JULY 17, 1994.
It was a date with destiny for one perky
16 year old BS Med Tech freshman who had to skip
many of her classes in Cebu just to go home to Bohol for the rehearsals,
location pictorials, video shoots & numerous appearances related with the
glamorous highlight of the Bohol Sandugo Festival that celebrates the
blood compact between Datu Sikatuna and Miguel Lopez de Legazpi.
Whatever the outcome of the pageant, she can finally heave a sigh of relief
knowing that it would all be over and she would be able to return to her
seemingly normal schedule of school- dorm- school routine
As
it neared 9
pm, she was getting edgy and tense for after all, three years back her elder
sister Joanna Cheryl nearly won the crown when she placed 2nd RU to
the eventual queen from Jagna. Would she be able to duplicate Ate Chewee's feat
or surpass it? The worst that could happen was not making the cut for the final
five!
The tension and excitement at the
dressing room kept growing as hoots and whistles from the sizable crowd from
all parts of Bohol soon rose to a crescendo as almost everyone clamored for the
show to start .
Pageant fans and supporters had gathered that night at the DWCT
Gym for the biggest beauty spectacle of Bohol.
Yes, then and until now, the Miss Bohol Sandugo Pageant has
always been regarded as the most prestigious beauty competition in the province
with the title opening doors of opportunities and instant fame for the winner
and a reason for celebration to the city or town whose representative has won
the crown.
ROTARACT CLUB
The Rotaract Club of Tagbilaran City in
cooperation with the Bohol Sandugo Foundation, Inc. was tasked to organize and
mount the 1994 edition of the pageant . Rotaractor Mary Ann Udtohan showed
the girls how to sashay and dance a storm onstage. Yes, Mary Ann, she with the
terpsichorean talent, was the choreographer with Jonathan Pascual and Teddy
Ramasola helping out with the concept and execution of the pageant
flow
THE
CANDIDATES
Ten ladies had been pre- selected as
official candidates and they were; ANTEQUERA Maia Antoniette Nunag, DAUIS
Floribeth Lariosa, DUERO Maria Aizza Evalarosa, GARCIA- HERNANDEZ Albie
Tinampay, JAGNA Genevieve Jamisola, SEVILLA Sheila Erano, SIKATUNA Ginalyn
Araysa, TAGBILARAN CITY Vanessa Joyce Matuod Evardone, TALIBON Judith
Evangelista and UBAY May Ann Boyles
In
keeping with the that year’s theme “Festival in the Tropics”, Miss Bohol
Sandugo opened with a dazzling and brilliant display of colors as the girls
came out in festival costumes.
Amidst
the upbeat rhythm of neo ethnic music, frenetic choreography and the cheers
from the girls’ supporters, the girls introduced themselves
PANEL OF JUDGES
Judges included Dept. of Tourism Region
7 Director Dawnie Roa, SunStar Weekend’s Lee Loque,
Unilever Philippines’ Vincent Baltazar, Boholana balikbayan Nancy
Gibson & Sam Costanilla of Cebu City's
Freeman Newspaper.
COMPUTERIZED SCORING
The scoring was high- tech with each
judge provided a computer and assistant to help them as they enter their scores
into the main terminal
The girls then competed in Casual Wear,
Swimsuits, Evening Gowns and underwent an Interview Round before the finalists
were called on centerstage for the penultimate round
SWIMSUITS
SPECIAL
AWARDS & CORPORATE TITLES:
L-
R: GARCIA- HERNANDEZ Albie Tinampay, SEVILLA Sheila Erano,
TALIBON Judith Evangelista, DAUIS Floribeth Lariosa
Miss Ubay was picked as Miss Photogenic
& Miss Cream Silk, Miss Sevilla was voted by fellow candidates as Miss
Friendship and Miss Dauis was Miss Talent & Miss Kodak Smile. Best in
Festival Costume was Miss Talibon
 |
| SIKATUNA Ginalyn Araysa,
DUERO Aizza Evalarosa, ANTEQUERA Maia Nunag |
Miss Jagna was Best in Swimsuit, Best in
Casual Wear and Miss Lux while Miss Tagbilaran City was Best in Evening Gown
& Miss Carnation Non- Fat. Miss Duero was named Miss Snow Time
FINAL FIVE
The girls were then reduced to the final
five that included Miss Dauis, Miss Jagna, Miss Sikatuna, Miss Tagbilaran City
& Miss Ubay
WINNERS
After another round of interviews, the
announcement of winners came.
