“Monumental” would be insufficient to describe the grand Binibining Pilipinas pageant’s 60th-anniversary celebration: an event that saw more than 100 beauty queens gathered together on one stage, including the most iconic international title-holders that the country has produced.
For the first time ever, Miss Universe winners Gloria Diaz, Margie Moran, Pia Wurtzbach, and Catriona Gray were seen together on the same stage. They were joined by Miss International winners Melanie Marquez, Bea Rose Santiago, and Kylie Verzosa during the festivities held at Smart Araneta Coliseum at the Araneta City in Quezon City on the night of July 7.
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Also at the grand reunion was Mutya Datul, the lone Filipino woman to be crowned Miss Supranational, and 2021 Miss Intercontinental Cinderella Faye Obeñita, together with the women who have been crowned Binibining Pilipinas over the past six decades.
Naturally, an assembly of beauty queens that massive required an A-list lineup of performers—OPM (Original Pilipino Music) icons Martin Nievera and Gary Valenciano, and the phenomenal P-Pop boy group SB19.
Driving force
Stella Marquez-Araneta, chairperson of the Binibining Pilipinas Charities Inc. (BPCI), shared the spotlight during the opening segment of the show. Said Nievera: “We also honor the woman whose passion and dedication over the last six decades have brought Binibining Pilipinas from year 1 to 60, to where it is now, still the country’s most prestigious pageant and the longest-running national pageant in the whole of Asia.”
Marquez-Araneta was shown on the LED display on stage waving to the camera and blowing kisses. Valenciano described her as “the driving force and the visionary,” and said that “this pageant is definitely her sparkling legacy to all of us Filipinos.
Images of all the Binibining Pilipinas title-holders over the past 60 years were displayed onstage while the grand parade of beauties was taking place. And before each of the competition segments, all the previous winners of the Best in Swimsuit and Best in Evening Gown awards were shown.
Viewers got the chance to reminisce on some of the most memorable answers heard on the Binibining Pilipinas stage over the last six decades when they were shown before the grueling interview round.
Binibining Pilipinas also honored the women who have passed on through an “in memoriam” tribute video. They included, among others, the first Binibining Pilipinas Myrna Panlilio, 1979 Miss Young Pilipinas Maria Teresa Carlson, and 1980 Miss Universe third runner-up Chat Silayan.
New batch
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The past title-holders who opened the show took to the stage once again at the end of the program to welcome the new batch of queens to their elite sisterhood. Crowned Binibining Pilipinas International was Abra’s Myrna Esguerra, namesake of the pageant’s first-ever winner.
“I feel so emotional right now,” Esguerra told CoverStory after her coronation. “And to know that 60 years ago another Myrna was crowned — I don’t know how to feel about that! And this is the first time that Abra has been represented here. And this is ‘the city of firsts,’ Araneta City. It’s all like destiny at the moment. And I have always believed that when something is meant for you, it really never misses you.”
Pampanga’s Jasmin Bungay was crowned Binibining Pilipinas Globe, while Zambales’ Christal Jean Dela Cruz and Laguna’s Trisha Martinez were proclaimed first and second runners-up, respectively.
Forty women participated in this year’s edition of the competition.
Esguerra will represent the Philippines at the 63rd Miss International pageant next year, while Bungay will compete in this year’s edition of The Miss Globe contest in Albania.
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