By
Jetset Alejandro
The recent pullout of Theresa Marie Fenger from the Bb. Pilipinas 2013 contest due to disregard of rules, she had a
photoshoot with FHM and her picture clad in a bikini came out in the Men’s
Magazine when she was still with the girl singing group Eurasia. Many pageant
fans debated about this issue whether the picture was offensive or not.
Offensive or not, Ms. Fenger went against the rules and was promptly given the
door. It was right and just that the organization should replace her with
another candidate because in the past there are other disqualification cases
that were basically the same in terms of issue.
Well, Ms. Fenger and
her team know this beforehand since this had been a prickly and tickling issue
eversince but should I say they probably have done this in bad faith as they proceeded as if the rule was not in
place. That’s why even though Miss Fenger was starting to inch her way up
there, when the issue came out I failed to sympathize with her since she knew
beforehand that her posing for FHM would basically cause her disqualification eventually.
Some say, she quit but that is the good way out rather than being given the
disqualification order at hand. What is she aspiring for in the future? Will
she come back a-la MacArthur, I shall return when the rule is already lifted? The
truth at hand is that Ms. Fenger is already 25 years old and she will only be
qualified for the Miss Universe Philippines title since Miss International and
Miss Tourism contests peg their age limit until 23 years old. And I believe
that rule will never be lifted in so short a time. If Miss Fenger still dreams
big to be the Philippines’ representative to an international beauty pageant,
then she should look her way to the Miss World Philippines and Miss
Philippines-Earth. Or even the Mutya ng Pilipinas which sends its winners to the
Miss Intercontinental and Miss Tourism International Beauty Pageants.
Ms. Fenger knows the
rules and she took the risk in getting exposed eventually. No one was raising
the issue against her as most pundits think she is not a front-runner in the
contest. During the Press Conference and the National Costume Competition, it
was said that the matriarch of the Bb. Pilipinas gave a resounding admiration
to her by clapping deliriously. Suddenly she has emerged as a candidate of
consequence and this probably sounded an alarm among the candidates’ handlers,
followers or fans and thus, the expose was done in one pageant forum which went
viral in various pageant forums picked up even in other countries’ forum.
The quintessential
Filipino “talangka” character or the crab-mentality is again at works here.
What is the “Talangka” mentality? This mentality is defined as when people want
to pull other people down. When the Filipino realizes that her neighbor or competitor
is going up the ladder, they find ways to pull their compatriots down. It is a
common attitude amongst the Filipino and you can see it around the world. This
is one of the reasons that even in other countries, they cannot unite. There
are so many organizations amongst them and that they believe they can lead the
pack. All become leaders and no one follows.
So it is the same in
beauty pageants! Those who pull down are actually doing it intentionally. When
someone is leading the pack, they throw so many brickbats. They would want to
curb, suppress or restrain the eventual triumph of the leading candidate. This
gives them the sense of security that they are able to sabotage the efforts of
others even though they do not win at all as long as the leading contender will
not win. For them it is better to see
others fall than to see them on top. What is important is that the competitors
are down and the provocateurs are on top.
It is really a wonder
why the team of Miss Fenger was caught sleeping on their job. They have been
lording it over for some time that pageant fans are raising their arms about
their high-handed tactics on winning the most sought title in the Binibini. Or
has it occur in their minds that they have acquired the power to influence the
organization clandestinely and that it will close their eyes to the travesty of
the rule?
They might have
forgotten that power of the internet. With the advent of social networking, it
has galvanized pageant fans against inequality in the enforcement of the rules
and regulations of the pageant. The rumor mills, rumor-mongering and the
destructive letter writings have acquired new visages through the internet
world. Candidates’ attitudes, pageant secrets and many other things just
surface in many pageant forums to the surprise of the level-headed pageant
followers. It becomes a heyday for everyone. But these continue to become a
fare in the most followed national pageant because the organizers put credence
to these controversies and innuendos. Had the pageant organizers been more
transparent in the choices of the winners then, there would have been none of
slightest controversies.
Be they be rumors
without any basis, pageant followers are given the pleasure to be updated not
only because of the news bits entertainment value but because it makes them
aware that things like this do happen. It makes them aware of the issues at
hand. And when they realized that the organizers have taken them for a ride,
they rise up in arms and fought for what they think is right. They have done it
in past and surely they can do it again. The pageant fans have made beauty
contests a life of their own and tampering with their life is certainly a transgression
on their treasured being.
As a blog writer, I
believe that this phenomenon clearly underscored Marshall Mcluhan’s words, “the
medium is the message.” The internet
world being the new medium of social networking has become an extension of
everyone’s self. The personal and social consequences are very vast and
therefore it is far-reaching. Any new technology that comes with therefore
becomes an extension of us. These advances in technology has finally taken a
toll and grasped with the pageant world.
Photo Credits: Bb. Pilipinas, FHM, Penguin Books, Guides.wikinut.com
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