Both Miss Philippines and Miss Colombia as Miss Universe

By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

“THERE’S always a first time,” as the saying goes, and this was what happened in the 2015 Miss Universe Beauty Pageant last Monday. After 64 years of seamless organization, an unanticipated blunder happened. We saw how the host Steve Harvey made a big booboo by announcing Miss Colombia as the winner only to be followed by an apology correcting himself and declared our Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach as the true winner.

The mistake resulted in confusion and protest on the part of the Latinos, chiefly the Colombians. As expected, most of the Latinos were in anguish and blamed the Miss U organizers while majority of the Asian participants like Japan, Myanmar, Malaysia, Israel, among others, favored the announcement of the correct verdict. Yes, the pell-mell of sequence by the aging Harvey, also the host of the world famous game called “Family Feud, led others to suspect that the incident was deliberately staged by the Miss Universe organizers in order to gain more world media mileage to beat competition in world beauty pageants like Miss World, Miss International and Miss Earth. But I don’t believe that.

Pia is the third Filipina to be crowned Miss Universe after Gloria Diaz of Aringay, La Union in 1969 and Margarita Moran in 1973, the year of my first reign in Philippine cycling. Before Pia, our Filipina beauties (I forgot their names) almost came close to winning the title years back but could only manage runners-up finish. The big feat before Pia’s Miss Universe crown, was the back-to-back (2014 and 2015.) win of our entries in the Miss Earth beauty pageant.

Beauty pageants (as well as the Mr. Universe contest) are already being considered like a sports competition since all contestants do gym training like light gymnastic, dumbbell, barbell, zumba, yoga to make their body curvaceous and alluring. I remember seeing 26 year-old Filipina-German Pia on TV working intensively at the gym. Her efforts certainly paid off well.

Speaking of Miss Colombia, I believe she also deserves the crown. It may not be in the rule book but in this peculiar case, the organizers could have declared the two as Miss Universe to appease the hurt and embarrassment felt by Miss Colombia and the Latin world. Just my thoughts.

Without a doubt, what happened this year will never be forgotten.

*          *          *          *

It’s so sad to know that my sports contemporary, the former PBA player Lim Eng Beng just passed away due to liver cancer. I met the guy in Guam in 1985 during drinking spree with the Crispa Redmanizers after their game against Robert Jaworski’s team Toyota dubbed as “The Last Hoorah.” The former La Salle University great Beng never drank with us, not even a sip of beer or wine. And it’s ironic that Beng, 64, died of this ailment that only heavy liquor drinkers suffer from. My heartfelt condolence to his family.

*          *          *          *

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 SAMUEL 16: 7

Back to Homepage

Share your Comments or Reactions

comments

Powered by Facebook Comments