THE WORLD IS IN A WORD WAR

By Jetset Alejandro

The world is being besieged with a new war. A war of words! A war of invectives! A real world word war! The recent results of the Miss World Beauty Pageant 2012 saw a lot of social media being used from pageant forums, Facebook, Twitters, blogs and even major e-zine. The common response is that the result of the pageant is a major sell-out.

Take note of the best in Talent. Miss China’s performance cannot even equal other performances of the 4 Top finalists and yet she was awarded the Best in Talent. And to think Miss Philippines' performance presenting beat boxing was picked up by the internet media and was praised and noted well by not only pageant critics but also entertainment media. And because of this, all hell broke loose.

Since last year, I have already said that the Miss World Beauty Pageant is not a pageant at all. They have the different segment competitions but the candidates do not compete on the final pageant. The Top 15 or 20 are announced and then the Top 7 is announced without any basis why. Then after a final repartee of saying why will they crown you Miss World, the final three is announced. This year’s Top 15 choices are well chosen but when the Top 7 and the final winner were announced people are already up in arms. I pity Miss India who was the brickbat of pageant fans with which favoritism labeled on her but eventually did not matter on the final selection. I pity Miss Mexico who came in second in the final reckoning but was totally snubbed as she did not matter on the final 3. Miss Mexico is the epitome of beauty and grace. It was a big wonder why Miss China made it as the winner of Miss World. I would have been happier had it been Miss Wales or Australia were crowned as the winner.

The Miss World Organization came out of their official statement that the selection of Miss Wenxia Yu is above par and that it is just a coincidence that she won in her native soil. But still the doubt lingers most especially among Filipino pageant fans that are so rabid with their support for their candidate. Take for example, the Miss Social Media award. A lot of pageant fans who are monitoring the votes noted that there seem to be vote shaving against Miss Philippines. If you read the FB page of Miss Philippines, those who are monitoring complain because it seems that previous votes of 300 were deducted every now and then from her “likes” – a mysterious phenomenon. Initially it was Miss Vietnam that was catapulted by inexorably phenomenal votes only to find out later that Miss India will clip the wings of Miss Vietnam and Miss Philippines for the special award.

It is also a wonder how Miss Philippines did not even etch her name among the Top 30 in the interview portion. She is an Assumptionista and that she should be able to expound and bring out her ideas with the least problem. And yet……frustrating to see her not to penetrate a very important segment of the criteria selection of the pageant.

These may sound as gripes but this writer is just one of cacophony of voices among disgruntled pageant fans. Although we know that recent political events point out to a possible non-inclusion, pageant fans became more hopeful when she almost had good performances in the different categories. In my case, I am not hopeful for a win. I have written that in my previous articles. We have received some filtered information that some national directors for Miss Tourism pageants based in China were advised not to send candidates from the Philippines because of the brewing conflict between China and the Philippines. If this is true, then, pageants have become a political landscape too used by the host country to attain their objectives.

It is such a pity that things like these happen since it has always been perceived that beauty pageants are something of a small scale United Nations and that the aim is Unity among Diversity. Sadly it is not. It has become an arena of further conflicts.

QUEENTESSENCE TOP 20 MISS WORLD 2012 CHOICES

Although Miss World chooses their semifinalists using a scoring system based on certain fast track events and these are added to their scores garnered through their interview as well as their scores in the beauty of a purpose section which is said to be 50% of their total pre-final scores, we deemed it wise in Queentessence to post our Top 20 choices and possible Top 7 in the forthcoming coronation night on August 18. Although there are at least 8 candidates that mattered in almost all fast track events, it would seem a gauge that these 8 would probably be in the Top 20 choices. But our choices will not be based on how the candidates perform on these events but we are basing them on just plain gut feel. We would like to compare how beauty as a standard would compare with the selection criteria of Miss World. So here are our choices:

Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China PR, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Greece and Indonesia

Italy, Mexico, Nepal, Netherland, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Russia, Venezuela and Wales

THE ESSENCE OF A NATIONAL COSTUME

By: Jetset Alejandro

When pictures of Miss World candidates came out and they are in their national costumes, the reflex action of this writer is to say that, wow! - the national costume is back in Miss World. As for this writer, it is but proper that the national costume should be put back into the limelight even if it were only during the Dances of the World portion. Here are 125 candidates from all over the world and basically putting the concept of unity among diversity. And such diversity is underscored in every candidate’s national costume. It is such a nice feeling that the Miss World Organization was able to group 125 candidates of varying beauties, faces, persuasions, intelligence, talents but unified all of them in their pursuit for the title of Miss World 2012 – the Beauty with a purpose.



