| | There
may have been beauty tilts earlier that were not properly documented, so the personalities
may have slipped from our memory.
Over
the years, it may have been known by different titles such as Miss Tagbilaran,
Tagbilaran's Five Prettiest, Miss Teen Tagbilaran, Mutya sa Tagbilaran or Miss
Young Tagbilaran, even spanning the terms of former City Mayors Venancio Pahang
Inting, Rolando Gatal Butalid, Jose Ma. Fama Rocha, Jose Valles Torralba and now
Mayor Dan Neri Lim and handled by the City Government of Tagbilaran, Leo Club
of Tagbilaran, Chocolate Hills Lady Jaycees or Pastillas Jaycees, but just the
same, these beauty pageants never fail to catch the fancy of the people who have
an eye for pulchritude.
As
Tagbilaran turned 40 with a big bang last July 1, we also recall the ladies who
were privileged to be its ambassadors of goodwill, who have successfully represented
Tagbilaran in higher levels of competitions, or have helped in promoting the best
assets of the City by serving as role models of the youth.
After
four fruitful decades, the City has grown by leaps and bounds, so has beauty pageants.
It's not just about the face and figure, poise and bearing, talent and intelligence
or that "thing' they call x-factor. It has evolved, gone beyond simply looking
at the physical attributes of each candidate, but most importantly, it has given
the definition of "beauty with a purpose." So, what has become of our
former titleholders?
In
April 1986, Zosita Caliao Clarin was crowned Miss Tagbilaran in the pageant sponsored
by the Leo Club of Tagbilaran (married to Godofredo Manigque, as a mother, Suzette
has raised four lovely children, the eldest "Margo," destined to become
Miss Tagbilaran exactly 20 years after her own victory). Three months after that,
the City Government of Tagbilaran organized the 1986 Tagbilaran's Five Prettiest
and proclaimed Liza Pusta Laway (now with the audit division of the Holy Name
University Finance Office), Gemma Marina Reyes Manding (a Philippine Airlines
flight attendant for almost two decades), Ma. Josefina Mabilog Manigque (presently
a businesswoman in Bacolod), Helena Monton (a nurse in London) and Leah Vita Castaño.
In the year that followed, Cogon's Fiel Angeli Espejo Araoarao, 17 at that time
(wife of Jerome John J. Gabin from Siquijor and mother of Cielo, Tagbilaran City
Information Officer who served as president of the development information officers
in Bohol and Central Visayas), reigned as Miss Tagbilaran 1987. The blend of American
and Spanish features in Geraldee Vallejo Campbell (now Mrs. Balbona, has traveled
far and wide as a Cathay Pacific flight attendant based in Hongkong) was evident
when she was crowned Miss Teen Tagbilaran in 1988.
Figuring
in Bohol's beauty pageant history as the first Miss Bohol Sandugo titleholder
is Mutya sa Tagbilaran 1989 Winnie Moreno Lim (married for 13 years to Vicente
Ventulan), now director of the rehabilitative services of the Life Care Center
in Port Saint Lucie, Florida, USA. In 1990, a Penshoppe model, Ma. Victoria Gaviola
Labado, became Mutya sa Tagbilaran and is now a fulfilled obstetrician-gynecologist
(wife of Dr. Philip S. Larrazabal, head of the radiology and cancer treatment
of Cebu Doctors Hospital) and heads the Center for Women of the same institution.
One of the pretty and smart ladies of the Matuod Clan from Manga, Mutya 1991 Joanna
Cheryl M. Evardone (a cardiac intensive care unit nurse at Yale-New Haven Hospital
in Connecticut, USA and recipient of the Star Award for Nurses for being one of
the Most Outstanding Members of the Nursing Staff), succeeded Labado. Still a
student of Divine Word College back then and now a bank teller, Suzy Agoncillo
Tabuno was Mutya sa Tagbilaran 1992 and the city's official representative to
the Miss Bohol Sandugo '92.
Adjudged
Mutya 1993 was a no-nonsense lady, Sophia Lorraine Maniwang Alvarez, now Mrs.
