Margie still reigns

One of Ballet Philippines president and former Miss Universe Margie Moran Floirendo’s prized possessions on her bookshelf is actually not a book but a scrapbook. 

She shows me her study, one wall covered by a bookshelf that reminds me of Antoni Gaudi’s architecture, and below memoirs, history and coffeetable books sits this huge scrapbook. It contains newspaper clippings and magazine articles from 1973, the year she was crowned Miss Universe at the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. Apparently a fan followed her career so closely for that entire year and Margie says he has a more complete collection than she has.

Curiously, the scrapbook was given to her only this year — 38 years after her Bb. Pilipinas and Miss Universe reign.

She was 19 years old then, cute as a button, and enjoying her first travel abroad alone to compete at the Parthenon, a venue that has never been equaled in the history of Miss Universe.

Sense of style in the condo building designed by IM Pei: The furniture pieces, some of them upholstered with Chinese characters, are by Ed Yrasabal; the paintings behind the sofa are by (from left) Romeo Tabuena, Franco Ramponi, National Artist BenCab and Araceli Dans.

“That I won in the year they held it at the Parthenon was a beautiful experience — and also a very interesting one,” Margie says. “The Greek Orthodox Church was so strict, they were against the pageant. We couldn’t parade in swimsuits at the Parthenon, so we wore Hellenic dresses. The swimsuit competition was held on a ship and they wouldn’t allow us to dock on one island because we were wearing swimsuits! So they taped that segment and showed it on TV — all around the world — except in Greece!”

Margie was a media favorite in Greece, constantly being followed by the local and international meda, and she won the Miss Photogenic contest. “The attention gave me a lot of confidence for the pageant.”

The study in her condominium unit at Bonifacio Global City is a repository of the magazine covers from that year and the years that followed as a beauty icon.

Margie moved into this home 10 years ago and just finished renovating it last week with the help of architect and interior designer Jim Tan. New colors for the walls, a new kitchen, and a new arrangement for the furniture.

She says she likes it here, the first building in the Philippines designed by IM Pei, in the quiet part of Bonifacio Global City. The look of her house is contemporary but the accessories are antiques — little pieces that tell you right away that this is a traveler’s home — and the artworks are impressive. 

Margie Floirendo in her foyer wearing a Rajo Laurel piece: “I’m very simple. I prefer the tailored look. I guess also because my features are chiseled, so it kind of fits my personality.”

“I feel that art is a better collection than jewelry. And if you’re lucky, you will pick works that in the future will sell well in the international market. I don’t have that much compared with other people. I just want enough to fit my wall. I don’t want to put them in a bodega, but to see them every day.”

Right next to the foyer is a beautiful portrait of Margie by Dante Silverio. His daughter Kitkat Zobel texted Margie and showed her a picture that his dad had painted of her. “Dante apparently painted it from a photo taken by Rupert Jacinto and added a piano and a frame in the background. Dante did it during the centennial and gave it to me for a good price.”

The living and dining rooms flow into one another, all sides covered with art. Margie has paintings by Cesar Legaspi, Amorsolo, BenCab, Federico Alcuaz, Malang, Araceli Dans, Betsy Westendorp, Popo San Pasual, Franco Ramponi, Dominic Rubio, Romeo Tabuena, and a small one that she picked up in Vietnam.

“Alcuaz was one of my first purchases. I got it from him when he was still with the Hilton. I commissioned him to do a portrait of my father, who had just died. I gave him a picture of my father and then I saw this in his studio.”

Where did she get her love of paintings? “My grandfather had paintings and he had a Dela Rosa, which my father sold as part of the estate when my grandparents died. When we go abroad or even here in the Philippines, we would go to the galleries. As a young girl, I collected foreign prints found in the Philippines. Growing up, my daughters were also exposed to art so when we travel, a museum or gallery is a must.”

Functional sculptures: The dining room is lit by a glass-and-steel chandelier by Ramon Orlina while the table is by Benjie Reyes. Paintings on the wall are by (from left) Betsy Westendorp Brias, Popo San Pascual, Malang and National Artist Fernando Amorsolo. On the console are pairs of Baccarat candelabras and Hungarian soup tureens.

