Topics of Interest

Monday, November 30, 2015

Seen During Beauche's Big Night at the SMX

There I was at the SMX in Pasay City to cover the 6th annual Beauche National Sales Assembly Beauche International that recognized the company’s top sales achievers not only in the country but also in the Middle East and even in faraway Canada.

 Opening Salvo for Miss Beauche International 2015
The mood inside the huge venue was upbeat partly because of another record- breaking year for Beauche that has entrenched itself now as the country’s number one Direct Selling Company.  

  top awardees Remy & Glenn Vitug

The exciting sales assembly was spiced up by the 2015 Miss Beauche International Pageant that drew 22 lovely & lissome ladies from all over the country. 

 Gorgeous Garcia- Hernandez
Mayor Tita Gallentes
 Youthful - looking Buenavista
Mayor Ronald Lowell G.Tirol
 with stunning Vanessa Cubrado
 The elegant Pilar Mayor
Necitas Cubrado


 with Guindulman Councilor
Marivic Anana Golosino
 with Distributor of the Year Anton Broas
 Miss Universe 1999 1st RU Miriam Quiambao
L-R: Sir Kiko Delos Reyes, Maam Che Delos Reyes, ex Loboc Mayor Leon Calipusan
G- Hernandez Mayor Tita Gallentes, Loay Mayor Rosemarie Imboy & PB Member Boy Imboy
  with top designer Leo Almodal

  with Glenn Vitug
 With the stunning Vanessa Cubrado &
Carmen Mayor Ricardo Toribio
 L-R: Buenavista Mayor Ronald Lowell G. Tirol, Batuan Mayor Francisco Pepito
& Guindulman Mayor Ma. Fe A. Piezas



Aside from members of the press, pageant bloggers & lifestyle writers, also seen during the glittering affair were political figures from Bohol who hobnobbed with Manila- based businessmen, TV & movie personalities and with Beauche sales dealers & distributors and also to give their moral support to the visionary Beauche founder & CEO Madame Che Toribio de los Reyes, the influential Boholana newsmaker, dynamic political figure & respected community figure.
 Beauche Founder & CEO Che Toribio Delos Reyes addresses the audience 
Ma’am Che is living proof that one’s Cinderella story and humble beginnings should never be stumbling blocks to attaining one’s goals in life. At one point, during her keynote speech, she encouraged everyone to pay it forward by becoming instruments in making others’  lives better.

Now isn't that a class act? Beauty indeed not only on the outside but inside as well

Cheers Ma'am Che & the rest of the management, the staff, the dealers and to the Filipino consumers who have trusted & patronized the products.

Here's to the 10th year anniversary next year!

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Weng Yap Butalid: Forever Fabulous

Remember  Louella "Weng" Yap Butalid, the Boholana supermodel who ruled the runways during the late 80’s? 

Spotted at The Odyssey, Granada Hills, California a few winks back for Thanksgiving luncheon, she still commands attention and definitely a certified headturner.

Almost three decades later, she is still a smoldering babe. 

The best is yet to come. 

Pardon my unabashed adulation but that's what quondam classmates and forever friends do


Flashback: Miss DWCT 1990 Personality Search

Here’s something I dug up from my pageant archives and memory bank. The roll of publicity stills for the 1990 Miss DWCT Personality Search. 

The then annual quest for the campus queen was to be the highlight of DWCT College Days celebration. 

There were seven girls representing the colleges and the high school department and I was to be the emcee for the pageant. 

The girls who won in their respective colleges’ preliminary searches were already outfitted with their uniform red evening gowns for the pageant was scheduled on Valentine’s Day.

Everyone was so excited as the line- up was topnotch but tragedy struck. Just two days before the pageant, a devastating earthquake struck Bohol and thus forced the school to cancel the campus celebrations.






It had to take one whole year before the girls could compete onstage. Miss CAS & Miss Teacher’s College were replaced by their successors since they already graduated. Miss Nursing who hailed from the beauty capital of Jagna begged off for health reasons and so was replaced by another Jagnaon beauty who eventually won the Miss Bohol crown in 1991.

Can you imagine that all these happened a quarter of a century ago?

So who was crowned Miss DWCT 1991? Well, I suppose it would be in a future blog story.

Plans of Visiting Bohol? Welcome to Its Best- Kept Secret

Before we bid adieu to November, let me give you a peek into one of my favorite hideaways here in Bohol. 
 my favorite nook
Ensconced at Naatang, Jagna in the eastern coast of Bohol, Bohol Beach House is a hodgepodge of Asian architectural influences that retains the welcoming ambiance of a Boholano home. It boasts of four bedrooms (or are there five?) that seamlessly connects with the lovely and airy veranda that faces the Mindanao Sea.





My Singapore- based cosmopolitan & divine Boholana friend Celevel Ranoco- Butler reigns supreme in this delightful abode that is perfect if you want to make the great escape from the city. 

 tres charmant Celevel 

It took me less than an hour to lie down and to be lulled to sleep by the sea breeze and the sound of the waves that were lapping at the shore.





 that's top designer EJ Relampagos

Lazada Philippines

When asked what I would consider the most difficult part of my stay?  When it’s time to leave. You just can't extricate yourself from the warm embrace of paradise

the perfect track for Bohol Beach House

For those who want to experience a stay in heaven, just click  HERE



Saturday, November 28, 2015

So Who Organized the Search for RP's Bet to Miss World During the Last Fifty Years?

