By now everyone in the Philippines knows, Venus Raj, the Filipina who recently placed 4th-runner up on Ms. Universe. Love her or hate her, she has definitely put the country back on the beauty pageant radar.
The Philippines has a long history of loving pageants. Beauty contests are everywhere. They're held in malls, in schools, and in provinces during the thanksgiving fiesta. We have pageants for women, for men, for kids, and for the gays. The infamous Imelda Marcos once fought her way into being crowned the Muse of Manila when she came in second for the Ms. Manila Pageant. Beauty is something Filipinos are eternally enthralled with. So I wanted to look back at the major major winners of the past.
A poster from the first national beauty pageant where President Manuel L. Quezon had to step in to to end the rivalry of two candidates. In the end, the crown of Ms. Philippines went to Ms. Anita Noble and a special title "Ms. Pearl of the Orient Seas" went to Carmen Fargas.
Information about the beauties were gathered from manilacarnivals.blogspot.com, the site of Alex Castro, who managed to write about the winners from every year. Very thorough indeed. The sepia-toned photos are from the flickr photostream of San Miguel de Mayumo. Muchos gracias from all of us.
Hahahahaha......we got something to remember of Venus, the " Major major" phrase. In fairness she has exotic beauty......