PEOPLE know that slim is in. For this reluctant winner, it’s not all about winning, as Clint Holton P. Potestas discovers.
Not even her six-inch stilettos made a sound. She walked in the room quietly, all dolled up for her first pose before the camera, but not a single word was spoken. That’s how she usually works – slowly, surely – but is she silent and deadly, too?
I did not notice she was ready, indeed, but perhaps, she does it on purpose: strike while no one is expecting. Quite a risk for some, but for Princess Angela Abella, 21, a reluctant beauty titlist, it seems to come naturally. And isn’t she sexy?
“Beginner’s luck. I never expected to win in the pageant.
I’m the type of person who just sits quietly in one corner and just observes,” she says about her surprise victory in the Slimmers World Miss Bikini Philippines competition.
“I did not even want to join any kind of beauty pageant because I’m very shy. But my manager (Danny Booc) forced me.”
Sitting next to Princess, Danny, who also styled her looks during the shoot, clarified “I really believed in her capabilities. I tried to convince her before but she had a lot of excuses.
What made her win is her fresh looks. She’s new; she speaks well, and she is a Cebuana.” Danny adds with a sense of wonderment, “There’s something about Cebuanas that intimidate other contestants.”
Although she has been discovered as a ramp model under Ozar Model Agency, Princess has turned down invitations to join beauty pageants. But she gave her nod to this competition because it could not disrupt her studies, since she already finished her degree in Nursing at Velez College.
“Naa ko nganha (I am included there),” an excited Princess said in between clicks, pointing to a video playing on the widescreen at the entrance of Slimmers World gym, at the second floor of SM Northwing. She was seen in a bikini with festival props and headdress as part of the program’s segment in China.
She was first screened in Cebu before she was sent to the national pageant at the Aliw Theater in Manila last May 1 where she bested 24 hopefuls. Her victory brought her to the international competition in China where she took home the title Miss Bikini Charm Ambassador from a pool of 64 beauties from all over the world.
“Yes, my parents saw that,” she said, referring to the video.
“They’re very proud of what I have achieved. What so sad about it is the fact that people think it’s lewd. But no – it always depends on how you carry yourself.”
As the third winner of the annual event, Princess holds the responsibility of promoting a very healthy lifestyle.
She says that through regular exercise, the body responds to stress in a positive manner and that it boosts the immune system.
In fact, her regimen is very easy to follow. Aside from going to Slimmers World, she jogs every morning around their village in Consolacion and follows a diet she describes as “one small, frequent feeding.”
And of course, a dose of real beauty: “It’s not really about winning. It’s about coming out from my shell and feeling good about myself that matter the most.”
