Not just another beauty contest

SOME beauty queens were recently in Cebu to promote a different kind of beauty contest, this time for a Mrs. Philippines-Globe. It is different in that the international Mrs. Globe award advocates women empowerment. It is also a fund-raiser for Women in Need (WIN), which was founded by Mrs. Globe owner, Dr. Tracy Kemble.

WIN is “an outreach that specializes in self-esteem recovery for women and children faced with all kinds of abuses—physical, emotional, financial or spiritual.”

This is the fourth year that the Philippines will field a candidate for Mrs. Globe. For the first two years, candidates were just picked from previous beauty contest winners. Last year, a Mrs. Philippines-Globe was chosen via a beauty pageant in which Joycelyn "Joyce" Agsaway, Horizon Club manager of Edsa Shangri-La, emerged as winner and Cebuana Pinky Redoble Siva, from Tabunok, Talisay, was crowned "Woman of Substance."

In a brief interview, Pinky said she is a pharmacy graduate of Southwestern University but never got to practice her profession. She worked in Singapore where she got married to a Sri-Lankan. Then she moved back to the Philippines where she is the recruitment director for her own agency, PRS Recruitment Service, mostly for BPO manpower needs.

She paints (oil) and sketches as a hobby and, as a commitment, she has a "Jesus in Me" charity, a feeding and educational program for kids in Metro Manila (and, when in Singapore, for orphans in Singapore). All this makes her a woman of substance indeed.

This year, Mrs. Philippines Globe will be a nation-wide search with regional candidates to be chosen simultaneously on April 2, in Pampanga for Central Luzon, in Cebu for the Visayas, and in Davao for Mindanao. South Luzon and greater Manila candidates will be chosen on April 6. To qualify, one must be a Filipino citizen, married or a single mom, between 26 to 45 years old, at least five feet four inches in height, with excellent health, of good moral character, college level or higher, willing to travel outside the Philippines to participate in the international pageant to represent this country. To download the official entry form, visit www.mrsphilippinesglobe.com and entries are to be sent to mrsphilsglobe@eventvisions.com.ph.

Deadline for submission of entries is March 20.

Together with this contest is another contest for Miss Little Solane, a revival of the Little Miss Shellane  (Solane’s former brand) that started in 1969. It has two categories: Cuties category for age eight to 12 years; and Teenies category for 13-16 years old. It is meant for these kids to "discover, develop and nurture their talents and potentials at an early age and grow into empowered, responsible and successful women in their own right."

Interested kids can download entry forms at the Mrs. Globe-Philippines website, www.mrsphilippinesglobe.com. Deadline for submission of entries is also March 20, and preliminary screening will be held at the same time and venue as for Mrs. Philippines-Globe. Grand pageant night will be on May 25, at the NewWorld Hotel.

Here for the launching of the beauty pageant in Cebu were Morena Carlo Cabrera Quimpo, national director of Mrs. Philippines Globe, Agsaway and Redoble.