Of Beauty Pageants and the Popular Swimsuit Portions

What is an ideal beauty queen?

“A woman with an intelligent mind, beautiful face, good attitude and healthy body,” goes the definition of Valeriano “Chicoy” Tomol III, head of the Models Association of Cebu (MAC), which has multi-titled beauty queens in its roster of talents.

Beauty, we see that at first glance. Attitude, we observe that through time. Intelligence, we notice that in the pageant’s question and answer portion.

And the body form and figure? In the swimsuit portion, of course.

Often one of the most anticipated segments in beauty pageants, the swimsuit portion shows the physical fitness and body curves of a lady.  

Bb. Pilipinas World 2006 Ana Maris Igpit says, “The swimsuit portion is done to see how healthy and fit the woman is. It also shows how confident she is in wearing a swimsuit in front of a big crowd.”

More than just seeing a healthy body and sexy curves, Ana believes that the portion also shows how disciplined she is with herself and her lifestyle.

“You can really see how she takes care of her health by exercise and good diet, even if she is busy with school or work. It will show how toned her body is and how clear and flawless her skin is. It is not really about the swimsuit, but how she carries herself with it through the stage,” Ana explains.

 For someone who has won the Best in Swimsuit award in Ms. Mandaue 2005, Ana admits that “it takes guts and confidence for someone to wear a swimsuit. The problem is with the audience. They become too malicious and girls get discriminated for that.”

“Let’s admit it, when a man sees a woman in a swimsuit, he thinks differently,” Chicoy agrees.

And this is probably one of the reasons why the beauty pageant Miss Cebu, the island-province’s biggest, decided to do away with this portion.

First conceptualized in the second half of 1983, Miss Cebu was founded to help promote Cebu as an alternative tourist destination in the Philippines. The pageant shows the contemporary lifestyle of Cebu and unique characteristics of a Cebuana.

 Reigning Miss Cebu 2007 Loise Angelique Tan explains that “Miss Cebu emphasizes on the personality and intelligence of the candidate. The Miss Cebu winner will function as the Cebu’s Ambassador of Goodwill.”

After one year of being the bearer of the crown, Loise describes her experience as fun and tiring. She has traveled everywhere, sometimes being called up on a last minute notice. “When I promote Cebu and talk to people, I don’t remember wearing a swimsuit,” she laughs.

Back then, the pageant was first called Miss Cebu Tourism and actually had a swimsuit portion. A couple of years later, the pageant was renamed Miss Cebu and never saw candidates parade in swimsuits again. 

And now on its 25th year, the pageant remains a crowd-drawer even without the popular swimsuit portion (See related article on Miss Cebu).

For Chicoy, this is just fitting as “after all, the pageant is in line with the Feast of Sto. Niño. It will be ironic if ladies parade in swimsuits. We’re showing faith and belief as Cebuanos in this event.”

Ana, who didn’t join Miss Cebu, admires the pageant for maintaining its prestige through the years. “In fairness to Miss Cebu, bilib ko nila. They have produced beautiful, intelligent and successful beauty queens.”

“You really can’t tell how prestigious a pageant is through its parts. It has to be whole package. If the pageant is not well-produced, well-prepared and well-directed, I don’t think it will maintain its prestige,” she says.

Loise believes that another reason why Miss Cebu is prestigious is because of the quality of its candidates, who get grilled through the question and answer portion. “Here, you will really see how witty and intelligent the candidate is in answering the questions on stage.”

But if ever Miss Cebu had a swimsuit portion, Loise is still fine with the idea, although she will certainly be having second thoughts about joining. “I tried joining one, in Miss Mandaue, which had a swimsuit portion. But my dad is conservative. And I want to be as decent as possible.”

One of the candidates for Miss Cebu 2008, Karen Nacario, feels the same way. But she will still join the pageant anyway. “I trust Miss Cebu and its audience. But then, inasmuch as swimsuit portions show the beauty of the body of a woman, I think it is not the only way. There are other ways to see that.”

Karen stands that “Miss Cebu is a woman who sees her assets, talents, intelligence and beauty to take the lead and initiate her fellow women and fellow youth to do their role in the society and make a difference, without necessarily wearing a swimsuit.”

Co-candidate Marjorie Jane Tan, for her part, wouldn’t have joined the pageant had it included a swimsuit portion. “Wala ko’y guts mag-swimsuit. Overexposure ra sa self.”

Conservative that she is, Marj doesn’t have anything against swimsuits. “It is a way of showing sexiness. But dili nako carry, personally. Kailangan pud ko og sit-ups para flat jud ang tiyan,” she says, chuckling.

Swimsuit portions aren’t really necessary, especially for Miss Cebu, Chicoy maintains. “Ok lang sa ubang pageants, lahi man pud ilang gusto.”

Only a few hours more before she turns over her crown, Loise believes that “Swimsuits are good in places like Boracay but in Miss Cebu, I don’t think so. Miss Cebu is looking for a woman who will represent Cebu even without wearing a swimsuit.”

Miss Cebu 2008, one of the highlights of the Sinulog Festival, is happening tomorrow at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel in Lahug.