GOLDEN GIRL THIS YEAR

Hillarie Danielle Ang Parungao holds the distinction of being the country’s Golden Girl for Miss World.

The beauty queen from Solano, Nueva Vizcaya is the 50th Pinay to wear the Miss Philippines sash in the Miss World Pageant.

This includes the two years when our bets were pulled out from the pageant

(The Philippines competed in 1976 & 1977 but the delegates were asked by the Philippine government to withdraw before coronation night as a sign of protest against South Africa’s apartheid policy)


THE NATIONAL FRANCHISE HOLDERS: (Through the Years)

During the Philippines' 50 golden years of Miss World participation, the selection of the country's representatives were handled by seven different organizing bodies also known in the pageant world as the franchise holders.
1966   Vivien Lee Austria (real name: Emraida Kelly Kiram, a real- life princess) was chosen as the first- ever Philippine delegate to Miss World through the Miss Inter- Collegiate Girl Search organized by the College Editors Guild of the Philippines in partnership with Beauty World,Inc. by Eddie Marfori. I suppose she won for her regal beauty, innate elegance and I suppose, for her writing skills.

 Vivien Lee Austria
1967  Maita Favis Gomez was chosen as the Philippines' representative to the Miss World Beauty contest during the selection of the 1967 Top Ten Fashion Models of the Philippines, a glittering fund- raising project of the Scholarship Foundation of the Filipino Youth.
 Maita Favis Gomez is RP's bet in 1967

1968 Beauty World, Ltd. for Miss Philippines became a new Miss World franchise holder. Even though the franchise that also  selected the country's bets to the Int'l Teen Princess Pageant in Chicago, Illinois, USA & the Queen of the Pacific Quest in Australia lasted for only a year, it was able to discover Cecilia "Pinky" Amabuyok whose 4th Runner Up finish made her the first Filipina to place in Miss World.
 Cecilia Amabuyok
 1969 the first Miss Republic of the Philippines Pageant debuted when Spotlight Promotions of Ferdie Villar obtained the franchise to select the Philippines’ delegate for the annual Miss World beauty pageant.
 Feliza Teresita Nuesa Miro
The beautiful Feliza Teresita Nuesa Miro who is best remembered for winning over heavy favorite Vida Doria became the first Miss Republic of the Philippines. Miss Republic of the Philippines had its final year in 1976.

NOTE: Vida was crowned two years later as 1971 Bb Pilipinas- Universe and holds the distinction of being the first Miss Philippines to be selected as Miss Photogenic in Miss Universe during the pageant’s 1971 edition.

1977 Mutya ng Pilipinas founded by Leandro “Biboy” Enriquez acquired the franchise to select the country’s candidate for Miss World in 1977 with Anna Melissa “Peachy” Ofilada Veneracion as the first winner.
 Mutya 77 Peachy Veneracion
Lazada Philippines

Days before the crowning of the new Miss World, Peachy was pressured by the Philippine government to withdraw from the competition despite being installed as a heavy favorite for the crown.

Mutya ng Pilipinas Organization held the franchise until 1991.

1992 Bb Pilipinas Charities Inc. was awarded the franchise in 1992 and the first titleholder was the tall Marilen Espino who was the 1988 Ford SuperModel of the World- Philippines winner.

 Marilen Espino
Marilen vowed to do well in the Miss World pageant to acquit a forgettable participation in the international modeling tilt but it was not to be.

In a dramatic and heartbreaking turn of events, Marilen contracted chicken pox on the eve of her departure for Miss World and so it was Marina Benipayo, who was originally crowned as Bb Pilipinas- Maja 1992, who was sent as a last- minute replacement. Marina may not have won the crown but will forever be remembered by pageant fans as the first representative under the Bb Pilipinas Charities Inc. franchise.

During the 2010 Bb Pilipinas Pageant, Czarina Gatbonton became the last of the Binibinis to be crowned as Bb Pilipinas- World titleholder.

2011  Miss World Organization Chairman Julia Morley awarded the Miss World franchise to CQ Global Quest Inc., managed by Cory Quirino, on January 25, 2011. The Miss World Philippines pageant is inspired by the Miss World Ltd.'s slogan "Beauty with a Purpose" and henceforth adopted the theme "Beauty in Giving."

The winner and her court work with charities that benefit children in need and also join movements of supporting women and children's rights and many more advocacy projects.  

So far, the four- year old Miss World Philippines of CQ Global Quest Inc has the most impressive batting average as far as performance in the international finals is concerned.

Aside from producing a Miss World winner, a 1st Runner Up, a Top 15 SemiFinalist and a Top 25 Semifinalist, it has two Asia’s Continental Queen of Beauty special awardees and a Top Model Challenge winner. 

Thanks to Mr Tony Paat, BB Pilipinas, Missosology and others