18. MISS U STAMPS AND Q & A
MISS
U STAMPS AND Q & A
Troy
Alexander G. Miano, DPA
31
January 2017
I have experienced, three times
since I was born, the hosting of the prestigious Miss Universe pageant in the
Philippines. I was only three months old (92 days to be exact) on July 19, 1974
when the country hosted the 23rd beauty pageant held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines
(CCP) in Pasay City. The Philippines’ representative was Guadalupe Sanchez and
Miss Spain, Amparo
Muñoz, secured the crown.
After twenty years, the Miss
Universe craze went back to the Philippines. I was in second year college at
the University of Santo Tomas in España, Manila taking up Bachelor of Science
in Commerce major in Business Administration (BSCBA) when my uncle who was a
Manila Times photo correspondent would nag us to join him in covering the
activities and functions of the 43rd Miss Universe held on May 20,
1994 at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City. The Philippines’
representative was Charlene Mae Gonzales Bonnin (now wife to actor Aga Muhlach)
who won the Best National Costume award and was one
of the Top 6 Finalists. The Miss Universe crown went to Sushmita Sen of India.
After twenty one years, the country hosted for the third time
this pageant previously owned by Donald Trump (now the 45th
president of the United States) and now owned by the talent agency, WME/IMG.
The Philippines candidate to the 65th Miss U was Maria Maxine Medina
who was one of the Top 6 Finalists. The crown went to Miss France, Iris
Mittenaere on January 30, 2017 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
It was only last year when the Philippines was able to bag
its third Miss Universe crown. Having been invited in numerous beauty pageant
in Isabela province, I was curious as a bee on the answers of our three
Filipina Miss Universe. Gloria Aspillera Diaz (born March 10, 1951) was the first
Filipina to win the Miss Universe crown on July
19, 1969 at the Miami Beach
Auditorium, Florida,
USA. Arriving at the pageant as an early favorite,
Díaz did not disappoint her supporters and sailed throughout all the pageant's
event that led up to the finals. Making it to the Top 5, she participated in
the final question round and Diaz showed the universe how intelligent
and beautiful Filipinas are. During the Q&A portion, she was asked, “In the next day or so, a man will land on
the moon. If a man from the moon landed in your hometown, what would you do to
entertain him?” Her answer was: “Oh,
just the same things I do. I think if he has been on the moon for so long, I
think when he comes over he wants to change, I guess.”
After five years, the Philippines was headline in all news
when Maria
Margarita Roxas Moran (now Mrs. Floirendo) or locally known as Margie
Moran (born September 15, 1953 in Manila) won the
second Miss Universe crown for
the Philippines on July 21, 1973 at Odeon of Herodes
Atticus in Athens, Greece. Moran said that she entered the contest because of
the incessant urgings of friends and family. The 19-year-old, 5 ft 6 in
beauty also garnered the Miss Photogenic award. She is one of the only four
Miss Universe winners to also win Miss Photogenic (the others being Margareta Arvidsson of Sweden in 1966, Janelle Commissiong of Trinidad and
Tobago in 1977, and Denise Quiñones of Puerto Rico in
2001). The pageant’s Q&A went like this: “If you had one million dollars what you do with it?” Moran’s answer
was: “I would buy a big house where I can
live with all the people I love”.
I was at the Human
Resource and Management Office of the Provincial Government of Isabela in
Ilagan City when I witnessed on television how host Steve Harvey mistakenly announced
Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutiérrez, as the winner.
However, after Gutiérrez's crowning, Harvey returned to the stage and stated
that he had misread the results and that Wurtzbach was really Miss Universe
2015. Paulina Vega (Miss Universe 2014) then removed the
crown from Gutiérrez's head and placed it on the Philippines’ Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach's
head.
Born on September 24,
1989 and formerly known in the Philippine entertainment and modeling industry
as Pia Romero, the new Miss Universe was crowned on December 20, 2015
in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.
During the first question and answer round, Wurtzbach was asked by Harvey: “Earlier
this year, there was a controversy in the Philippines about the United States
reopening of military base in your country. Do you think the United States
should have a military presence in your country?” Wurtzbach’s
answer was: “I think that the United
States and the Philippines have always had a good relationship with each other.
We were colonized by the Americans and we have their culture and our traditions
even up to this day and I think that we're very welcoming with the Americans.
And I don't see any problem with that at all.”
During the second round of the Q&A, the top three
contestants were asked the same question: “Why
should you be the next Miss Universe?” Wurtzbach answered: “To be a Miss Universe is both an honor and
responsibility. If I were to be Miss Universe, I will use my voice to influence
the youth and I would raise awareness to certain causes like HIV awareness that
is timely and relevant to my country which is the Philippines. I want to show
the world, the universe rather, that I am confidently beautiful with a heart. Thank
you.”
Aside from being a
numismatist and notaphilist, I am also a philatelist since Grade 5. Collecting first day of issue Philippine
stamps, I was able to secure a 100 peso souvenir sheet containing three stamp designs
commemorating the Philippines’ hosting of the prestigious Miss U pageant. The
‘stamp-on-stamp’ design of the Philippine Postal Corporation (Philpost) highlighted
the three Filipina maidens who won the much coveted crown. The first stamp
design is of Miss Universe 1969 Gloria Diaz, which was released in 1994, in
commemoration of the last Miss Universe pageant held in the Philippines. Second
is Miss Universe 1973 Margarita Moran, which was also released in 1994. The last
design is of Miss Universe 2015 Pia Alonzo-Wurtzbach, which was released last
year, in celebration of her victory.
All three beauty
queens were part of the commemorative Philpost Living Legends roster, along
with the first Miss World from the Philippines Meagan Lynne Young and Filipino
world boxing champion Senator Manny Pacquiao. Living Legends are living
personalities aside from the president and elected officials who have been
featured on stamps because of the pride and honor they have brought for the
country.
The Philippines ranks
No.4 together with Sweden in the most number of Miss Universe title holders after
the United States (8), Venezuela (7) and Puerto Rico (5). I stared at the
photos of the three Filipina Miss U then I turned my attention to my wife and
sighed. Indeed, the Filipina is confidently beautiful with a heart.
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