Miss Universe Philippines Cebu teases ‘more exciting’ 2nd edition

CEBU, Philippines — When Miss Universe Philippines Cebu 2024 delegates Kris Tiffany Janson, Mary Josephine Paaske, and Juvel Mangubat Ducay were chosen to represent the province –Cebu, Talisay City, and Bantayan Island, respectively – at Miss Universe Philippines 2024 last February, they had little time to prepare for their four-month stint for the national competition in May.

To avoid this same dilemma, the MUPH Cebu organization plans to hold its second edition much earlier so that the next batch of winners will have ample period to get battle-ready for next year.

“We are planning to have the second pageant later this year. We don’t want to do the same as last February where the girls had to rush and go immediately to Miss Universe Philippines,” Irma Payod-Bitzer, Miss Universe Philippines Regional Director for Cebu, told The FREEMAN during their July 18 thanksgiving and homecoming party at La Panetteria Di Luigi in Banilad, Cebu City.

Although nothing is set in stone, the target month for the Cebu leg is either November or December. The organization will discuss further plans once Bitzer returns to Cebu in August after her Europe trip.

Bitzer is delighted that her Cebu delegates did their best at the national competition, especially Janson from Cebu City, who finished as a top ten finalist.

“Everybody saw how they performed and they were always named as potential frontrunners,” she said. “We didn’t have a lot of expectations because there were 50-plus candidates, so landing in the top ten is already a big achievement for the whole of Cebu.”

Fil-American Chelsea Manolo from Bulacan was crowned Miss Universe Philippines 2024 and will represent the country in Mexico in November. Bitzer commented, “Not everybody was expecting Chelsea to win because there were other frontrunners. I trust the judging panel because they saw the potential in her, so let’s watch out to see if she will be a good representative of the Philippines.”

She teased that the second Miss Universe Philippines Cebu will be “more exciting,” which she attributes to the number of online viewers who tuned in to the livestream of their Cebu finals.

“You saw during our first coronation night that we had more than one million viewers,” she noted. “We were surprised because that’s just our first edition and we were able to attract that kind of audience.”

Among the qualities she expects from her next batch of candidates, she emphasized that they have a good attitude.

“It’s a given fact when they are applying, they should already have the beauty, so attitude also matters,” she said, stressing goodwill among fellow candidates and the organizers.

Bitzer is glad that there are regional Miss Universe Philippines pageants for spectators to see the growth of the candidates from the province to the nationals.

“It’s a very good strategy that we are doing this local pageant so you can see the potential of the girls and if they can best represent Cebu, instead of being handpicked because you will only see them when they are in Manila already,” she said.

“For us, Miss Universe Philippines Cebu is basically a rigorous screening. Even [former National Director for the Miss Universe Philippines Organization] Shamcey Supsup-Lee was here to be one of the judges because she wanted to select the best ones who can represent our province.”