Miss Cebu in the Year of the Dragon

CEBU, Philippines - In a colorful Philip Rodriguez tribal dress and aloft native bamboos, not unlike a tribal princess carried by bahag-wearing men, outgoing Miss Cebu Mia Zeeba Ali Faridoon opened last Wednesday night's 28th staging of the Miss Cebu pageant at the Pacific Grand Ballroom of the Waterfront Hotel. With the upbeat music of the Lupon Anduyo percussion ensemble and the dazzling costume and choreography of the University of Cebu Dance Company accompanying Faridoon's dance, this initial salvo seemed to promise a night of pomp and pageantry, which Cebuanos are known to deliver splendidly.

As earlier announced, this year's production took on the "What's New In Old Cebu?" theme in line with our beloved city proclaimed last year as an "ASEAN City of Culture." The 12 candidates started the night by "paying homage to Cebu’s dichotomous and flexible nature of being recognized as both a major tourism and business hub" through the first segment which featured Indo-Malay inspired resort wear crafted by Rey Humberto Villegas, Peewee Senining, Hadji Godinez and Ivan Belocura. It was also during this part where the public first heard our city's newest jingle, titled "Welcome to Cebu, Welcome to our Hearts."

The lovely finalists next donned ASEAN city wear by Barbie Alvez, William Manahan, Yvonne Quisumbing and Edwin Ao. Later on, the highly-anticipated evening gown competition was marked by two near-stumbles. Close calls for those two ladies, who must have thanked their lucky stars for managing to prevent falling-flat-on-their-faces scenario. As always, the creations by our top designers, including an interesting illusion of a face at a gown's back by Oj Hofer, took the audience's collective breaths away. Jun Escario, Anthony Romoff, Ren Manabat, Wendell Quisidio, Cary Santiago, Harley Ruedas, Arcy Gayatin, Philip Tampus, Dino Lloren, Albert Arriba, Marichu Tan and Hofer took charge in coming up with masterpieces for this segment.

Invited judges for this year made up pesonalities in varied fields, such as architect-designer Francis Libiran, architect-designer-entrepreneur Ana Rocha, Cathay Pacific executive Martin Xu, columnist-philanthropist Mayenne Carmona and congresswoman-national spokesperson for AKBAYAN partylist Risa Hontiveros.

In the end, construction media researcher and Monster FM disc jockey Pierre Anther Infante was declared winner in this Year of the Dragon. She is 21 years old and stands at 5’4 ½.

The dusky Mass Communication graduate from Southwestern University was also awarded Miss Glamour Girl by Cathay Pacific and Best in Evening Gown in her metallic, mermaid-cut number by Cary Santiago, who was also adjudged Best Designer.

"I am overwhelmed. Everything hasn’t sunk in yet. I’m very thankful for the whole experience, and I cannot wait to carry out my advocacy because that is what I’m here for. I’m ready to take on my responsibilities that come along with being Miss Cebu," remarked Infante to THE FREEMAN.

The advocacy she is eager to begin work on is to "support local talent and skills."

She explained, "We should patronize our local products and services. Just by being consumers of our own, we play a big role in boosting our economy. I like to envision a Cebu City wherein no one has to go abroad for work; instead, I hope to see us become a city not of job seekers but of job providers."

Infante won a total of P80,000, trip tickets to Hong Kong and Las Vegas, overnight hotel stays, an Islands Banca cruise, scholarship from Benedicto College and an additional trip to either the United States, Europe or Africa.

In the final hurdle, which was the question-and-answer, the five judges formulated this query for the top five: "The slogan is 'What’s new in old Cebu?' While globally, eco-travel is a new concept, as Miss Cebu, how would you start or strengthen eco-tourism in Cebu?"

With her training in impromptu speaking as a DJ, Infante was calm, slow but steady while delivering her make-or-break answer. "I am proud to say that I have already started just by joining Miss Cebu. To all the activities that were lined up for us, I was able to experience so much wonder about Cebu. There’s more to Cebu, just like an adventure. We were able to learn that there’s a lot to see environmentally, so we have to start there and do what we can to keep that environmentalism alive, just by taking care of what we have here in Cebu and try to enjoy and share it to everybody else, not only in this generation, but for the future generation."

Her first runner-up was Rachel Chloe Palang, 24, a Mass Communications graduate of the University of the Philippines and a corporate account executive.

The second runner-up sash went to 21-year-old Ella Beverly P. Sarmago, a marketing communications officer. Touted as this batch's dark horse, she was also voted Miss Friendship by fellow candidates and named Kapamilya Star of The Night.

Nursing students Jonnie Rose Wee and Herlie Kim Artugue ended up third runner-up and fourth runner-up, respectively.

Candidate #1 Michelle Angelique A. Tan was chosen Miss Photogenic. (FREEMAN)