Miss Philippines Gabrielle Camille Basiano almost brought home the Miss Friendship International 2019 crown during the World Finals of the pageant held at the Xian Tang Zhong Binhu Performance Hall in Shuangliu, Chengdu, China on Saturday.
Miss Serbia Emilia Dobreva edged out 48 candidates from all over the world including Basiano who was named first runner-up in a tie with Miss Brazil Lorena Goncalves Rodrigues. Second runner-up honors went to Miss Poland Paloma Zochowska, Miss Hong Kong Doris Wong, and Miss Malaysia Olivia Teng.
Basiano, a stunning 21-year-old, 5-foot-9 model from Tacloban City and a senior Tourism student at Asian Development Foundation College in Tacloban, won Ambassadress of the World-Philippines 2019 which gave her the trip in China to compete at the pageant. Basiano, who aspires to become a flight stewardess, was a semi-finalist at the 2018 Miss Earth Philippines pageant.
Making the Top 15 cut were the delegates from China, Venezuela, Ukraine, Singapore, Thailand, Margarita Island, Russia, Bolivia and Italy (represented by twins Gaia and Giorgia Sambucci, a first in international pageants). Miss Ukraine Ksenia Tkhorzhevska won Miss Talent and Miss Malaysia won Best in National Costume.
The new Miss Friendship International, headed by Chen Jun (Jelly) and Nahatai Lekbumrung, president and vice-president of Miss Friendship International (MFI) Organization, respectively, was back after years in hiatus.
“We aim to build this platform for our international friends around the world to come and celebrate international friendship together with China,” Lekbumrung said.
“Miss Friendship International is a young beauty pageant with a strong belief that beauty pageants can unite people from different backgrounds and cultures,” said Joe Kampol Thongchai, business director of MFI.
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Mutya Pilipinas adds another major title
The forty candidates competing in this year’s Mutya Pilipinas will have the chance to become the first World Top Model Philippines winner. Apart from the four major titles handed out yearly in Mutya Pilipinas, namely, Mutya Asia-Pacific International, Mutya Tourism International, Mutya Tourism Queen of the Year International and Mutya Overseas Communities, a fifth crown and title of World Top Model Philippines 2019 will be given in the finals.
“This year, we decided to drop the ‘ng’ in Mutya ng Pilipinas for marketing purposes, to make our pageant more current, more now and more relevant. Not that it was irrelevant the previous years, but because we are embracing a whole new dimension in the definition of Mutya Pilipinas as a beauty pageant,” said Cory Quirino, president of the Mutya ng Pilipinas organization.
“We are opening an opportunity for aspiring Filipinas who want to be successful international models. For this reason, Mutya Pilipinas will be forging an alliance with the Professional Modeling Association of the Philippines,” added Quirino, who took over the presidency of Mutya in March after quitting as national director of Miss World Philippines.
“These are exciting times for Mutya Pilipinas, so you can expect more positive changes in the future as it evolves,” said Fred Yuson, chairman of Mutya Pilipinas.
Reigning Mutya Pilipinas Asia Pacific International 2018 Sharifa Areef Mohammed Omar Akeel was crowned Miss Asia Pacific International in October 2018.
The winner of World Top Model Philippines 2019 will compete in the World Top Model International finals to be held in Monte Carlo, Monaco on Dec. 14, the winner of which gets a guaranteed modeling contract with MAJOR Models Management with offices in Paris, Milan, New York, Miami and Munich.
Fiore Tondi, founder and president of World Top Model, who welcomed the Philippines as participant country, will sit as one of the judges in the 51st Mutya Pilipinas Grand Coronation, scheduled on Aug. 18, 2019 at the Mall of Asia and to be telecast live on ABS CBN.