The Philippines’ most prestigious and oldest beauty pageant used to be BINIBINING PILIPINAS (Miss Philippines translated in English). From 1964 until 2019, the Binibining Pilipinas Organization was the steward of the Miss Universe brand and franchise in the Philippines. As such it was in-charge of sending a Philippine representative to compete for the annual Miss Universe. So far, it has produced four (4) Miss Universe winners from the Philippines namely, Gloria Diaz (1969), Margie Moran (1973), Pia Wurtzbach (2015) and Catriona Gray (2018).
In 2019, the Miss Universe franchise was granted to another organization, the Miss Universe Philippines Organization. By itself, it has the sole authority to provide a Philippine contestant for the Miss Universe pageant abroad.
STORY
The recently held Miss Universe Philippines 2024 was participated by 53 candidates. It was the first ever Miss Universe Philippines I watched because my aerial yoga teacher was a candidate. However, in the early stage of the competition, one candidate got my attention because of her story. This is a 23-year-old lady from the province of Iloilo named Alexie Mae Caimoso Brooks.
Born to a Filipina mother and a Lebanese father, Alexie never met her father and never experienced being taken care of by her mother. She was raised by her grandmother who was a market vendor. She would sell anything she could to sustain their living. Alexie was a dependable grandchild who was tasked carrying heavy baskets of agricultural products to bring to their station. If needed, she slept with her grandmom in the market, lying on the ground with a carton serving as their mat.
Growing up, Alexie had a rough life. She never had any mode of transportation going to her school. Most of the days, she traveled by running from their house to her school. In school, she was always bullied by other children for her dark skin and curly hair. They would throw rocks at her, and she would run really fast to avoid them. She was pitied by her community because of the bullying and because she was being raised alone by her grandmother, but she was loved because of her athletic prowess.
Running became Alexie’s talent eventually. She became an athlete in school until she represented the school locally, regionally, and nationally. She became part of the national team representing the Philippines in several track-and-field, high-jump, long-jump, heptathlon international competitions and brought home many wards for the country. She was incomparable to other athletes when it comes to her determination to achieve her goal.
Sometime in high school, a family friend encouraged her to join a local beauty pageant. Her grandmother feared she would be bullied again for her dark skin and curly hair, but she still joined. She won the pageant until she became Miss Iloilo 2024 and then represented their province in the Miss Universe Philippines 2024. She campaigns for the advancement of women through sports.
Alexie Brooks’ inspiring story was presented very well that it captured the hearts of many. Being a first timer in the national beauty arena, it was something new but relatable. She garnered so much support from her small town to the whole province until the whole Philippines. She was all over social media. By the way, Alexie is also the first Philippine beauty pageant contender with androgynous features. Everyone got curious about this and how she would make it.
In the middle of the competition, some other candidates got recognized too but her strongest contender was Maria Ahtisa Manalo from Quezon province.
Just like Alexie, Ahtisa also did not grow up with privilege. Born to a Filipina-Spanish mother and a Finnish-Swedish father, she was also raised by her grandmother and her godfather. While Alexie started joining beauty pageants when she was in high school, Ahtisa on the other hand joined since she was in Grade 4. Joining beauty pageants was her means to fund her education.
Her story is not something new to the public because she has already joined several national beauty pageants. In fact, she was the Queen of Niyogyugan Festival in 2016, Reyna ng Aliwan Festival in 2017. Her biggest hit was when she was crowned as the youngest Binibining Pilipinas International in 2018 and won first runner-up in Miss International 2018 held in Tokyo, Japan. Since then, she has been eyed to join other national pageants because she already has the potential. Aside from being a beauty title holder, she is also an entrepreneur. Atihsa is a strong advocate of gender equality and supports the LGBTQI community.
Miss Universe Philippines had 10 judges plus the voting public which makes it 11. Alexie Mae Caimoso Brooks and Maria Ahtisa Manalo were the crowd’s favorite during the whole competition. Aside from the potentials each has, they too won several awards.
Alexie won the following awards: Miss JellLife, Miss Buscopan, Face of Avon, Miss Zonrox. Ahtisa won the following: Miss Smilee, Miss Fairy Skin, Miss iColorPlus, Queen of Hearts, Miss Aqua Boracay, Miss Zonrox, Miss Hello Glow, Miss Danielito’s. Because of these minor awards, many thought one of them will bring home the crown.
Both of them made it to the Top 10, but Alexie did not make it in the Top 5. A dark horse emerged and took home the crown: CHELSEA MANALO from Bulacan province.
Born of a Filipina mom and a black American father, Chelsea was raised by her mom and stepdad. She finished her elementary school in U.S. and had the opportunity to be with the dad. She went back to the Philippines for high school. Like Alexie, she was also bullied because of her skin but she capitalized on her skin and became a ramp, commercial and print model. This opportunity gave her so much exposure. She has worked with huge famous fashion designers, print magazines and commercial companies. Chelsea’s first beauty pageant experience was in 2017. She was top 15 in Miss World Philippines. She focuses her advocacy on youth empowerment through education for the indigenous people.
No one really thought Chelsea will make fit or she was silent all along. She was consistent though that she had a strong support system, and her mom and stepdad was the best part of this.
WHAT IS THE MESSAGE OF THIS STORY?
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
So, AS VIEWERS of beauty pageants, we should not judge the contestants based on what see externally. All these contestants believe in themselves, in their beauty, talents and intelligence. They all have beautiful stories to share and advocacies to campaign for. They exhausted their means for their preparation. If you look at what each has to offer, the pageant is about survival of the fittest! Only contestants and the judges can say among themselves who really deserves the crown. We can only watch and support silently.
For the ORGANIZERS, they should be consistent with their policies and be transparent about the results to avoid doubts and negative stories such as “There is a ‘cooking’ show going on.” You know what this means!
For the CANDIDATES, they should always do their best but never expect to win. They should stay humble and just enjoy the friendships they can build with the other candidates. After all, winning is not just about the crown or the prize. What is more important is how they played the game and how many lives they have touched along their journey.
WHAT DO WE GAIN FROM BEAUTY PAGEANTS?
Filipinos are obsessed with beauty pageants. Before I did this write-up, I asked myself “What do beauty pageants contribute to our society?” Since I was young, I never see beauty contests as empowering. Not at all, because why do ladies need to show some skin just to get attention?? That for me is demeaning. We have been saying “Beauty is only skin deep” but beauty now has a specific standard. The beauty shown now in pageants are products of medical operations. Bleaching, nose lifts, eyebrow tattooing, breast implants, name it! One should look tall, slender, youthful, ageless, blah blah blah.
Beauty pageant is a lucrative business. It is a multi-million industry in the Philippines. Ultimately, it is the capitalists/owners/organizers who gain from the show. Partly, the handlers, fashion designers too because they get known and get hired repeatedly so there is business for them too.
I am quite sure some proceeds of the Miss Universe Philippines will also be shared to its beneficiaries like orphanages and day care centers, but what about the women???
For me, beauty pageants make women objects of entertainment and pleasure, not empowerment. Women who join such competition may get recognition, but they open themselves to a lot of criticisms and even predators. Win or lose, whether women get admiration or condemnation, at the end of the day I think women here are just being USED. ☹ ☹☹
I got these photos on the web and just made my own layout using Pic Collage.