Miss World 2102 Candidates in the National Costumes for the Dances of the World Segment Audition



The national costume is basically a national essence. It represents the cultural and fundamental nature of the country that the candidate represents. It speaks of the country’s history and heritage. It shows the emotions and feelings of the country it represents. It shows the spirit and the soul of the nation. And as such, purists have always something to say when we see a national costume being paraded by a certain country and does not adhere to its culture and history. A very good example is the costume of Miss Australia which she would show during the national costume presentation.



Miss World Australia 2012 in an aborigine inspired costume



Writers, fashion designers and the like had all something to say about her costume. Some say that it is a “travesty” and a national joke. Australians react a lot to what have been passed off as their national costume. Such reaction is acceptable because in reality, Australia has no national costume. In the Philippines alone, there is a continuing debate about its national costume. Given the varied culture presented by the different islands in the country, each local costume has its own distinguishable characteristics that could be presented globally. Sometimes, these characteristics are incorporated into the national costume itself which is the “terno” and the creative Filipino designer gets applauded because of their ingenuity.



Miss World Philippines 2012 was crowned in the Philippine pageant donning a blue terno which is the Philippine National Attire for ladies



I believe the national costume presentation should be continued and pursued every year not only for Miss World but also the other beauty competitions like Miss Universe, Miss Earth, Miss International and so many more. The national costume presentation allows us to see the evolution of the others’ national costume too. With the globalization of the world that is making us literally a homogenous, society, the use of the national costume even just for beauty competitions makes us more aware of others’ cultural identity and even more so our own cultural identity. It makes us also appreciate and respect other’s culture. The national costume is a product of each and everyone’s own heritage and as we reach out to people during the competition, we are also embracing the other candidates’ heritage. Thus we can see, the national costume is not only an identification of who you are but it has become a bridge among people joining one another in a competition in displaying what is unique among them.

 

OF CHAOS AND CONTROVERSIES IN PAGEANTRY

by Raphael Porciuncula

Complaints are not new about the pageant milieu. It may range from how the candidates are chosen to how the winners are selected. Just recently, even the very popular Miss U.S.A. Beauty pageant that selects the representative to the Miss Universe pageant was alleged to be favoring certain candidates to win and that there was a ready list that will be announced to comprise the Top 5. One tends to agree with the choices after watching the Miss USA 2012 Beauty Pageant, and that the complaining candidates are but part of the whining losers wanting to create a big buzz for themselves. And to think, the organization that is holding this pageant carries a solid reputation all over the world. Pageant pundits think that scenarios like these are part of the marketing strategy for the pageant – to be talked upon and create controversies so that TV ratings will increase in the way the producers expect them to be. They say, it is all part of the word so-called “business.”

But these controversies occur worldwide. The Filipinos have a penchant to see the smallest of all controversies about pageants. Read any pageant fora and for sure you will pick all the noises that go with a pageant. Year in and year out, the Filipino pageant fans will always have something to say about it. Just recently, I read in a lot of Facebook postings that some fans still wonder why a certain candidate did not win in a pageant way way back in 1982. Some people cannot move on and to see the candidate they are talking about had moved on and lead either a secluded or a glamorous life.

In retrospect, I have experienced handling a regional pageant that almost led to the walk-out of the tabulating committee. We even had a computerized judging system because the organization that tapped me to handle the pageant wants a transparent competition. But since the pageant intends to send the winners to the national pageant, majority of the judges were from the national pageant organization. After the preliminary competition, while waiting for the results as it is being printed, one of the members of the national pageant organization stood up and went onstage and started announcing “their” choices for the semifinalists. A melee almost happened but cooler heads prevailed and judging system was followed. I understand the feelings of the tabulating committee because it is their reputation that is at stake. From that time on, I kept my distance from that pageant organization.

It seems like I have veered into the original intent of this write-up. What I am pointing out here is that it is not only pageants that had controversies. There are a lot of activities that had controversy written all over the walls. But pageants tend to be very overt activities; hence, they can easily be seen and felt. More so, if the beauty pageants have become part of the national psyche, then expect that people of that nationality will have their good time talking about it.

In a recent pageant snafu, I call it a snafu because however you see it; it is a chaotic or confused situation that the Philippine candidate went through in his participation to the Mr. Model Universe pageant that was held at the Dominican Republic. The Philippine representative situation should not have been publicized had the website “Belleza Venezolana” intimated that the organization conducting the pageant would disqualify Mr. Philippines. And of course, the news had gone viral and it was the buzz that almost snatched the news of the selection of the new Miss World Philippines. Then this was followed by the news that Mr. Philippines will participate after all. Yes, he participated but it looks like it was a token participation. In an attempt to be transparent, the Mr. Model Universe organization published the scores the candidates got during the competition and Mr. Philippines’ scores were way down in the ranking and even last in the organization’s rating. It was very obvious; he just participated for the sake of participation. In the Filipino language he is “salimpusa”. Then the pageant winner was questioned by a lot of candidates as one picture told it all. Then this was followed by an article of Hawaii’s representative to the pageant questioning the credibility of the winner and in so doing the credibility of the pageant too.

