PHILIPPINE bet Samantha Bernardo wearing her Philippine eagle-inspired national costume at the 2020 Miss Grand International national costume competition held on March 24, 2021. The 27-year-old beauty queen from Palawan wore a golden agila-inspired national costume designed by designer Patrick Isorena.
In an Instagram post on Wednesday night, Patrick said the inspiration behind his stunning creation was the critically endangered Philippine Eagle.
He wrote, "The Costume is inspired by our National Bird - The Philippine Eagle also known as the Monkey-Eating Eagle or Great Philippine Eagle. It is considered the largest of the extant eagles in terms of length and wing surface, the rarest and most powerful birds in the world. This costume also intends to create awareness because the Philippine Eagle is critically endangered, mainly due to massive loss of habitat resulting from deforestation in most of its range."
Patrick also explained why he chose gold. "Gold as the main color of the costume to represent the magnificent journey of our Queen. And to pay homage to the MGI Golden Crown. Just like gold it is extravagant, wealthy, rich and indestructible, like Samantha -- A queen who never gave up on her dreams."
After the national costume competition, the Miss Grand International pageant uploaded all of the contestants' photos on their official Facebook page to determine the winner via online voting. At press time, Sam's national costume photo on the pageant's official Facebook page has received the highest number of reactions and shares, with more than 295,000 reactions and one million shares.
Before the national costume competition, Sam also made it to the top 20 of the pageant's swimsuit competition. Sam ranked third among the candidates chosen by the online voters for the swimsuit competition. The grand coronation night of the Miss Grand International 2021 will be held in Bangkok, Thailand tonight.
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Kris Aquino has no final decision yet for her next permanent home: "I wanted the time to decide kung bibili ba ng condo, magtatayo ba kami ng property in the South—because we do have one in the South—or will we create a small compound in Tarlac."
In a video published on her Instagram account this Sunday, March 21, Kris explained that she's still undecided about where she wants to build a new home. Her original plan was to experience probinsya life and move to a beachfront property in Boracay. But she changed her mind and opted to rent a place in a condominium somewhere in Metro Manila.
According to Kris, "Binenta na po namin yung bahay namin in Greenmeadows in Quezon City [nung] December 2020. We are just waiting to sign the lease contract—meaning, magre-rent kami ng condo in a different city."
Kris said she decided to ditch her plan to live in Boracay because of health considerations.
She elaborated: "For my health, we were actually ready, nag-downpayment na ng malaki to lease this villa in Boracay. But yung last blood panel ko, it was not good. Hindi ako pinayagan ng mga doctor ko to go far away. I needed to stay near them."
But Kris also pointed out that she's still mulling about the possibility of settling in her family's hometown in Tarlac.
"Shifting to Tarlac to vote was the ideal because I didn't want to be impuslive with a major purchase. I wanted the time to decide kung bibili ba ng condo, magtatayo ba kami ng property in the South -- because we do have one in the South—or will we create a small compound in Tarlac."
As it happens, her eldest son Josh has been residing in their family home in Tarlac since December 2020. But she underlined that Josh staying in Tarlac is not motivated by political reasons in light of the upcoming 2022 elections.
"Kuya Josh happens to be very happy in Tarlac. He is not there para mag-establish ako ng presence in the same province where my father and my brother started their public service journeys."