The Philippine Star, March 24, 2011
As the granddaughter of President Elpidio Quirino, I can imagine she was not allowed by family to get into a swimsuit and try out in some national beauty pageant. In the case of Margie Moran, a direct descendant of President Manuel Roxas, she joined Binibining Pilipinas without asking permission from her parents and submitted her application form with the signature of a conniving grandmother. Mom and Dad, obviously, were, too, thrilled to scold her after winning the top plum and eventually became Miss Universe.
But going back to Cory, she had long been admired for both looks and intelligence. To this day, she is associated with beauty, youth and wellness.
And now, she is a beauty contest impresario. Yesterday, in fact, the press was witness to her initial reign as pageant organizer at the launch of the first ever Miss World Philippines beauty contest, a search that will continue trying to find the Filipina to finally conquer the elusive Miss World title.
Stella Marquez-Araneta’s Binibini already lost the local franchise to Miss World and that had been handed by the London-based organization to the Cory Quirino Global Quest (CQGQ). Even the right to select the local bet to Miss Universe can be taken away from the Araneta group after all these decades and Madame Stella is said to be prepared for such eventuality. (That should be painful since she had done a good job at it.)
The license to choose the RP delegate to Miss World had always changed hands from the beginning. I learned about this, ironically enough, when the rival Miss Universe contest was held in Manila in 1994. ABS-CBN made me anchor a series of pre-Miss Universe specials prior to the coronation day.
As part of my preparation as host, I was made to talk to local beauty contest experts who had a treasure trove of major pageant information. There was one who lived in a mansion and had a whole room — a big one — that contained shelf after shelf of clippings about beauty contests, both local and foreign.
I think it was there when I found out that in the ‘60s, some group would simply put up a party and the prettiest girl in the room would be sent to Miss World. If I am not mistaken, that was how Maita Gomez (a former socialite who later gave up the comfy life to join the underground movement) was selected. It would seem like she never had plans of even joining the contest and none of girls in that event probably knew they were being pitted against each other.
In time, it was the Beauty World Ltd. that got the franchise to send Miss Philippines to Miss World. This was an organization made up mostly of the so-called society playboys, who were organizing the search for the fun of it. In 1968, they put up a luncheon show with beauty aspirants and the winner was Pinky Amabuyok, who finished fifth in Miss World.
A couple of years later, the local selection process became more formal with the entry of Ferdie Villar, who put up Miss Republic of the Philippines, along with the Mr. and Miss Philippine Movies (today’s Box-Office King and Queen) that crowned the top actor and actress of the year. Vangie Pascual was a title-holder of Miss Republic of the Philippines (later shortened to Miss RP) and later almost won Miss World in 1973 by placing second.
In 1977, it was the group of hotelier Biboy Enriquez that absorbed the responsibility to pick the country’s bet to Miss World. They had both Miss Asia Quest and the Mutya ng Pilipinas, the winner of which was made to compete with other lovely girls from the continent, including blondes from Australia and New Zealand.
And so aside from Mutya ng Pilipinas-Asia, there was a Mutya ng Pilipinas-World and also a Mutya ng Pilipinas-Tourism (Emma Yuhico, who later became a friend, was one of the holders of this title).
The local franchise to Miss World changed hands again in the ‘90s. This time, it went to Binibining Pilipinas. I don’t know how true this is, but according to a beauty pageant historian I talked to for that series of pre-Miss Universe specials I did for Channel 2, Mrs. Araneta had always wanted to get awarded the right to choose the Philippine entry to Miss World.
In 1973, in fact, she put up three major titles at stake: Bb. Pilipinas-Universe, Bb. Pilipinas-International and Miss Young Philippines — plus two minor ones, Miss Maja Philippines and Miss World Peace. Nanette Prodigalidad won Maja and placed second in Madrid (the contest had since been discontinued). The Miss World Peace titlist, Joan Gatlin Salas, went nowhere (there was supposed to be a contest in India that never pushed through), but ended up being Mrs. Fred Elizalde (before Lisa Macuja).
If we are to believe the story of that beauty contest expert, the Miss World Peace (given only once) was put up in the hope of that the Binibini group would eventually snag the Philippine franchise to Miss World. They got it eventually and made it possible for Ruffa Gutierrez to get crowned Miss World Second Princess and Asia’s Queen of Beauty in 1993.
Cory Quirino has a huge task ahead of her. Finding the girl who may become the first Pinay to win Miss World would require her organization to search every nook and cranny of the country. She is being assisted by Bambi Verzo’s Concertus group, which had successfully put up some of the biggest productions ever staged in the country in the last decade (they are very organized people — I can attest to that). The Miss World Philippines coronation night will be covered by GMA 7 on July 30.
But why did Mrs. Araneta lose the Miss World Philippine franchise? Last January, somebody told me a little story about it, except that I am not a hundred percent sure about its veracity. Let’s just say that Miss World head Julia Morley was no longer happy with the group of Binibini.
Of course, happiness — like beauty — is relative. And the world is a circle.
As they say, there is nothing permanent in this world, especially not the local franchise to Miss World.
