca Manalo, sister of Binibining Pilipinas-World 2002 Kate Manalo and niece of former Binibining Pilipinas-International Nini Ramos Licaros, who was the producer of Eh, Kasi Babae in the ‘80s.

Chosen to represent the country in the Miss World contest is Marie Ann Umali, another pageant repeater, but is now a big winner — thanks to the unmatched regal bearing she displayed that night of the contest.

Also a big winner was the pageant show itself. In spite of those little rough edges along the way, it was basically smooth and entertaining. The telecast of the coronation night also scored 18.7 percent, which was high enough considering the fact that it started airing at almost 11 p.m. (Eat, Bulaga! and Startalk both went overtime because of the tribute to Francis Magalona and pushed the primetime schedule back.)

Apparently, the interest in beauty pageants is back and the Binibining Pilipinas organizers have Janina San Miguel from last year to thank for that. (Butch Francisco of philstar.com)

Gersbach, Manalo, Umali top Bb. Pilipinas Pageant

The Binibing Pilipinas Pageant 2009 crowned its top three beauty queens early Sunday, starting with 22-year-old Pamela Bianca Manalo as Bb. Pilipinas-Universe, followed by 23-year-old Melody Gersbach as Bb. Pilipinas-International and 22-year-old Marie-Ann Umali as Bb. Pilipinas-World.

Named before them were 26-year-old Regina Hahn as second runner-up and 20-year-old Richell Agalot as first runner-up.

The coronation was held at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, with the show starting late on Saturday. It was aired live over GMA channels nationwide with Paolo Bediones and Iza Calzado as hosts.

The winners were crowned by their respective predecessors – Patricia Fernandez (Bb. Pilipinas-International), Jennifer Barrientos (Bb. Pilipina- Universe), and Danielle Castaño (Bb. Pilipinas 2008).

Castaño replaced Janina San Miguel who resigned late last year after the death of her grandfather.

Winners' backgrounds

Manalo won several other awards – the Best in Swimsuit award, after which she also got a sponsor's honor, the Manila Bulletin Readers' Choice Award. Manalo, a 22-year-old native of Manila, is an Advertising graduate of the Assumption College who now works as a flight attendant.

Gersbach – who did not win any other award – was born in Germany, but her mother hails from the Bicol Region, where Gersbach manages the family restaurant in Albay. She is after all a graduate of the University of Asia and the Pacific with a degree in Management.

Earlier in the night, Umali also won the Best in Long Gown and Miss Photogenic plum. Umali, a native of Batangas City, took up Tourism at the College of Saint Benilde. She plans to be a flight attendant and dreams of putting up her own restaurant.

Runners-up

Shortly before Umali's award, Angalot was named as Miss Talent, for a dance that she performed a week earlier on Talent Night on Saturday. She was also won the awards for Miss Natasha Beauty and Araneta Center Shoppers' Choice – both coming from pageant sponsors.

Angalot, a native of Tagbilaran City, graduated with a Tourism degree from the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. Under the stage name Rich Asuncion, she is one of the talents of GMA Network.

Hahn, a native of Manila and Computer Science graduate from the Ateneo de Manila University, works as an information consultant for an international company.

Candidate No. 4 Gizelle Jasmin Rivamonte was named as Miss Friendship, which carried the distinction of having been voted by the other candidates themselves. Rivamonte, a 23-year-old native of Quezon City, is a registered nurse working at the Oncology Unit of the Veterans Memorial Medical Center. She graduated from the Far Easten University.

There were 24 semifinalists, but Candidate No. 13, Sandra Inez Seifert, was disqualified a week before for having done a sexy pictorial that was published in a men's magazine.(gmanews.tv)