AFTER weeks of repeated failure to muster a quorum because of controversial bills that may get them in trouble with their constituents or contributors, enough congressmen again showed up at the House floor on Tuesday to see Miss Universe Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach.
The 26-year-old beauty queen went to the House of Representatives in Batasan Hills, Quezon City to receive the Congressional Medal of Distinction, the highest non-political award the House can give, for winning the Miss Universe pageant last December.
One hundred seventy-three congressmen milled at the session floor to get a chance to shake hands with the beauty queen, who had just come from courtesy call on President Benigno Aquino III at Malacañang and a visit to the Quezon City Hall.
In the process, the chamber was able to pass a number of measures on third and final reading and even managed to continue deliberations on the controversial Bangsamoro Basic Law which they failed to discuss on Monday when they first mustered a sought-after quorum.
For her efforts, the House committee on ways and means also approved on Tuesday a bill to exempt Wurtzbach from payment of taxes on her winnings from the Miss Universe pageant.
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the House did so even after Wurtzbach said she was willing to pay the taxes due on her $300,000 bejeweled crown and other winnings.
“I commend Pia because she has said she’s willing to pay the taxes. She sets a good example to the Filipino people,” Belmonte said.
Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez also saluted Wurtzbach for saying she was willing to pay the taxes despite a tax exemption she clearly deserved.
“For giving pride and honor to the country, Ms. Wurtzbach deserves the tax exemption privilege,” Romualdez in reaction to the approval of HB 6367.”¨”¨“I take my hat off to Pia for her willingness to pay the taxes. Her statement is very admirable,” Romualdez added.
Wurtzbach went to Batasan Hills after meeting with Aquino at Malacañang behind closed doors with her mother Cheryl Alonzo Tyndall, Binbining Pilipinas Charities chairperson Stella Marquez-Araneta and Miss Universe president Paula Shugart.
After the meeting, Wurtzbach held a press conference where she told the media that the President congratulated her for winning the Miss Universe Pageant which was last won by Margie Moran in 1973.
”He congratulated me and we talked about Miss Universe for a little bit also with what he has been—what he has been busy with lately and how he has been doing, how I have been doing. I also congratulated him for a successful term,” Wurtzbach told journalists.
Wurtzbach also pushed her advocacy to educate the youth about Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
“I think a lot of people think or most of the youth think that you can only acquire this disease if you are in sexual contact but you can also get this from drug use, from sharing needles, things like these,” she said.
Wurtzbach said she is happy that the Philippines is now being recognized in the international scene with beauty pageants. “It’s very good that we are finally getting the recognition that I think we deserve.”