Saturday, April 13, 2013

QUEENTESSENCE’ FINAL PICKS


By Rolando Rafael


My experience for this years’ edition of the Bb. Pilipinas 2013 was quite tiring and exhausting. Imagine looking at 50 candidates and you reach a saturation point that sometimes you cannot separate the real beauty from the mediocre ones. The Philippine-based team had difficulty on what approach we are going to follow in terms of choosing our Top 20. But eventually, we selected the Top 20 based on selections for the Top 10 girls with the most beautiful face, the Top 10 girls with Beauty of Physique and Fitness, the Top 10 girls with Strong Personality and X-factor and the Top 10 girls were good communication skills. We collated them and came out of the Top 20. The Top 20 is our choices but we will try to give our predictions based on the realities of the contest.




The Top 5 candidates that went into our criteria selection are as follows:

1.   Mutya Johanna Datul (39) –Mutya had been very consistent among the pageant followers. She scored high among the girls with the beautiful face, beautiful body and personality and X-factor rating. She was however, rated lowly in the communication skills department. Some pundits say that despite the deficiency in that department, she could be a very good representative in Miss International, Miss Tourism pageants as well as the Miss Supranational. She would probably had a difficulty clinching the Miss Universe Philippines title as this contest would require an innate ability to communicate what is in your head easily.

2.   Charmaine Elima (13) ranked second to Datul. She scored high also in the face, body and personality departments. Although she is a Cum Laude graduate, her interview as seen in the Primer was in the dialect and was even tentative in some aspects. Although we saw her in the preliminary interview dishing it out in the King’s language and she seemed comfortable with the language too. She therefore maintained an enigma status and thus keeping the fans guessing if she still has some more aces kept up in her sleeves. It would be very interesting to see her during the final pageant and be part of the semifinalists.




3.   Ria Rabajante (1) is such a great surprise to be seen in our Top 5 rankings. Ria scored high in all the departments but she was in the middle ground. Her average pulled her up as the others did not do well in other departments. Will this kind of middle ground be seen during the final night? It could be as Ria is not only beautiful facially but has the body to die for and she had the facility of the English language at hand.

4.   Pia Wurtzbach (15) was almost in everyone’s rating card. She has the beauty and body to speak of. However, she was also tentative in her interviews. We can feel the discomfort that she has when conducting her interviews. I just hope she stands her ground during the final night.

 5.   Imelda Sweighart is a darling (45). She is beautiful. She is sexy. She communicates pretty well but lacks quite the height. But with Olivia Culpo’s triumph in the Miss Universe Beauty Pageant last year, the playing field has practically been changed and she stands a greater chance in getting a slot to the Top 5.




6.   Maria Cristina (Krisma) Pascual (50) basically tied with Imelda for the 5th position but I placed Imelda in a higher ranking as she is the more popular girl. Krisma also ranked highly in the facial, body, personality and even in the communication skills department. After the fashion show, she has practically evolved into one of the more likeable candidate in the pageant.

 7.   Mercegrace Raquel (28) shot to prominence during the press presentation because of her catwalk skills. The countenance of Mercegrance however is at par with the other girls in the leaderboard as she did exceedingly well during the fashion show. Hence, we were not surprised with a high ranking for her.


8.   Bea Rose Santiago (20) shot to prominence also during the press presentation as well as in the National Costume show. She was very regal in her movements. When the swimsuit pictorials came out, she was seen as someone who would be threat to any of the crowns being offered on April 14. The parade of beauties and the fashion show further underscored the innate characteristics of Bea that made her a possible winner of one of the Bb. Pilipinas crowns.
  

9.   Maria Angelica De Leon (31) is everyone’s talk of the town. Pageant intrigues say that she is the anointed one. With the results of the fashion show there are indications that the gossips, intrigues and rumors may have basis after all. It is such a pity that such buzz came to be because she can never put to claim that she really had the crown by her own merits.

10.                   Nicole Kim Donesa (4) is such a surprise candidate to penetrate the Top 10 amongst the staff. But she did well in the communication skills department in which she ranked first giving the more facially gifted candidates a run for their money.


11.                   Hannah Ruth Sison (19) is another candidate that is good in all departments. She has a beautiful face, body and good personality. Being a faculty member, she communicates pretty well and shows good rapport also to her audience.


12.                   Maria Teresa Gorgonio (30) is an admirable candidate who can communicate her thoughts very well. This will be her ace against the other candidates.


13.                   Jacqueline Alexandra Mayoralgo (42) is another candidate that has excellent communication skills. This aptitude of Ms. Mayoralgo will probably put her in good stead for a semifinalist slot.

14.                   Aiyana Mickiewicz (47) is another candidate that showed great ability in the communication department. With mestiza looks, she is a good candidate to make it to the semifinalist selection and may have great chances of winning the Bb. Pilipinas-International crown.



15.                   Zandra Flores (3) is a very exotic candidate but is limited by her height and her ability to catapult herself amongst the other great contenders.

16.                   Carin Adrianne Ramos (17) is another beautiful candidate that fits the prototype of a Miss International winner.

17.                   Joanna Cindy Miranda (16) is another potential Miss International candidate representative.



18.                   Pauline Quintas (29) has an aura of both Aurora Pijuan and Guadalupe Sanchez both of whom are quintessential Filipina beauties. Will Pauline live up to those expectations?

19.                   Anna Fernandina Buquid (26) is the tallest candidate but she still looks raw for this edition. We just hope that if this girl does not win in this years’ edition, she will come back much matured and much better trained. With better preparation and training she will surely snatch the coveted crown.

20.                   Parul Shah (33) is another exotic candidate in the mold of Venus Raj. But does going along the Venus Raj route repeat a Miss Universe performance where exotic beauties prevail?



There are three others on our list that made a dent on the Top 20 as they tied with Parul with the last slot and they are the following: Maria Sofia Gloria Mustonen (5), Abbygale Monderin (8) and Amanda Navasero (46).

As many other pundits say, the choices are varied. There are so many permutations that can be made out of the 50 candidates. There are so many possible levels of selection and whatever you would want to employ, some choices would come out differently. But on the possible candidates to enter the Top 20, let us winnow the candidates and let us see on what probable pageant can they represent the Philippines best of.



If we are to judge here at Queentessence, our choices would be as follows:
         Miss Universe Philippines – Charmaine Elima
         Bb. Pilipinas-International – Ria Rabajante
         Bb. Pilipinas-Tourism – Mutya Johanna Datul
         Bb. Pilipinas-Supranational (First Runner-up) – Pia Wurtzbach
         Second Runner-up – Imelda Sweighart or Krisma Pascual



But facing the realities of the contest, we predict the following:
         Miss Universe Philippines – Maria Angelica De Leon
         Bb. Pilipinas-International –Krisma Pascual
         Bb. Pilipinas-Tourism – Charmaine Elima
        Bb. Pilipinas-Supranational (First Runner-Up) – Mutya Johanna Datul
         Second Runner-up – Pia Wurtzbach


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