Karangahan 2012: Albay Pageant Academy

Featured Photos | Karangahan 2012: Albay Pageant Academy

Photos by Gil Inocencio Festejo

Miss Tourism World Philippines 2012, Meryl Angeline King

   

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Another Albay beauty Queen Crowned Miss Tourism World Philippines 2012

ANOTHER ALBAY BEAUTY QUEEN CROWNED MISS TOURISM WORLD PHILIPPINES 2012

Another beauty queen from Albay bags the the first-ever Miss Tourism World Philippines 2012 in colorful and glittering rites held at the AFP Theater in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, on November 11, 2012.

Meryl Angeline King, 23 year old nurse from a Bicol town, will represent the country at the forthcoming Miss Tourism World Finals to be held in Bangkok, Thailand on December 15. She is also the reigning 2012 Ms. Pulang-Angui of the Municipality of Polangui and Ms. Tabak of Tabaco City, all in the Province of Albay. “We are very excited for our first winner of Miss Tourism World Philippines, not only does she posses the elegant and beauty of a true Filipina, but she also personify the charm and warmth of our motherland, a real Ambassador of Philippine Tourism.” Says Mr. Francisco “Gareth” Blanco Jr. the National Director and Philippine Franchise holder of Miss Tourism World Pageant. 

Ms. King is a product of the Albay Pageant Academy. In an interview with Albay Governor Joey Salceda, “the Province of Albay is the first ever in the country to have formally launched the Albay Pageant Academy which is a conscious effort to develop local pageant winners make it big in national and international competitions”. The Pageant Academy is headed by Board Member Glenda Ong Bongao, as its Executive Director. “The Albay pageant academy will bank on a person’s beauty as accentuated with a Happy Disposition and a contented spirit and that I think is the real Albayana beauty”, Board Member Bongao said. 

Gov. Salceda is a staunched supporter of Bicolana beauty queens in international competitions and was instrumental in the victory of Dianne Samar Necio, 2010 Binibining Pilipinas-International in the People’s Choice / Miss Internet Awards in the 51st Miss International Pageant in Chengdu, China.

Albay is said to be the Venezuela of the Philippines, having produced 37 regional, national and international beauty queens since 1980 with the entry of Ms. Agapita Sigue of Legazpi City as Ms. Philippine National Red Feather 1980. Topping the list of Albay beauty queens, to name a few, are Miriam Quiambao of Bacacay , 1st Runner-Up Ms. Universe 1999, Precious Lara Quigaman of Ligao City, Ms. International 2005, Melody Gersbach of Daraga, Bb. Pilipinas - International 2009, Diane Necio of Polangui, Bb. Pilipinas International 2011, Jane Bañares , Mutya ng Pilipinas 2009 and Venus Raj, Ms. Universe 2010 4th runner, who studied in Bicol University and served as spokesperson for the Center for Initiatives and Researches on Climate Adaptation (CIRCA), an office under the Office of the Governor.

In a separate interview with a contestant, it was observed that all beauty contestants dream of winning the different beauty contests in the province because they not only offer a big financial stake to winners with at least 200k-P300k cash reward, it carries with other privileges, scholarship and gifts from pageant sponsors, and most importantly, the opportunity to be part of the prestigious list of beauty queens and the different exposure the Province is committed to share . “The yearly Ms. Magayon, the provincial beauty pageant, offers an outright cash gift of P300k, though amount increases every year, is given on the day of the coronation, no installment”, as emphasized by Ms. Dorothy Colle, the Provincial Tourism Head.

Photos by Jhoezen B. Perez

Text by Vince Baltazar 

Albay launches Philippines’ first beauty pageant academy

Published: November 30, 2011

Written by: Lovelyn M. Quintos, Correspondent | The Manila Times

LEGAZPI CITY, Albay: 18-year-old aspiring appeal queen Monica Belgica tilted her head back and lifted her chin a little.

The Five’ Eight”  dusky Bicolana then walked the runway with different local pageant titlists to mark the official start of the Albay Pageant College (APA) here on November Twenty Five.

Belgica’s great facial features and lanky make look like those of Binibining Pilipinas Universe 2010 Maria Venus Raj, in addition a Bicolana.

