Photo exhibit reels off to honor past Miss Dumaguete titleholders

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines -– A photo exhibit that pays tribute to past beauty queens of Dumaguete City, the capital of Negros Oriental, is now going on at a shopping mall in the city.

The project has come to fruition after eight long years of hard work and difficult challenges, according to Marc Clifford Calumpang, this year’s chairperson of the Miss Dumaguete 2016 beauty pageant.

The “Miss Dumaguete Through The Years” photo exhibit is part of this year’s search for the new titleholder, Calumpang said on Thursday.

The project was conceptualized more than eight years ago with Jessica Layumas and Penn Larena of the City Tourism Office that did some research, contact families and friends of the former beauty queens, and even talk to “historians” and the older generation to put together a compilation of all the Miss Dumaguete titleholders.

Calumpang said that when he became involved in the project this year, the three of them agreed to launch it despite limited resources. Most of the funding, which were minimal, came from private individuals and their own pockets, he said.

The project is intended to honor the past winners of the Miss Dumaguete search, including those already deceased, Calumpang explained. He said they have a list to complete, as there are many years that have not been filled up with the corresponding Miss Dumaguete titleholder of a particular year.

Now that they have started the project, Calumpang said they hope to be able to craft a committee or a system where all Miss Dumaguete queens will be documented as part of the city’s heritage and history.

Before Dumaguete became a city, the beauty queen was known for the title Carnival Queen, and only after 1948 that the Miss Dumaguete title was adopted.

Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo led in the opening ceremonies of the exhibit, along with Miss Dumaguete 2015 Karen Ann Bustos, and 88-year-old Aida Belloso Segundo, the oldest living Ms. Dumaguete who won the crown in 1951.

The mayor congratulated those behind the project, saying this is the first time that this has happened as he expressed hope that the list will be completed over the years. “This is an important part of our heritage, and the photo albums of all the Miss Dumaguete’s pictures will speak of that,” he said.

Remollo also thanked some of the past beauty titlists who attended the launching of the photo exhibit late Wednesday afternoon. It will run from November 16 to 22. (FREEMAN)