Chinatown pageant new source of showbiz stars

Like the other pageants, Mr. & Miss Chinatown is becoming a source of showbiz stars, being prominent are Nicole Cordoves, 2016 Bb. Pilipinas Grand Interna-tional/2016 Miss Grand International first runner-up who ventured into TV hosting; and David Licauco (who stars in the movie Because I Love You with Shaira Diaz) who comes from a prominent business family in Tabaco City, Albay.

A resident judge in It’s Showtime’s Miss Q&A and co-host of the recent Bb. Pilipinas pageant, Nicole is also a Silver Linings Academy (SLA) instructor and Youtuber sharing about all things pageant and public speaking. Away from the camera, she also works as a digital strategist and content creator for Wedding Essentials magazine where she is online editor.

As Miss Chinatown 2014, she was able to extend help to different advocacies like joining medical and dental missions. Nicole reflected that living in Tondo, Manila, all your life would make your world feel very small, which doesn’t give you enough space to dream. From there, she was inspired to act on her personal advocacy to take kids from her charity in Tondo on field trips so that they would be able to see how big the world is and how there’s definitely space for them in the world.

A 2014 Mr. Chinatown first runner-up and a GMA contract artist, David finished high school at Grace Christian College and college at La Salle College of St. Benilde. Before he became an actor, David worked as a part-time model who started on campus for school event posters. Eventually, he had his first modeling job via Mr. and Ms Chinatown on ABS-CBN which led to opportunities in modeling and acting. In the succeeding months, he appeared in several fashion shows including Cosmopolitan, Coca-Cola and Bench; and did shoots for fashion magazines like Candy, Chalk and Garage.

The other prominent winner is Louie Ngo, Mr. Chinatown 2016, an accomplished young professional in finance (his co-candidates dubbed him “Chinito Banker,” a moniker he still carries to this day) but felt that his life was lacking a sense of accomplishment and thrill. With his experience in the banking industry, Louie was able to promote his Financial Literacy Campaign during and after his reign. Through the generous support of partners Chinoy TV and the BPI Foundation, he was able to conduct his first project: “Financial Literacy Month” with the theme “Building Better Financial Habits for a Brighter Future.” In the course of his campaign, he went to different Chinese schools and visited senior high school students and did various financial literacy talks spearheaded by himself, as well as professional personal finance speakers.

Today, he has followed the new avenues that his reign has accorded him. With his reintroduction to the Chinese language as an adult, he found that he had an affinity for Mandarin. Shifting away from finance and banking, Louie serves as a host in events as well as on television. He’s since pursued a prestigious post-graduate degree in Broadcasting in China. He regularly hosts China-ASEAN related activities in China.

The Miss Chinatown Foundation, Inc. was founded back in November 2012 by chairman Wilson Agbayani and executive director Alexis Go with the goal of celebrating and promoting Chinoy culture in the community. Its maiden project was the revival of the Miss Chinatown Manila beauty pageant which had previously been ongoing since the 1970s but was put on hold in 2006 due to internal conflict among the organizers.

In 2012, the Miss Chinatown Foundation, Inc. (MCFI) revived the pageant and partnered with ABS-CBN to air the first-ever Mr. & Ms. Chinatown Philippines (MMCP) pageant. It has always been a pageant of its own kind in the country. Miss Chinatown’s co-producer ABS-CBN founded its counterpart, the Mr. Chinatown Philippines, on May 21, 2013.

Beyond the fact that it combines both male and female candidates, MMCP wielded the power of harnessing our country’s Chinoy youth to its full potential. More than just a beauty pageant, MMCP chooses unique candidates from diverse backgrounds to be ambassadors of the Chinoy community. It is about sharing the culture and the cultivation of both traditional and modern Chinese values amidst changing times. The pageant has always been aware of the responsibility and privilege to bring two distinct identities together.

Meanwhile, Chinoy TV is the only Philippine-based multiplatform content provider that features the Chinese heritage and how it harmonizes with the Filipino culture. It believes that the Chinese aspect, in particular, should be elaborated more than overlooked. Thus, it continues to commit itself in fulfilling its mission, specifically in promoting and preserving the Chinese culture through various platforms (TV, print, online) and events, providing inspiration by regularly upholding the work and lives of remarkable people in the Chinese-Filipino community, giving the Chinoy youth different avenues to maximize their talents in various fields of media, entertainment and performing arts, and bridging the Chinese and Filipino community.

To do these, it has invited young, dynamic Chinoys like Janeena Chan, Chris Tiu and Gretchen Ho, who are all figures of inspiration to the community, to help the program explore lifestyle and other relevant stories of Chinoy entrepreneurs and their businesses, as well as on health and wellness and recent events. Chinoy TV airs on ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC) every Saturday, 8 to 8:30 p.m. with replays every Sunday 10 to 10:30 a.m.

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