First, there were headlines about hackers breaking into Philippine government websites. Then came the news about millions of pesos in lost tourism revenue for the Philippines. It’s been a week since the horrifying Quirino hostage took place, and the Chinese have definitely been showing their anger in more ways than we deserve. I have to admit I admire Hong Kong citizens for being united enough to gather 80,000 people for a rally, considering they’re a small population. But I don’t admire the many ways that some private citizens have been retaliating against Filipinos.

An article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that “a series of unconfirmed reports of Hong Kong employers trying to vent their anger by sacking or attacking their helpers has been widely circulating among Filipinos.” Domestic helper Joy Fajardo told the newspaper that more than 30 Filipino maids were sacked after the tragedy, and that she heard rumors that three maids were killed (acid was allegedly splashed on one of them). “We don’t know if these cases are true. But we are very scared,” she said.

The paper went on to say that another Filipino worker, Julie, said her 60-year-old employer, for whom she has worked for 14 years, did not speak to her after the hostage crisis. “She watched news on TV about the hijacking. She did not talk to me and did not give me dinner on Wednesday,” she said.

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I had previously blogged about how I wanted to become Miss Universe when I was 9 years old. 16 years after that crazy summer of ’94, I admit to having lost all interest in the pageant. Interestingly enough, Harold, a friend from the company that handles Miss Universe public relations, badgered me for several years to join the competition (he stopped when I turned 25).

The Miss Universe pageant is no longer the big international that it used to be; in fact, pageants as a whole had been on the downturn since the late ’90s. Of course, it’s still a huge hit with some sectors (a friend called it the “gay community’s World Cup”), but you don’t see as many children practicing Q&A portions and waving demurely at an invisible camera anymore.

Even television shows are indicative of that. In my day (wow, I sound really old), noontime shows hosted Little Miss Philippines pageant, and it was actually an honor to win those darned things—one of my batchmates from Miriam did, and she eventually became student council president in high school. Aiza Seguerra launched her career as a child star after winning the tilt. Nowadays, children on TV wear midriff tops and gyrate with dancers, so maybe the fall of pageants was a bad thing, after all.

Pageant of the bizzare: Aiza Seguerra in Eat Bulaga

I have to admit she has a great body

On a related note, I’m glad that the Philippines placed in the Miss Universe pageant again, but I’m unhappy with Venus Raj’s answer. The Q&A portion went something like this:

William Baldwin: “What is one big mistake that you’ve made in your life and what did you do to make it right?”

Venus Raj: “You know what sir, in my 22 years of existence I can say that there is nothing major major, I mean, problem that I have done in my life. Because I am very confident with my family, with the love that they are giving to me. So, thank you so much that I am here, thank you thank you so much.”

Venus Raj: No "major, major" problems. Major major = bonggang bongga

I guess it’s why they call it a beauty pageant. Historically, Miss Universe answers have rarely been brilliant (Sushmita Sen’s answer was still traditional, but at least it was well-stated), so what can we expect? Organizers insist that the pageant is all about modern women celebrating beauty and brains, but very few successful, educated women nowadays will agree to walking around in a swimsuit as judges rate them for their proportions and poise.

The Miss U candidates are also arguably young and have less knowledge of the world to back up their answers, but I think these women, who all aspire to be role models, can and should still do a lot better than give an unsubstantial answer disguised by a megawatt smile and a lot of “thank yous.”

(Day 12, 30-Day Blog Challenge)

When the Miss Universe pageant was held in Manila in 1994, I was 9 years old going on 10, impressionable and easily dazzled by the spectacle of glittery gowns and megawatt smiles. I wanted to be Miss Universe.

To this day, I can still remember the ABS-CBN specials held just for the pageant: the girls riding a jeep with Ogie Alcasid, the girls singing “Mabuhay,” the “You Are My Star” serenade, “High tide or low tide?” and the endless reruns of clips of the Miss U pageants where Gloria Diaz and Margie Moran won (Is it just me, or was the “If the man on the moon were to land in your hometown, what would you do to entertain him?” question idiotic?)

The "You Are My Star" serenade; that woman in the middle looks a little constipated; also, even then, I already thought that Miss USA looked fat

"High tide or low tide?" I know it all!

Miss Belgium was a crowd favorite but didn't make it. Check out the '90s bikini, photo background and hairdo.

Back then, I didn’t understand the question on the essence of being a woman. When I think of it now, Sushmita Sen gave a pretty canned answer, and an old-fashioned one at that: “Just being a woman is God’s gift. The origin of a child is a mother, a woman. She shows a man what sharing, caring, and loving is all about. That is the essence of a woman.” But hey, she answered it a lot better than the others, which makes you wonder about the women who actually join pageants (I got over it when I was 11 years old).

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