Margie also has a fine collection of Asian accessories. She has sculptures of a Tang Dynasty horse and another one from the Hang Dynasty, a torso sculpture made of wood by Jerry Araos, and Tibetan chests.

So what catches her eye? “It changes. I’m not buying antiques anymore because the house is already filled up. I am now buying things that are more folk art and have something to do with the cultures of people. Sometimes I just keep them in the closet, like fabrics that are not so bulky or small paintings that I buy in the parks. I bought a table runner in Chinchero, Peru, in the mountains, 13,000 feet above sea level. The whole village is weaving. It’s a beautiful Spanish village and untouched by modernization.”

Some of the folk pieces she has on a shelf are small Mexican heads made of amethyst and rose quartz representing the Aztec and Mayan civilizations. Sitting beside this is an ivory sarimanok she bought in a Marawi market.

“Whenever I travel, either domestic or international, I always look for folk art. In my house in Davao, I collect crucifixes. In some churches in Sevilla and Peru where the sacristies have been turned into museums, I saw santos and statuary made in the Philippines by 17th and 18th-century Chinese artisans. The santos look singkit.”

Through the years, Margie has remained a beauty icon and has also become involved in many social causes. She heads the Mindanao Commission on Women and sits on the board of Habitat for Humanity Philippines, which builds homes for the poor. 

Spanish specialties: Margie whips up paella, callos and favada in this newly renovated kitchen when she entertains. “The dishes are such a major production, I entertain only twice a year!”

Today, she is in her third year as Ballet Philippines president. A BP insider says that the company is happy to have her not just for her fundraising skills but also her management style. In March 2010, she led BP in an auction of 198 Barbie dolls dressed up by 40 Filipino designers such as Pitoy Moreno (his doll fetched more than P100,000) and the auction netted P1.5 million. “Even the dolls that were not sold at the auction were sold days after. It was so fun working with the designers who told me that when they were kids, their first ‘client’ was Barbie and a lot of them would steal their sisters’ Barbies and hide from their parents the fact that they liked making dresses.”

In November last year, BP also held a fundraising auction, this time of paintings by artists such as BenCab and Malang. “Many of them we shared the auction price or it was donated to BP.”

Margie says, “The challenge really is being creative in coming out with something new. We make sure our dancers and employees are happy, they have incentives and are paid well. We invite ballet masters to train our dancers because we want them to reach world-class level. We’ve been successful in that and have been reaping awards. Candice Adea won the silver medal in the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississipi, the first time a Filipina has ever reached that rank. She and her partner also won in Boston and they’re going to be dancing with the Bolshoi dancers in Moscow and Paris.”

Last year, Margie took her daughters Monica and Gabby to Russia, where they watched the Bolshoi in Moscow and the Marinski in St. Petersburg.

Wearing an Ito Curata, Margie stands by the doors that divide the open-space living and dining room from the bedrooms.

“Now we’re preparing for the opening of Ballet Philippines’ season, which is Aug. 12. We’re doing a rock ballet called Enkantada, choreographed by Agnes Locsin and featuring the music of Joey Ayala who is singing with Bayang Barrios. Our second production is Inamorata, which is a celebration of the centennial of women’s rights.”

One role Margie Florendo cannot escape from is that of a former Miss Universe. She always gets invited to be a judge in the provinces where they take beauty contests seriously — and rather emotionally.

“I would rather crown na lang the winners and not be a judge,” she says. “One time in the province, as part of their fiesta, they held a beauty pageant and when they declared the winner, the designers of the ones who didn’t win started kicking the sets.”

At another pageant that she chaired, she discovered that the winner the host announced was not who the judges voted for. “I asked the other judges, ‘Is she your winner?’ And none of them said yes, although she was a runner-up. So I had it investigated and true enough, niluto! Kawawa naman the girl, but they didn’t strip her of the title. The following year, they didn’t hold a pageant and the real winner served for that year.”

She is enthusiastic though about this year’s Bb. Pilipinas. “The contestants are in their early 20s and they have that level of maturity required of them to win. I would say this year’s Binibining Pilipinas is the best.”

Coming from a former Miss Universe, that’s a “major, major” positive sign.