Declared Miss Bohol Sandugo 1994 was
Miss Tagbilaran City, 16 year old Vanessa Joyce Matuod Evardone, 1st RU was
Miss Jagna Genevieve Jamisola, the Magna Cum Laude graduate from DWCT who would
later on be a very successful businesswoman in Bohol. 2nd RU was
Miss Ubay May Ann Boyles Ubay
VANESSA JOYCE BAMBI M. EVARDONE
Vanessa truly epitomized Beauty, Brains
& Breeding
 |
with
parents Mr. Frank & Mrs. Hospicia Evardone & elder
sister Joanna
Cheryl
who was Miss Tagbilaran 1991 and Miss Bohol
Sandugo 2nd RU in 1991 |
Barely a month prior to winning the 1994
Miss Tagbilaran crown & the right to represent the city in the 1994
Miss Bohol Sandugo Pageant, the young lady had already earned an
achievement.
CLASS VALEDICTORIAN.
She graduated on top of her class in
BNHS as well as being a recipient of the Insular Life Gold Eagle Award and the
Philippine Senate Gold Medal Award for Academic Excellence as well as a slew of
certificates & medals for co- curricular & extra- curricular
achievements
SAYING NO TO MUTYA NG
PILIPINAS
During her reign as Ms. Bohol Sandugo,
she was supposed to represent the province in Mutya ng Pilipinas- Central
Visayas search, the official regional preliminary for the annual Mutya
ng Pilipinas pageant, then the rival of Bb. Pilipinas as the most
prestigious national beauty search in the Philippines.
She humbly declined the request of the Bohol
Sandugo Foundation, Inc. because she had to prioritize her schooling
and didn't want to lose her SWU academic scholarship.
PAGEANT
CONTROVERSY
In
a province that takes its beauty pageants seriously and passionately, bitter
rivalry & irrational behavior sometimes take over prudence and common
sense especially when the municipalities and the city send competitive
candidates to the annual search for Bohol's fairest. 1994 was no
exception.
The hottest controversy involved Vanessa Joyce herself. A lot of the
municipalities had questioned her participation because at the time of the
pageant, she was just 16 years old and the age qualification was 17 to 23 years
old.
Some of the municipalities threatened to withdraw but the Executive Committee
settled it by allowing her to join for two reasons; First, she was crowned Miss
Tagbilaran City that year and so was the legitimate candidate of the
city. Secondly, she was to turn 17 that year so there.
My take on this? If I had to lose in a beauty pageant, I had to lose to the
most deserving candidates.
The issue on age requirements would resurface again years later when the
participation of Miss Calape Mellanie Wallace in the 2000
edition of the pageant was also questioned because of her age. She was only 16
years old at the time of the pageant
AFTER MISS BOHOL SANDUGO 1994
One of the judges was Sam Costanilla of
Cebu City's Freeman Newspaper. He then featured Bambi on the cover of it's
sister publication, the Freeman Magazine.
She was studying in Southwestern
University that time under the College of Medical Technology. The dean of the
college saw her picture on the magazine cover, so what he did, he appointed
Bambi as the official Ms. Medical Technology, bypassing a formal Ms. Medical
Technology pageant.
So after being handpicked as Ms. Medical
Technology 1995, she joined the Ms. Southwestern University in December of 1995
(however, her official title is Ms. SWU 1996).
Bambi also holds the distinction of being the Golden Jubilee Queen of
Southwestern University as 1996 was SWU's Golden Anniversary after
being founded as a university.
After her student days were over, Bambi would reap more honors and achieve more
of her personal and professional goals. This would be the subject for Part Two
on this amazing Boholana achiever
