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Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Emata: So many Miss Philippines in USA
By Ben Emata
THE Philippines has become so famous in producing a lot of beauties every year.
With the so many Filipino-American organizations scattered across the continent like the Ilocano groups, the Pampanga Residents Association, the Filipino-Americans from Mindanao, the Filipinos from the Visayas, smaller organizations from provinces like Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, Surigao, Cagayan de Oro and even Balingasag, one could easily predict the number of Miss Philippines if all these organizations will produce one.
And indeed some of the bigger organizations are producing Ms. Philippines 2005, Ms. Philippines 2006, etc. This normally is held during town fiestas in their provinces. Others also are producing such beauties as Miss Valentines, Ms. Senior Philippines, Ms. Visayas, Ms. Mindanao, Ms. Luzon, Ms. Filipino-American veterans and many categories of beautiful Filipinos.
This makes the Americans really amused about the culture and tradition from the Philippines.
Many of them who were invited to coronation nights or celebration events just felt startled at how the Filipinos managed to produce so many beauties in so short a time.
They are surprised at how Filipinos campaign and sell ballots or tickets at $2 to be able to support a beauty candidate.
Benefit dances are held every week and just like those in the countryside in the Philippines, flower dances are held to raise funds.
Special dances are held for the benefit of the candidates and a fortune of say $50,000 to $150,000 is so easy to produce.
Of course, the age of the candidates does not matter so much.
The candidates are chosen from the ranks, from its membership and if the organization is that of the senior citizen, one can expect a Ms. Philippines of 65 or 70 years old.
After all these Filipinos were born in the Philippines and they came here as grown up people and as such many are in their 60s.
It is funny but this kind of beauty contests is not like the real Miss Philippines back home where candidates are age 20 years old or even less and the complexions and beauty are fresh as the morning dews.
Here the candidates belong to their golden years but still have those withheld smiles and expressions of true Filipinos.
Beauty contest are decided by the amount of ballots cast just like those taking place in the Philippines.
A $2.00 ticket is worth 200 votes and this make all the contestants jump higher and faster to grab the title Ms. Philippines USA.
According to organizers, a good percentage of the queen's total ballots become her money plus prizes that she is entitled to, like a round trip plane ticket to the Philippines and expenses in visiting projects as well as officials calls to government offices that sometimes include the office of the President in Malacañang.
On top of this are other attractive prizes offered by business establishments like shopping money, golden crown, etc.
So a queen after getting the crown stands being richer by more than $50,000 in the event. "It is worthwhile the job and the burden of selling ballots," said one American.
I look at the activity as not so much of the money but more on the promotion of culture and tradition. With all these actions, Filipino Americans felt young and enjoy more.
They are able to display their favorite Filipino costumes and announce to the world in the most humble way how the Filipinos preserve their lifestyle and history.
And the practice is given more emphasis because the race is identified specifically and it stands side by side with other nationalities.
Imagine parading around major thoroughfares with beautify queen and Filipino men in their best barong Pilipino. The ladies in their best attires that rarely are seen in the Philippines.
It is the joy of camaraderie, friendship and patriotism that drive this people into what they are doing here.
It makes them proud as Filipinos and proud of their history and cultural past.
So every town fiesta that they usually celebrate back home is the time for selecting the title of Ms. Philippines.
And they celebrate it with church activities complete with Filipino bands, song and dances Filipiniana style that truly entertains all races that watch them act.
But excessive politicking and personal feuds sometimes disturb some Filipino organizations being that of Filipinos.
They fight with each other, backbite, and promote bickering that in some cases result to break up of the organizations. But they more they break up, the more new organizations are formed and more promotion of culture are coming up.
So nowadays, you can see so many Filipino organizations in California and other states, each one does not see eye to eye with the other.
It turns out, though, that they promote the same object and the love of friendship and culture are there no matter how high the hatred exists. (The author is a former Cagayan de Oro media practitioner who now lives in the US with his family)
(December 20, 2005 issue)
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