Miss Universe Philippines Ahtisa Manalo, who placed third runner-up in the Miss Universe 2025 pageant in Thailand, meets and greets her admirers in a two-part homecoming parade today, Dec. 2, in Manila and Pasay City.
The parade takes place a week after Manalo returned to the Philippines to a rousing past-midnight welcome by her admirers at the airport.
But controversy continues to hound the scandal-plagued Miss Universe pageant even after Mexico’s Fátima Bosch was crowned as the new queen. Bosch may have emerged victorious on Nov. 21 from among 120 candidates, but her coronation was greeted with loud boos in the Impact Challenger Hall, and netizens raised their disappointment with the results in online forums.
Many pageant fans believe that the Mexican queen’s performance paled beside the stellar presentations of Côte d’Ivoire’s Olivia Yace and the Philippines’ Manalo, both international pageant veterans, especially during the crucial final round of questioning.
The African queen ranked lowest among the five finalists and was proclaimed fourth runner-up, while Manalo finished as third runner-up. The announcement of the winners prompted many pageant fans to wonder whether the list had been read in reverse order.
Connections
Bosch’s supposed connections with Miss Universe Organization (MUO) president Raul Rocha, who is also Mexican, suddenly surfaced after she was crowned. Her father apparently had big business dealings with the pageant executive’s other interests.
Rocha himself is facing investigations for drugs, arms, and fuel trafficking between Guatemala and Mexico, as reported by The Guardian. His Legacy Holdings Group owns half of the MUO.
Another part-owner is facing legal troubles as well. Former MUO CEO Anne Jakrajutatip of JKN Global Group in Thailand had reportedly fled her country after getting tangled in fraudulent business practices.
A warrant for her arrest was issued after she failed to show up in court for trial on her alleged false reporting to the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the sale of half of JKN Global Group’s stakes in the MUO to Rocha’s Legacy Holdings Group.
The Thai conglomerate had been remiss in its payments of dividends to investors. Jakrajutatip had reportedly been looking for ways to liquidate assets to pay them, and one measure she took was selling half of the MUO to the Mexican empire.
When the Thai SEC sought clarification in the matter, JKN Global Group reported that they were only in a period of exploration and no sale had transpired yet.
However, the agency found this claim to be false, and later ordered the suspension of Jakrajutatip and another associate, preventing them from holding top positions in all of the Thai conglomerate’s various interests, including the MUO.
Indications
Certain developments served to indicate that this year’s competition would be a tumultuous one even before the delegates landed in Thailand for the 74th Miss Universe pageant.
The MUO issued a directive preventing accredited media members from covering the pageant and the delegates until Nov. 17, but the organizing committee in Thailand quickly negated this with a statement appointing a coordinator different from the person assigned by the international group.
And day after day, during the delegates’ first week in Bangkok, the pageant drew media attention for unsavory reasons. The MUO hit back at Thai lead organizer Nawat Itsaragrisil and said his online voting and “special dinner” were unauthorized.
Itsaragrisil pulled a fast one and called the Thai police to confiscate materials bearing the name and insignia of a Filipino online gaming platform that the MUO had brought in as the pageant’s “official journey partner.” Thai law prohibits gambling in the country.
But the biggest scandal that struck that early, one that made waves in the international media, was the walkout of some delegates and then-reigning queen Victoria Kjær Theilvig after Itsaragrisil berated Bosch for speaking with reporters.
Many cited the incident after Bosch’s coronation, saying her victory served as sweet revenge against the Thai organizer for attempting to silence her.
But many others believed it was just staged to raise awareness on and gain sympathy for the Mexican contender. Some observers surmised that Rocha had already planned on rigging the competition in Bosch’s favor, and that the walkout was needed to endear her to the public.
Days before the coronation, Omar Harfouch withdrew from his duties as a member of the selection committee, citing irregularities in the competition. French footballer Claude Makélélé also resigned afterwards, citing “unforeseen personal reasons.”
Harfouch later called Bosch a “fake winner,” and posted an image showing her getting cozy with Rocha even before the pageant.
One judge who sat in the finals, Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova, raised concern about the absence of an auditing firm during the conduct of the recent competition, unlike in the previous editions.
But even seeing that Bosch’s coronation was not as warmly received as he had hoped for, Rocha made things worse for the pageant in his attempt to defend the Mexican candidate’s victory. He was quoted as saying in a media interview that Côte d’Ivoire’s Yace was not chosen as the new winner because of her “weak” passport, which would eventually result in additional expenses for the MUO for visa processing for foreign travels.
Pageant veteran Ophely Mezino of Guadeloupe, another strong contender who had advanced to the Top 12, called Rocha out for what she said was a “racist excuse.” She also disclosed that Yace holds another passport as a dual citizen of the United States.
Recent media reports quoted Rocha as saying that he is mulling selling his stakes in the MUO, being “fed up” with all the negative attention that he and his organization had been getting.
Over in Tokyo…
Meanwhile, in the less problematic Miss International pageant in Tokyo, the Philippines’ Myrna Esguerra finished as fourth runner-up. And nobody raised a ruckus when Colombia’s Catalina Duque posted her country’s fourth victory in the pageant.
Everyone appeared happy with the outcome. The audience and the other delegates applauded the new queen and her court. After all, the Miss International pageant’s slogan is “Cheer All Women.”
Read more: Unusual drama at the Miss Universe pageant, now on its 74th edition
