A quartet of yesteryear's Miss Cebu

Sunday, January 8, 2012

THERE have been many Miss Cebu lovelies and this year, the 28th beauty queen of the city will be chosen not just for her good looks, but also for her winning personality; in a sea of lovely faces, it’s the personality that stands out that will give the Miss Cebu hopeful the judges’ nod.

Miss Cebu started out as Miss Cebu Tourism in 1984, becoming Miss Cebu in 2002. The title may be different, but the beauty search is essentially the same: a search for a beautiful young lady who will stand for Cebu and represent the city in official functions where her beauty and grace will enhance the dynamic face of Cebu.

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There have been 27 such worthy beauties and Sun.Star Cebu got in touch with four of them to see how they fared after their Miss Cebu reign.

The first Miss Cebu Tourism was Janice Bañez, who joined the contest in 1984 for the fun of it after her University of the Philippines professors urged her to join. She said the contest boosted her self-confidence. She learned how to be a good representative of Cebu and of the country. She was sent to Tokyo and was featured in Tokyo’s newspapers and magazine, as well as television.

She said she still sells Cebu to this day: the skills of the people, the professionalism of the industry, the products of the place which should make it worth it for buyers to come over. This is because Janice ended up in the furniture export business when she met and married Paul Minor (he was her mother’s tenant and when her mother left for the United States, she was left with the task of receiving his rent).

She and Paul set up their furniture export business under the name Janice Minor. She points out that Paul is the technical man, his background being in the furniture manufacturing business. She handles the marketing. After years of being exclusively an export company, the Minors decided to have a retail store for the furniture and household accessories. Last year, Janice launched her Binibini line of fashion jewelry, hats, shoes and bags.

Over a decade later, Jo Ann Castillo became Miss Cebu Tourism 1997, after prodding from the student affairs office.  Being Miss Cebu Tourism had “a great impact” on her.

As a teenager, she was not outgoing. She learned to be at ease in meeting all kinds of personalities which has stood her in good stead after she earned her hotel and restaurant management degree from the University of San Carlos.

She was in the pioneering batch of that course and when she graduated, there was not much of an opening for her kind of degree. She worked two years as a teller for a bank until she finally found a job that fit her educational background.

She started as public relations assistant in Waterfront Airport Hotel & Casino Mactan and worked up the ranks and became assistant marketing manager. After eight years she moved to Club Ultima as corporate sales director. Now she is with Crimson Resort and Spa. In her words, “coming from a business hotel, being with Crimson is another learning experience for me since it’s more of a leisure hotel.”

In 2007, Loise Angelique Moile Tan was Miss Cebu. In her words: “I won not only the title of Miss Cebu but also the experience of a lifetime. I was just a student then but I was able to travel to different places here and outside the country, met inspiring people who motivated me to maximize the opportunities that I was given, and got the chance to reach out to the community.

“Since then, I started a career in modeling where I got to work in Hollywood, which I never thought would happen. I’m currently under Hair Model Express, an agency in New York that handles print ads, commercials and events for different brands of hair products. I was also blessed to participate in billboard ad campaigns for clothing and jewelry brands and had my fair share of hosting a TV show along with other Miss Cebu winners.” She endorses Ellen’s Skin Care Center.

These days, Loise helps her parents in their Allbox Packaging Corp. whenever she is in Cebu; she regularly goes to the United States because of her immigrant status. Looking back to her Miss Cebu experience, she said,“Miss Cebu opened a whole lot of possibilities that until now I still enjoy and I will forever be grateful for that experience.”

A Miss Cebu Tourism who reigned for two years, 1987-1988, is Jennifer Wee (now Mrs. Philip Tan). Jennifer says she joined the contest because she wanted to go to Sydney, Australia, “and the experience that goes with winning it. … My winning the Miss Cebu-Australia crown gave me the confidence that a 19-year-old political science student could only pray for. It made me who I am today.”

She married Mayor Philip Tan of Tangub City in 1992. That was when she put up the Sinanduloy Cultural Troupe for the youth to focus their energy on their talents, specifically on dancing, so that they would not turn to vices. The program also includes the Sinanduloy Cultural Troupe Program (SCTP) that gives members of Sinanduloy an educational scholarship. To date, more than a hundred have finished their education through SCTP.

She said: “I also helped conceptualize the renowned Christmas Symbols Festival (in Tangub City, Misamis Occidental), the longest Christmas festival in the Philippines that runs from Dec. 1 to Jan. 8. From 1996 to 2001, I was elected as the Regional Tourism Council Chairman for Region 10.”

“In 2001, I became the first lady mayor of Tangub City, created some important programs and projects in agriculture and transportation such as the Bayanihan (Bagong Yaman ng Nagkaisang Hugpong Para sa Agrikultura ng Nayon) project and the Libot Tangub, the first government-owned BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) type of transportation.

I was awarded as outstanding graduate of the 45th Local Administration and Development Program (University of the Philippines and Local government Academy) last March 2003 and awarded by the Local Government Leadership Award as Outstanding City Mayor of the Philippines last October 2003 by the Senate of the Philippines.”      

She confirms that during this year’s Sinulog Festival, “the Sinanduloy (Visayan word meaning: a mixture of songs and dances) dancers will once again show their discipline and prowess in dancing. The secret to their winning is no secret at all: prayer, love and discipline is a formula that can be done by everybody and anybody.”

This quartet of former Miss Cebu personalities proves what the organizers say it is: a contest not merely of beauty but also of personality.