“I hear scores of persons state I put in remembrance them of Venus Raj. It’s a huge privilege for me since all of us know that Venus has given such an esteem to our country,” she said.

Raj of Bato, Camarines Sur province, completed 4th jogger-up in the Miss Universe Pageant last year after a weak question-and-reply (QA) performance that many thought cost her the title.

“I have done a lot of missteps, however I think it is just genuine for people. All of us have missteps and I consider missteps as challenges for you to do much better other time,” Belgica answered when asked the same question thrown at Raj in 2010.

She acknowledged that she battled in the Q A portion, however evidently her individuality and appeal made her stand out at the Mutya ng Bacacay 2011 contest.

The crown obtained her a scholarship at the APA, a plan of the Albay provincial authority geared towards supplying a coaching ground for Albayanas poised to join nationwide appeal pageants.

‘Big deal’

Here in Albay, an attraction pageant is a pretty huge deal. The partakers indeed outlay scores of cash in an attraction pageant. The prize ranges from P 150,000 to P200, 000 just for the title,” provincial board member Glenda Bongao, the key supporter of the plan, said.

Nationwide pageant winners 1999 Bb. Pilipinas-Universe Miriam Quiambao, 2009 Bb. Pilipinas-Intercontinental Melody Gersbach and 2011 Bb. Pilipinas-Intercontinental Dianne Necio trace their roots to Albay.

Bongao said that the appeal-pageant college provided coaching in individuality development and conducts speech courses, which, she added, would help local promising pageant winners do well in larger competitions.

“That is a college like no different since it tries to dig deep in the real essence of appeal. It is a college that considers appeal not as a physical feature or maybe a fashion sense. It is a college that espouses the principle of appeal as an daily life,” in accordance with the provincial board member.

In the Philippines, the APA is the first school only geared towards appeal pageantry and supported by the authority.

Winners of local pageants in Albay for example Miss Bicol Academy, Miss Governor’s Cup, Mutya ng Pulang-Angui, Mutya ng Tabak, Mutya ng Ibalong and Mutya ng Magayon would be given main concern admission to  the college.

Not Like usual schools, though, the APA lacks real infrastructure.

“Some were asking me where the school is, they wish to see it. However the APA has no real lecture rooms. We’ll just supply coaching from professionals,” Bongao said.

She added that the provincial authority took pride in Albayanas representing the Philippines in the intercontinental appeal arena, so, its support for the college.

Crown shy

In the history of intercontinental appeal pageants,  2 Filipinas have brought home the Miss Universe crown (Gloria Diaz in 1969 and Margie Moran in 1973), 4 Miss Intercontinental titles (Gemma Cruz in 1964, Aurora Pijuan in 1971, Melanie Marquez in 1979 and Precious Lara Quigaman in 2005) and none from the Miss Planet competition.

Early that seven days, Bb. Pilipinas-Intercontinental 2011Necio reached the destination from the Miss Intercontinental pageant in China, where she made it to the Top Fifteen.

Bongao was part of the Philippine delegation who supported Necio and she observed that height remains a benefit when joining intercontinental pageants.

In individuality and in assurance, Filipinas stand out amongst the faces of appeal from every single one nation, she said.

For local pageant winners to go farther in future competitions, the APA would select tall young ladies to undergo coaching at the college.

“When we went to China to support Dianne, we observed that those that qualified for the next rounds were as a rule tall. We thought it would be much better if we pick to develop those that are brilliant with height,” Bongao said.

Party of beauty

Though she said that there would be speech courses for critical conversation methods, the students need not be fluent in English.

“It has been an issue ever since on if our representatives should have an interpreter like different states. To us, it doesn’t matter. Whatsoever language the competitor discovers herself more cozy in, then she could use that. As great communicators, the partakers might pick their medium as far as they could express themselves well,” Bongao elucidated.

Other Ones could discover appeal pageants, not to say an attraction pageant school, a kind of exploitation of ladies, however not Bongao and Belgica.

“That is a party of appeal. The college won’t push ladies to amend what nature has endowed them with. The college will improve what nature has brilliant them with,” Bongao said.

“To some it is a way to reach their dreams and achieve their objectives, not for them to be exploited. It just hinges on how a real appeal queen will handle it,” Belgica said.

Article Source: The Manila Times