Icons make up Miss Teen Phl 2014’s Advisory Council

MANILA, Philippines - Since crowning its last Miss Teen Philippines (MTP) in 2007, the teen beauty pageant is back this year, to resume its annual quest for the country’s most beautiful teen and advocate for education. With its relaunch, the pageant organizers have enlisted six industry icons to form the Miss Teen Philippines Advisory Council, who are commissioned to inspire and mentor this year’s candidates.

Jasmine Curtis-Smith is one of the mentors. “Jasmine personifies the beautiful, confident and passionate young woman that we hope our candidates and, ultimately, this year’s winner to be,” explains MTP 2014’s organizer Kathy Arceo.

The other mentors are Ruffa Gutierrez, Laureen Uy, Robbie Piñera, Jing Monis, Bianca Valerio and Lara Quigaman.

“Besides being icons in their industries, we felt that each of them had something very significant to offer all our young candidates, in almost every aspect of their personas — from beauty and style, personality development, intelligence and most especially, a strong sense of self and confidence to face the world to represent our country,” she says.

Miss Teen Philippines is the nationwide search for a female youth role model who can inspire teens to get ahead in life through education.

With its thrust to promote global readiness through education, the pageant acquired the endorsement and partnership of the Department of Education and the National Youth Commission. 

Through its re-launch this year, Miss Teen Philippines also wants to cement its claim of being the first and original teen beauty pageant of the Philippines. “There have been some organizers who have tried to use the pageant’s name or some semblance of it. We, however, own the pageant’s registered trademark. So it’s safe to say that we alone have the legal right to mount the pageant and use the title of Miss Teen Philippines. We hope that this would be respected by those who might want to mount a pageant using the title, as not to encounter any legal problems,” adds Miss Teen Philippines’ legal director, lawyer Vicente Caoille Jr.   

The pageant is open to all single, young Pinays, 13 to 18 years old and enrolled in any educational institution within the country. They have to be socially aware of issues facing teens today and should not only be beautiful, but also confident, articulate and passionate about making a positive difference in society.

 The final 35 national candidates will be picked from the winners from the regional pre-qualification pageants in seven key cities in the country.

 There will be regional mall-based mini-pageants in designated cities. Schedules for the regional pre-qualification screening pageants are as follows: March 18, Davao; March 15 (today), Cebu; March 16, Iloilo; March 22, Naga; and March 23, Manila. 

Finally, five winners per key city will be chosen to be part of the Miss Teen Philippines national candidates to vie for the title during the grand coronation pageant night on May 31 in Manila.