Miss Universe Philippines 2022 Celeste Cortesi and her team are now in New Orleans, Louisiana for the ongoing 71st Miss Universe competition.
Arriving at the Los Angeles International Airport, the 25-year-old Fil-Italian beauty made a big impression by wearing a powerful red ensemble comprised of a leather coat with fur, knee-high boots, and black cat-eye sunglasses.
Cortesi, who represented Pasay in the Miss Universe Philippines 2022 last April, steadily gained the top spot in the national pageant after winning several other awards including Miss Photogenic and Best in Swimsuit.
Now, Cortesi is competing against 85 other delegates from around the globe in Miss Universe’s first edition to be held under the ownership of Thailand-based JKN Global Group, which purchased the Miss Universe Organization from WME/IMG in October last year.
Cortesi hopes to win the fifth Miss Universe crown for the Philippines following Gloria Diaz (1969), Margie Moran (1973), Pia Wurtzbach (2015), and Catriona Gray (2018).
The 71st Miss Universe pageant will take place on January 14 (January 15 in Manila) at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, New Orleans, Louisiana. Last year’s winner, India’s Harnaaz Sandhu, will crown her successor by the end of the event with the new “Force for Good” crown.
Filipino pageant fans can watch the live coronation on Kapamilya Channel, A2Z, Metro Channel, and iWantTFC.
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A star-studded Gawad Dangal Filipino Awards 2022
The highly anticipated Gawad Dangal Filipino Awards 2022, as expected, proved to be a huge success and star-studded event, held at Eurotel North Edsa, Quezon City, recently.
Organized and presented by award-winning director-actor-host Romeo ‘Romm’ Burlat, who also served as chairman, the awardees from different fields of endeavor were chosen, first and foremost, for their high self-esteem and untainted image.
“They are the cream of the crop, not only achievers in their respective careers, but persons of high self-esteem and untainted image. They are perfect models in the family, community, and the country, in general. Today, we salute and recognize them as the Philippines’ Men & Women of Integrity and Honor,” Burlat said during the awarding ceremony.
Burlat, who was born in Ozamis, Misamis Occidental and listed among the Outstanding Men and Women of the Philippines, had said that he decided to introduce the Gawal Dangal award as a way of returning gratitude to the numerous awards that he had received in different occasions.
The long list of honorees, from the entertainment, media, corporate, entrepreneurship, and pageant, were grouped into four batches. Beauty queens include Alma Concepcion (Outstanding Celebrity Beauty Queen of the Year), Maxine Medina (Most Influential Movie Queen of the Year), Iona Gibbs (Remarkable Beauty Queen of the Year), and Justine Felizarta (Outstanding Beauty Queen of the Year). Also honored were Neil Perez (Outstanding Model & Pageant Title Holder), mom-beauty queen Dr. Giselle Legaspi-Barrion (Most Outstanding HR & OD Consultant of the Year) and husband Reynald Ryan Barrion (Outstanding People Manager of the Year), singer-beauty king Lester Paul Recirdo (Outstanding Event Performer of the Year), with partner Dr. Faye Tangonan (Empowered Beauty Queen of the Year), Anton CM (Most Outstanding Fashion Photographer of the Year), Chino Hansel Philyang (Hall of Fame Book Author of the Year), along with this pageant columnist (Advocate for Animal Welfare).
Movie and TV personalities awarded include Sharon Cuneta (Outstanding Movie Queen/Singer Performer of the Year), Maricel Soriano (Outstanding Movie Queen and Best Drama Actress of the Year), Ima Castro (Best Actress in a Musicale), Gerald Santos (Best Actor in a Musicale), Teejay Marquez (Outstanding Young Actor of the Year), Elijah Alejo (Most Outstanding Young Actress of the Year), Richard Quan (Most Durable Best Supporting Actor of the Year), Enzo Pineda (Best Supporting Actor of the Year), Rodjun Cruz (Most Revered TV Personality of the Year), Lovely Rivero (Most Revered TV Actress of the Year), Sabrina M (Supporting Indie Actress of the Year), William Martinez (Remarkable Actor of the Year), Jethro Ramirez (Supporting Indie Actor of the Year), Lance Raymundo (Best Host/Singer of the Year), Patricia Javier (Most Outstanding Celebrity Entrepreneur of the Year), and FAMAS President, Francia Conrado, MA.