The Philippines’ Kathleen Paton bested 40 candidates from around the world and was crowned Miss Eco International 2022 at the finals held at Jolie Ville Resort & SPA Kings Island in Luxor, Egypt on Friday. She is the second Filipina to win the title after Cynthia Thomalla in 2018.
Miss Belgium Chloë Reweghs and Miss USA Jesaura Peralta were named first and second runners up, respectively, while Miss Spain Lucia Morales and Miss Malaysia Prasana Shri finished as third and fourth, respectively.
Paton, a 24-year-old model, and actress of Filipino and Australian descent studied business management at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia. She was born in Boracay and grew up in Aklan, her mother’s hometown, before moving to her father’s country of Australia in 2006.
Miss Eco International is Paton’s second international crown after winning the Miss Teen International 2017 title in Bangkok, Thailand.
The former Miss Manila 2018 also won the Best Eco Video award, in which she said that the Philippines is a typhoon-prone country and vulnerable to the effects of climate.
During the Q&A round, Paton was asked: “Do you think it’s important to stay neutral on controversial social issues or to use your title to promote your own belief and why?”
“I do believe as a leader and as someone who is very influential in society, we sometimes have to use our voice in a very neutral state of mind because we have a very influential position. But in doing so, we also need to use our voice in order to motivate other people to stand up for what is right and I think that takes a lot of good moral compass,” she confidently responded.
Paton’s victory came a day after her fellow Miss World Philippines queen Tracy Maureen Perez’s Top 13 finish at the Miss World 2021 pageant.