A nation won over by beauty contests

PALAWAN

It’s the middle of a gruelling practice for young women competing in a local beauty pageant. They sashay back and forth in high heels to perfect their walk without tripping.

Their trainer, Thom Avila, explains the rigours of his beauty boot camp. “When the girls wake up, we start the day with jogging,” he says. “After jogging, we have breakfast, followed by walking exercises. After that, we teach them how to put on makeup and that is followed by question and answer exercises.”

Most of his students come from impoverished backgrounds. One of them is Janicel Lubina, 20, who represented the Philippines in the Miss International pageant in Japan last December. Lubina, the 2013 runner-up in the Miss World-Philippines contest, was a finalist for last year’s Miss Universe-Philippines title. The crown instead went to Pia Wurtzbach, who then became Miss Universe. Lubina is often referred to as a Filipina Cinderella. “When I was in my third year of high school, my father had a stroke. I started farming and worked as a housemaid because my mother was also a housemaid,” she says.

She was spotted by a local talent scout in a farming village in Palawan when she was 16. Joining the beauty contest world, she says, was her way of escaping poverty and helping her family. “It helps a lot. I have started to have a house built for my family. My priority also is to provide the family with education. I am sending my two brothers to school.”

From small villages to the biggest cities, beauty pageants are huge across the Philippines, where people know the names of their beauty queens like Brazilians know their football heroes. The love affair began in 1969, when 19-year-old Gloria Diaz became the country’s first Miss Universe. Others followed — Margie Moran in 1973 and Pia Wurtzbach last year. The country has also won four Miss International pageants, one Miss World, two Miss Earth, and dozens of smaller international beauty contests.

Difficult journeys

Psychology professor Vincent Quevada explains why Filipinos are addicted to beauty contests, even when interest in the events is dwindling in other countries. “Filipinos are rooting for someone to epitomise their wants to become somebody, someday. Most likely it’s because of poverty,” he says. “Filipinos love to see Cinderella-like stories.”

People love the happy endings to those fairy tales, but aren’t always aware of the difficult journeys that Janicel Lubina and others take to get there. Lubina spent more than three years in beauty boot camp and fared poorly in several beauty contests before finally finding success.

Back at the boot camp, talent scout Thom Favila says he is grooming another potential Miss Universe. The young woman is from a remote island and stands almost 6 feet tall. A long shot perhaps. But after all, Filipinos like beautiful underdogs, Thom says.

— Worldcrunch/New York Times News Service