TWO young and beautiful women or, to be precise, two young women who took part in beauty contests, both of whom drew and seized public attention during the past three days for different reasons:
Gray soars
[1] Catriona Gray, 22, who won Monday (Dec. 17) the Miss Universe crown, only the fourth Filipina to grab the pageant title. She was the pre-finals favorite with her “Lava Walk,” first displayed last Dec. 13 at the swimsuit stage of the contest.
The Lava Walk, named in homage to her mother’s native city of Albay where the Mayon Volcano is located. It is described as “slow turn, a swift hair flip and a snappy swing of the head.” The pageant walk and famous twirl set off raves from die-hard and casual fans of beauty contests.
Adopting a walk is not new among beauty tilt aspirants. Venus Raj had her “Pilapil Walk,” for the rice field paddies that she supposedly played on when she was young. Pia Wurtzbach (our 2015 titleholder) swung with “Tanim Bala,” for the planting of bullets in Manila airport commuter’s luggage. Imagine how that looked if you hadn’t seen it.
But Catriona’s “slo-mo” twirl has caught more than casual attention, at home and abroad. “This is insane,” Miss Gray said on the fever it has caused. She has gained a lot of admirers and tons of publicity for those moves alone. The walk must have helped in the Thailand finals, along with her name-dropping about the Tondo slum and its poor folk.
Colmenares falls
[2] Teri Marina Silva Colmenares, 22, who landed in jail after police made a “buy-bust” operation at dawn of Dec. 15 on Espana St., Capitol Site, Cebu City. Teri’s was not quite a pageant walk. One could traipse gracefully into a government building but not after an arrest. She didn’t walk and twirl at the Guadalupe, Cebu City police station, But she experienced what Catriona did at the Bangkok pageant when Teri represented Carmen town at the Binibining Cebu pageant last Oct. 25. She failed to make it to the Magic 12 then, was only in the Top 25. Her looks and background made banner headline after she was caught dawn of Dec. 15 for allegedly selling party drugs of high-grade marijuana.
Different outcomes
The contrast was not lost on local media consumers who saw in the two women different outcomes from that “once-in-a-lifetime journey” most pageant contestants gush about: Catrinona’s Monday triumph, on top of the world and Teri’s fall, into a jail cell.
One brought honor to her family, community and country; the other, embarrassment and shame to those who know and love her. One is gladdening, a gentle tug in the heart; the other is heart-wrenching even to those who just barely know her but see in her the face of the tragedy of drug addiction.
Teri didn’t get shot and wounded or killed during the police entrapment. Many others, of course, were not as lucky, since coming out alive in a drugs “op” these days is generally deemed good fortune. Sad, is all.