Note how the other candidates turned their backs when Mr. Dominican Republic was announced as the winner of the pageant. Mr. Hawaii Universe Model aptly described this photo as "a picture paints a thousand meanings."

The Philippine resultant participation is just waiting to happen. The Philippine organizers did not have the foresight that this is a possibility to happen. In 2011, they were not able to participate because of visa issues and even had their franchise fee forfeited because they did not foresee the problem. It is therefore imperative that they have made the necessary adjustments in their schedules, finances and even ticketing and visa preparations for their candidate. In the end, knowing fully well that the candidate will come in late, and then they should have called off the participation and avoided a great embarrassment in an international soil. Added to this, critics have been widely giving warnings to would be franchise holders for this pageant and yet a few care to listen.

 Another pageant case in view is the Miss Asia Pacific World Competition. It has become common knowledge to everyone that the first edition of the pageant in 2011 was a wreck as many pageant participants complained about how the pageant was handled. It was in complete disarray. And to think the winners were dethroned one by one. And in the next edition, I was wondering they still held the pageant. Seventeen candidates participated and they even had seven winners. The Philippine participant was handpicked and wonders of all wonders, she was not even considered among the 10 semi-finalists.

Miss India (Newly crowned Miss Asia-Pacific World 2012) and her court

Although we all know pageants attract controversies and may even create controversies, we should be more circumspect in participating in. We should only participate in reliable and highly reputable pageants backed with highly respected organizations. We should always think that the sash that we are carrying is our country and if an embarrassment happens, our country becomes also the fulcrum of eternal damnation among pageant fans. 

THOUGHTS ON THE MISS WORLD 2012 FASHION DESIGNER AWARD

By Lavinia Otilla

There is a dearth of individual pictures that showcase the gowns of the Miss World 2012 candidates for the Fashion Designer award. There are 125 candidates and looking up for the pictures of each candidate is quite difficult but this writer tried hard to scour the internet highway. Now here’s my take for the gowns that the candidates used.

Argentina-Denmark-Philippines-Puerto Rico-Wales

 Generally, most of the designs of the gowns that the candidates wore were ordinary to me. I have seen those designs in most pageants I have seen. There were just modifications. I understand that it is a fashion designer award. It gives the award to the gown that is best in design. Based on my choices, the gowns that will compete for the award are the following: Argentina, Denmark, Philippines, Puerto Rico and Wales. Argentina’s dress is simple in cut and design. The gown trappings are also simple but they are impeccably arranged such that the gown comes out very elegant when it was already worn. On the other hand, Denmark used a straight cut designed gown with a V-shaped bare back to highlight its exquisiteness. The Philippines’ red gown done by Michael Cinco was praised by the Miss World Blogger as stunning. It really is because of intricate work that was done in the gown. Miss Puerto Rico’s gown was also a fully-beaded ensemble and that it is in shades of blue. Although the cut is simple, because of the intricate beadwork it came out very elegant. Lastly, Miss Wales, used a mermaid cut gown with full beadings on the middle portion of the gown and it came out also very elegant with her. I have a gut feeling that it would be a competition between Philippines, Puerto Rico and Wales in the designer award.

Costa Rica, Kenya and Mongolia are labeled as "costumey" while the Croatian gown is a disaster waiting to happen

WILL MISS PHILIPPINES CARRY THE TORCH TO THE MISS WORLD 2012

By Dominador Agbayani

Two first runner-up positions and never a crown! This year, Queenierich Rehman tries her luck to become the first Miss World to come from the Philippines. It would be tough endeavor for our 23 year old 5’7” candidate as 124 other candidates from all over the world compete for the crown held in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China. Just like last year, the Miss World Beauty Pageant has different activities lined up and that candidates earn points and all scores are accumulated and those in the Top 20 compete for the Top 7 positions and eventually the Top 3 winners.

The fast track events in the calendar of Miss World are Top Model, Beach Beauty, Sports, Talent and Beauty with a Purpose. The Philippine candidate has shown versatility and ingenuity in her talent that merited a standing ovation from the audience which included the other candidates. She did a beatboxing talent. Beatboxing is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of producing drum beats, rhythm and musical sounds using one’s moth, lips, tongue and voice. In the presentation of Queenie, she presented with singing and vocal imitation of turntablism. For everyone to understand, turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonographs turntable or digital turntables. It is just like mixing the music through a turntable. Although they say that beatboxing is part of the hip-hop culture, with Queenie performing, the sight of a beauty queen performing a talent like this is already a spectacle and people are not only amused but they get engrossed as well.

