well said, Paolo

the recently concluded bb.pilipinas has, once again, ignited controversies among filipinos worldwide. janina san miguel, one of the candidates who later went home with the bb.pilipinas-world title, is the central character of it all. i don’t want to go into details on the hoopla and carnivale that is bb. pilipinas; technology a.ka. youtube has documented every single detail of that evening that will forever be etched in philippine pageant history.

as i’ve mentioned, one lady has been the consistent recipient of all the laughters, ridicules, and disgust. her difficulty to expressing herself in good english has catapulted janina to superstardom (or, probably, notoriety). wherever you go, her bb.pilipinas story is the focal point of every conversation. i didn’t hear anybody, even the nicest of  ‘em all, to defend this 17-year old representative of our country to the much competitive ms. world beauty pageant, not until Paolo Bediones’ (the pageant’s host) interview was published. 

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"PAOLO BEDIONES DEFENDS MISS RP-WORLD WINNER" 

MANILA, Philippines—So much has been written and said about Bb Pilipinas-World Janina San Miguel’s comedy of errors during the pageant. If there’s one person who has the right to size up Janina, it’s pageant host Paolo Bediones who was right beside her when she fumbled. Here are Pao’s sentiments about the much ballyhooed incident:

“When I called Janina San Miguel up to the front, I warmed her up just like the rest with a simple question to reveal more of her personality and hopefully remove any nervousness. I asked if she felt any pressure considering she had just won best in swimsuit and long gown. She said that she felt no pressure to which I quipped sincerely ‘Confident! Please choose a name of a judge!’—the whole time thinking to myself we have a winner here.

“Then it began…

“No need transcribing it here since Youtube has over 300,000 hits by now of that fateful incident that will forever etch Janina’s name in pageant history. The poor kid was lost in her thoughts amidst the thousands of people at the Araneta.

“Was she deserving of the crown? Based on the criteria for judging and the process the SGV implemented, the answer to that question is an emphatic yes. Beauty of face and figure comprised a total of 80 percent and remember she won both the long gown and swimsuit competition which leaves us with 20 percent to be divided evenly between personality and intelligence. Yes for this pageant, 10 percent for intelligence was all that was allotted.”

Huge headstart

“So no matter how badly she may have performed in the Q&A, she couldn’t have lost much considering she had a huge headstart in the scores.

“What now for Janina, the candidate who gained notoriety by simply being herself, the candidate who was able to eclipse national issues by uttering a few grammatically incorrect phrases and the candidate who took home one of the coveted crowns? While many ridicule her and brand her undeserving I have but one thing to say: I admire her for not buckling under the pressure and for being as blatantly honest as possible.

“She wasn’t pretending to be anything. Standing beside her, I could feel her sincerity to come up with a satisfactory answer despite the handicap she had in communicating effectively in English.”

Feeling sorry

“Did I feel sorry for her? Yes, I did. Do I feel sorry for her now? No. I am so excited to see how God will pull her out of this. She is now experiencing so much persecution that adults many years her senior would have difficulty facing. It’s so easy for us to say ‘we would have done better given the chance’ but do we know for sure? Do we know what it feels like to be in front of thousands, watched by millions worldwide probably with the pressure knowing if we do well it could be the answer to lift our family out of its current economic state? Do we know what it feels like to be booed endlessly way after the pageant is over?

“At 17, Janina now knows the truth. Life can be cruel, but here’s the good news: Train hard for the pageant, work on your skills and enhance your talents. Mabuhay ka, Janina San Miguel!"

*sparkles!