Binibini beauty passes the Bar

Atty. Zorayda "Zora" Ruth Andam.

Sounds good, doesn’t it?

The good news is that Zora, who was 2001 Bb. Pilipinas-Universe (who competed in the Miss Universe pageant in Puerto Rico and in that year’s Miss Tourism World pageant where she was one of the 15 semi-finalists and named Miss Tourism World-Asia), was among the more than 1,000 (out of more than 5,000) who passed the recent Bar exams. She graduated from UP which also produced the topnotcher (a woman).

The eldest among five children (all girls) raised in Baguio where her father, a geologist, worked in a mining company, Zora has always wanted to be a lawyer as she confessed during an exclusive interview right after she won as Binibini. She just finished B.S. Economics also at UP at that time, taking a year off before enrolling at the UP College of Law. She was an activist during her high school days at UP Baguio.

"During the phase-out of the UP Baguio High School," Zora said then, "I was at the forefront of the rally in front of the Supreme Court as representative of the freshmen. You see, the Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision stopping the phase-out, so we held a rally as a peaceful way of expressing our grievances."

That should give us an idea what kind of a lawyer the 28-year-old brand-new Atty. Zora will be. She’s also very religious. At age 6, she said she decided to commit her life exclusively to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Funfare’s "other beauty expert" Celso de Guzman Caparas has the following additional information about Atty. Zora:

• She finished B.S. Economics at UP with a grade of 1.58.

• She co-authored (with Dr. Emmanuel Lallana) a book, E-Primer, An Introduction to E-Commerce, which was used extensively by Congress and facilitated the passage of the E-Commerce Bill into law.

• She was a research associate of then Economic Planning Secretary Felipe Medalla.

• She used to be a member of the UP Singing Ambassadors.

• She was discovered by director Jeffrey Jeturian who also discovered Michelle Reyes, 2001 Miss Tourism International and 2002 Miss Tourism World.

There you are. A perfect example of beauty and brains.

Miss Asia-Pacific Goes International

Meanwhile, here’s a report by Funfare’s "beauty experts" Felix Manuel, Gery Yumping, Joey Cezeare and Francis Calubaquib on the 2005 Miss Asia-Pacific International which had its grand finals last Saturday in Guangzhou, China:

What originally started as a regional pageant in 1968, the Miss Asia Quest (which later became Miss Asia Pacific in 1984), is now a global event. Renamed Miss Asia-Pacific International, the pageant has attracted around 50 nations from all over the world.

The original purpose of the pageant was to promote peace, goodwill, trade and tourism among the participating member countries. It also served as benefactor of civic and charitable organizations, and launched laudable projects in select depressed areas. These objectives were fulfilled with the staging of National and International beauty pageants. Miss Asia-Pacific International pageant is considered the oldest international beauty pageant in Southeast Asia.

During the preliminaries, the girls toured China. The Philippines was represented by 2004 Mutya ng Pilipinas Jedah Hernandez. The Philippines has won the pageant four times: Maria del Carmen Ines "Carines" del Alcazar Zaragoza in 1983, Gloria "Bong" Aranas Dimayacyac in 1983, Lorna Villarubia Legazpi in 1989 and Michelle Zulueta Aldana in 1993.

Early in the contest, besides Jedah, five other girls were touted to win the pageant, namely: 18-year-old Marilyn Ferreira of Venezuela; controversial Afghan beauty Vida Zamadzai who was awarded Beauty for a Cause during the 2003 Miss Earth pageant held here in Manila; Claudia Ortiz de Zevallos of Peru, an ultimate pageant veteran who has participated in almost all the major pageants in the world; Suthida Deesri of Thailand, an 18-year-old charmer; and, of course, Miss China Zhang Li Ru.

Other favorites included the delegates from Costa Rica, Chinese Taipei, Scotland, Argentina, Australia, India and the Slovak Republic.

There were two nights of talent showcase and some of the girls won special awards.The whole talent night was very exciting and the audience applause were extremely loud. Miss New Caledonia quickly earned herself the Audience Popularity award with her talent. Miss India won the Best Dancing award, Miss Vietnam named Best in Singing, Miss Nepal won the Best Costume award and the last award given that night went to Miss Albania, the Best Humor award.

Last March 30, Miss Asia-Pacific International had the second set of contestants performed during the Talent Night, starting with Miss Tahiti who did her country’s national dance. Miss China showed a picture she drew using calligraphy. Miss Paraguay danced and Miss Ivory Coast did some acting. Miss Lebanon and Miss Afghanistan also danced.

At the end of the night, five more awards were given: Miss Afghanistan won the Audience Popularity award, Miss Russia won for Best Dancing and Miss El Salvador for Best Singing. Miss Lebanon won the Best Costume award and Miss Iran for Best Answer.

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