In Megan Young, Finally, a Filipina Miss World

Beauty pageants have become dime-a-dozen in recent years that, except for the really big ones, we who live in the modern era have become somewhat blasé about these in general. The Miss Universe has always been the holy grail of beauty pageants, arguably the most coveted of all. This we have won twice.

Then, there is the Miss International which we have won four times. These days, there is the Miss Earth, the Miss Asia, the Miss Supranational, the Miss This and Miss That. The sheer ubiquity of these pageants has seemingly diluted the significance of each.

But wait; there is the Miss World, supposedly one of the ‘big’ pageants. Those of my generation still probably harbour a grudge or two against this pageant because of what happened in 1973.

First of all, everyone felt that Evangeline Pascual was clearly Miss World; but the panel of judges somehow contrived to declare Miss USA winner. It was a Brit thing, we all thought. We had no historical connection with the Brits and were, therefore, of no consequence to them.

“ But Megan Young, in my humble opinion, is perfect as Miss World. By making history as the first Filipina to win the Miss World pageant last night, she also set the record straight especially for those from my generation who many times felt that the Filipina was being deliberately overlooked. ”

But then, Miss USA was stripped of her title weeks later and we were all jubilant that Vangie Pascual would be taking her place. It was the next best thing. Never happened. The throne remained vacant until the next year’s pageant. It was the Brit thing, we all thought again.

Well, only recently, I read in a blog post somewhere that it was, in fact, Pascual who refused the title because it would mean having to give up the many good things that had started to come her way as a consequence of her being first runner-up.

In recent years, Ruffa Gutierrez, Gwendoline Ruais and Queneerich Rehman all came close; but the title of Miss World remained elusive as ever. And when Miss China won in China – not once but twice – we all remained as suspicious of the Miss World pageant as we ever were.

Of course, the truth was, although we all resigned ourselves to the likelihood of never winning this one and would probably not say it out loud, we were also all hoping that the Miss World would finally come around and see how beautiful the Filipina is.

We are a nation of suckers for basketball, boxing and beautiful women. Hence, it was galling never to have won the Miss World.

But then Megan Young came along…

I had a feel-good about her chances the day I learned that she had won the local Miss World qualifying pageant. Reports said that she is an actress and television presenter although nowhere near the same league as Ruffa Gutierrez was when the latter represented the country in the Miss World.

However, I used to watch Megan Young in this silly little afternoon teleserye called ‘Hiyas,’ for which she starred opposite Zanjoe Marudo. The plot of the teleserye was really in the category of the ‘nakakabobo’ but I continued to watch it, nonetheless, because Megan looked so lovely even though she was obviously miscast as a taong gubat.

Just before flying out to Indonesia for the pageant, Megan Young also was a guest at GGV. Not only did she look stunning; for once it was Vice Ganda who looked star-struck. She was so in control of herself and the situation that not once during the supposed raunchy interview did Vice try to overstep the line, as he sometimes does with other guests.

Stunning looks. A strong personality. Obvious intelligence. Excellent command of both Filipino and English. Megan Young looked every bit a Miss World in waiting.

Last night, the decades of bitter waiting finally came to an end in Bali. And yes, we can all admit now that we really do all care about the Miss World. Indeed, there is a time for everything. Vangie Pascual, Ruffa Gutierrez, Gwendoline Ruais and Queneerich Rehman would all have made great Miss Worlds.

But Megan Young, in my humble opinion, is perfect as Miss World. By making history as the first Filipina to win the Miss World pageant last night, she also set the record straight especially for those from my generation who many times felt that the Filipina was being deliberately overlooked.

My only gripe is that the local network that covered the event did so with a delayed telecast. All of us who cared should have been witness to history unfolding as it happened, instead of having to stay up late for a show the conclusion of which was already splattered all over social networks.

Acknowledgment: Photo from http://atrl.net/forums/showthread.php?t=433725.

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