Miss Universe in COVID-19: How a Filipino show is changing the scene

Transcript

00:00We need to bring more hope to people and through Miss Universe Philippines and our candidates,

00:07we want to be bearers of light to people.

00:20A lot of people are asking what's the relevance of beauty pageants in this

00:25time of crisis and I think we need to bring more hope to people and through Miss Universe

00:32Philippines and our candidates, we want to be bearers of light to people and that's why we

00:39came up with this charity wherein our girls will choose a beneficiary that they would like to help.

00:48I would always say it takes a village, it takes a whole community to create a beauty queen.

00:59From my experience, it was through the help of so many people, through my mentors, through my family.

01:06What really makes a queen is not just, you know, the physical aspect. You should have a heart for

01:13it. You should have a purpose, like why are you joining this? Why do you want to have this

01:19platform? It should be more than yourself. You should have a purpose bigger than yourself.

01:29We continually evolved in how we look for our representative in international pageants and I

01:38think for the Miss Universe title, we are really looking for a spokesperson. Somebody who can

01:46use their voice, use their platform to bring out issues in the society or to push whatever

01:53advocacies that they have. For the qualities, of course, there's beauty, right? But, you know,

01:58beauty is not definite. Everybody has their own versions of what a beautiful Filipina is.

02:06But aside from that, we're really looking for somebody who is empowered, who's not afraid to

02:12voice out her opinions and be able to really affect a positive change in their community.

02:28I think there's a certain kind of pressure that the girls are facing because, of course, we were

02:35able to have two Miss Universe in just how many years? Of course, with Pia and Catriona,

02:43they really have shown how confidence can really work for you. And a lot of girls get intimidated,

02:51but I would always tell them, you know what? You should have seen them before they became, you know,

02:56Pia and Catriona and their journey. I believe that beauty queens are not born. They're made.

03:03You don't have to be perfect. You don't have to, like, when you wake up in the morning,

03:07you're already the queen that you think you are. But we are here as an organization. We are here

03:13to help you bring that beauty queen that's hiding inside. So we hope that through Miss Universe

03:19Philippines, we are able to help them find that, I don't know, that power, that light

03:27that's still hiding inside.

03:35That's one of the stereotypes. I would tell the girls, our candidates, that we are here to break

03:41stereotypes and to change how people see beauty queens. That's one of the reasons also why I joined

03:51Binibini. A lot of people were telling me, you know, why join a beauty pageant? You're already

03:57a professional. You're a top-notcher. You don't need that. But I said, why not? Why not? I mean,

04:07why should I be afraid of trying something out of my comfort zone? And I said that

04:13maybe it's my way of changing how people perceive beauty queens, that we are,

04:22that beauty queens can also be smart. We can also have, you know, opinions. We can also excel

04:29in our profession and be beautiful at the same time. We don't have to choose. We can be both.

04:34Prior to competing in Miss Universe, they would ask me, what will make you win? And I kept on

04:45thinking, thinking, thinking, na parang, oh nga, what will make me win? I might not be the most,

04:52you know, the tallest, the sexiest, the most beautiful, and I don't know, in international

04:58standards. But I said, you know what will make me win? It's the Filipino fans,

05:04the Filipino community. Because of their support, I think I have a chance.