It is no wonder to see Queenie being part of the Top 47 candidates that entered the Top Model Competition. In the Philippines, Queenie has modeled in a lot of events. And as such, she knows how to traverse the runway and therefore is very knowledgeable at that.

The candidates have paraded their evening gowns for the Fashion Designer Award. The Miss World Blogger has intimated that Queenie’s gown is stunning. I hope Michael Cinco bags the award for this portion. I don’t know however if this is part of the fast track events that would earn the candidates’ points. Next on the heels of the competition is the Beach Beauty Competition. The hopes are high because Queenie in her local competition was the Best in Swimsuit. She did well in this competition as she became one of the finalists. On the Sports Competition, being a basketball and volleyball varsitarian, Queenie would do well again in this competition. The new fast track event which is the Social Media Award shows us Queenie in the 3^rd place so far. I just hope Filipino pageant fans will come to like her page which is "https://www.facebook.com/pages/Miss-World-Philippines/432199386812477" or follow her at twitter "https://twitter.com/MWPhilippines " and that will be a vote for her. I hope again that as we near the stretch, pageant fans will catapult her to the top the way they did it for the other Filipino candidates in the past.

And lastly, we have not heard anything about Queenie’s social project yet. What has she submitted as part of her Beauty with a Purpose Project? As we are in hunger in getting the first crown from Miss World, we put our trust that Ms. Cory Quirino has prepared a project that will highlight Queenie’s reign as Miss World Philippines – a beauty queen with a purpose.

There are great fears that despite of the inherent qualities of Queenie she would be snubbed as we are in China soil. China is a country that is presently in a scuttlebutt with the Philippines due to some territorial island/shoal claims. Indeed we agree with such perception. Although beauty pageants are supposed to be about beauties, however, time and time again, history had made its mark in the choices of the winners, politics always rear its ugly head in selection of some winners. We have extended our support for pageant fans to vote for her, gave her our appreciation as perform remarkably well but we can just pray for the best evitable result. We wish her the best of luck. 

THE QUEEN TAKES HER WEDDING VOW

By Deybid Natanawan

In 2001, Precious Lara Quigaman joined the screening for the Binibining Pilipinas after her 1^st runner-up placement in that segment of Eat Bulaga.  Precious’ beautiful face failed to launch a thousand ships during that edition of the pageant. She might have become a forgettable persona had she not decided to come back to the Philippines after staying and studying in England where her parents are based. In England, In England, she attended South Gloucestershire and Stroud College, where she studied Media Production and Communication. She also pursued a Bachelor of Arts in Childhood and Youth Studies at Bristol University. 

In 2003, my passion for beauty pageants heightened. I got hold of a copy of the 2001 edition of the Binibining Pilipinas. I was really wondering why Precious Lara did not enter the Top 10 as she had a beautiful face and an exceedingly well-trimmed body physique. One friend retorted that she was petite and that she will not matter in international pageants. I was not discouraged with what my friend told me, I corresponded with Precious Lara and asked her if she has plans of joining the pageant again. She said yes but she has to finish her studies first. That she did and in 2005 she tried sailing the same ocean again and under the tutelage of Rodgil Flores, Precious Lara was crowned as Binibining Pilipinas-International 2005. It was history from that time on. After 26 years, the Philippines had another Miss International crown coming from the heels of Ms. Melanie Marquez who won in 1979. Lara became the 4^th Philippine Miss International, Gemma Cruz in 1964 and Aurora Pijuan in 1970.

Her triumph spelled hope from individuals with lesser heights. They started emulating her – her walk, her poise and her eloquence. From that time on, she ventured on television, movies and product endorsements. There is no looking and turning back; Lara has become part of the entertainment as well as the fashion industry.

Photo Courtesy: Mango Red at Philstar.com

It is in this aspect that Lara found the man of her life in the person of Marco Alcaraz, model actor. They were wedded under a Christian ceremony at Hacienda Isabella in Indang Cavite last July 18, 2012. It was a very beautiful wedding surrounded by people whom she loves and I cringe at the idea why I did not join the wedding celebration as I see familiar faces with the pictures posted by friends in Facebook. One of the greatest and joyous revelations during that wedding is the fact that Lara and Marco are expecting their first baby this November. If it were a girl, will this offspring follow in the footsteps of her beauty queen mother?

Photo Courtesy: Melo Balingit for PEP.ph

We wish Lara and Marco well on their life ahead.