Why Miss Philippines Didn't Make It in Miss Earth 2013

While I am very ecstatic with the victory of Miss Venezuela as Miss Earth 2013, I also feel bad for Miss Philippines Angelee Claudett delos Reyes of the Philippines who failed to clinch a Top Four finish in the recently- concluded international pageant that promotes environmental awareness as its advocacy

Angelee was the complete package who had beauty, brains, body & breeding but alas, despite a standout performance during the coronation night and even if she gave one of the best and most applauded answers during the Question & Answer portion, she failed to place among the Final Four

Question for Miss Philippines: It’s been a month since Haiyan hit the Philippines, how do you think Mother Earth feels now?

Answer of Miss Philippines: It feels like Mother Earth is really sad. I think typhoon Yolanda happened as a wake up call for us to realize that we must take care of one another and we must take care of one another for the generations to come.

So what went wrong with Claudett’s overall performance and what could have been the factors that led to her exclusion from the list of winners?

Miss Philippines is 3rd Best in Gown

3rd Best in National Costume for Asia

During the Press Presentation

Here are my theories:

1.SENSE OF DELICADEZA. Since the Miss Earth Pageant is a Filipino- owned pageant, the organizers, rightly or wrongly, must have felt that it would be improper to crown a Filipina as Miss Earth or as a member of the Elemental Court.

Placing her as a Top Eight Finalist was the most they could give her

2. SACRIFICIAL LAMB. With the alleged bribery scandal involving the top honcho of Miss Earth still fresh in the minds among pageant fans and the controversial hometown decisions, Carousel Productions must have felt that it had to prove to everyone that everything is fair and square in the pageant that is considered now as the third most prestigious international beauty competition

Claudett therefore had to be sacrificed in spite her outstanding performance. 

She suffered the same fate that befell another Miss Philippines Sandra Seifert who despite being Best in Swimsuit and Best in Gown and who gave the best answer during the final round still ended up as Miss Air or 1^st Runner Up in the 2009 Miss Earth Pageant.

The only logical reason why Sandra lost out to Larissa Ramos of Brazil was the fact that her predecessor, Karla Henry of Cebu City, was the reigning 2008 Miss Earth and the organizers did not want another Filipina to win with a back- to- back at that

3. HOMETOWN DECISIONS. Ever since the Miss Earth Pageant debuted back in 2001, only two Filipinas haven’t placed. This means that with 12 out of 14 placements, the Philippines has the highest batting average among the participating countries with 87% success rate

Year in and year out, the Philippine candidates almost always places in the pageant

PERFORMANCE OF MISS PHILIPPINES IN MISS EARTH 

Here is a table that shows how our Miss Philippines Earth candidates performed  in the Miss Earth Pageant:

Year	Miss Philippines Earth	Placement
2001	Carlene Ang Aguilar	Top 10
2002	April Ross Lim Perez	Top 10
2003	Laura Marie Mercado Dunlap	Top 10
2004	Tamera Marie Lagac Szijarto	Top 8
2005	Genebelle Francisco Raagas	Top 16
2006	Catherine Yu Untalan	2nd RU
2007	Jeanne Angeles Harn	unplaced
2008	Karla Paula Ginteroy Henry	Winner
2009	Sandra Inez Suravilla Seifert	1st RU
2010	Kris Psyche Orozco Resus	unplaced
2011	Athena Mae Duarte Imperial	2nd RU
2012	Stephany Dianne Damondamon Stefanowitz	1st RU
2013	Angelee Claudett delos Reyes	Top 8

So why are we holding it against our candidates if they perform well in Miss Earth? 

Let's compare the performances of the countries that own the other Grand Slam Beauty Pageants:

1. MISS WORLD: The pageant is British- owned and is based in London. Miss United Kingdom has won in 1961, 1064, 1065, 1974 and 1983. 

It ranks second to Venezuela with the most number of crowns won. Incidentally, all the British winners were crowned right in London

2. MISS UNIVERSE: The pageant is American- owned and based in the United States. Miss USA has the most number of Miss Universe winners with a total of eight won in 1954, 1956, 1960, 1967, 1980, 1995, 1997 and 2012. 

All were crowned in the US except for Shawn Weatherly who was crowned in South Korea 1980 and Chelsi Smith who was crowned in Namibia 1995

3. MISS INTERNATIONAL: Ever since the pageant started in 1960, Japan has won only once in the person of Ikumi Yoshimatsu who won last year

SOLUTIONS:

If the Miss Earth Pageant can't stand the heat and wants to avoid any issues and complaints, I suggest that they hold the pageant in different venues outside the country

The first and only time this happened was back in 2010 when the pageant was held in Vietnam. Interestingly, Miss Philippines didn't place that year

Holding the pageant in different venues outside the country would allow our Miss Philippines to compete and win without being questioned for homecourt advantage otherwise it would be unfair for future Philippine candidates

For as long as the Miss Earth Pageant will be held here in the Philippines, deserving candidates like Angelee Claudett delos Reyes would be wasted

Of course, at the end of the day, Miss Earth is still a pageant whose outcome is dependent on the whims and caprices, biases & preferences of a judging panel 

With a very subjective scrutiny and evaluation from a group of judges whose idea or definition of beauty is relative, it is to be expected that not everyone would be pleased with the outcome

Anyway, these are just my own theories

How about you readers? What's your take on this?