Gentallan, lives in Milford, Connecticut with husband Joel (from Antequera) and
10-month-old son Justin Christian and works as registered nurse in the intensive
care unit and coronary care unit of Norwalk Hospital for a little over 5 years
already. In 1994, Vanessa Joyce Matuod Evardone-Astillero, earned the second Mutya
title for the Evardone Family after sister Chewee, continued to triumph as Miss
Bohol Sandugo 1994 pageant and is now having her residency training in internal
medicine at the Caritas Carney Hospital-Tafts University in Boston, Massachusetts.
No pageant was held in 1995. The charming Mary Fragelle Felisilda Tejano from
Lindaville Subdivision held the crown in 1996 (a BA in Mass Communications graduate
of the University of the Philippines - Cebu, she had a stint as administrative
officer of Guardo Realty Development Ventures until she left the company in March
2006 and recently migrated to Brampton, Ontario, Canada). The articulate Socorro
D' Marie Tallo Inting, Mutya sa Tagbilaran 1997 and Miss Bohol Sandugo 1997, is
now a lawyer, a partner in the Mijares and Partners Law Office in Cebu who enjoys
handling civil cases more than criminal cases and likes the challenge of trying
to win a losing case and dealing with the loss of a winnable case.
An
incoming fourth year high school student of Holy Spirit School in 1998, the glamorous
Jezel Bongosia del Rosario, Mutya sa Tagbilaran 1998, finished BS Commerce at
the Holy Name University and was a front office staff of Plantation Bay Resort,
Cebu. Mutya 1999 Marimi Caballo Marapao, the unassuming lass from Lindaville,
crossed boundaries she has never been before as an Asiana Airline flight attendant.
Taloto's Mutya Amor Telmo Zamora, Mutya 2000, is now an accountant working for
the Cebu office of Gulf Airlines, an international airline flying Middle East
and Europe and hopes to take her career a step further by being a flight attendant.
Succeeding Zamora in 2001 was Bool's bet Jacklyn Joy Pilayre Yam, a BSC-Management
Accounting graduate of HNU, best remembered for the "fall" which caused
her a few stitches on the face before the competition (now married and an expectant
mom).
A
multi-faceted lady, Mutya 2002 Costie Jephilin Bojo Besas passed the nurses' board
examination given in June 2005 and the International English Language Testing
System exam administered in November 2005 (in the meantime, she is focusing her
time for self-review and getting ready for the final coaching five days before
the grueling N-CLEX in Hongkong on August 19, her 22nd birthday). Rhoda Lee Logroño
Ligan, Mutya 2003, was one of the examinees of the much-talked about licensure
exam for nurses last June 11 and 12,2006 and patiently waiting for the results,
while working on her application in a call center and forwarding company. Mutya
2004 Lorraine Marie Mapute Evasco, accordingly, is relaxing and processing papers
in Cebu in preparation for departure to New York on August 3 where she intends
to pursue her college after savoring her days at Silliman University as a consistent
BA MassCom honor student of their department. Last year, a group of five lasses
composed of Bool's Richell Pacaldo Angalot (a second year BS Tourism-HSM student
of HNU), Poblacion 1's Anna Karenina Fuentes Cimagala (another believer in the
principles of Florence Nightingale, a third year nursing student at HNU), Mansasa's
April Lynn C. Recio (a second year BSN student of HNU), Katherine Margaret M.
Tejano (recently migrated to Long Beach, California, USA), and Barbie Ann B. Vanta
(was contemplating to enroll in a caregiving course, but went to Davao) were hailed
as Miss Young Tagbilaran 2005 beauties. And for this year, the statuesque Margo
Adelaiz Clarin Manigque, one of the freshest faces on the catwalk as a promising
fashion model and bronze medallist of the Manila Youth Games 2005, a nursing student
of the University of Bohol, epitomizes the traits befitting of a Miss Tagbilaran
2006 titleholder.
Wherever
they may be, they have certainly left their marks in local beauty pageant history
as women who have exuded charm and grace and in later years have exhibited strength
of character and shown compassion to the people whose lives they have touched.
More significantly, the common denominator of these ladies is that they have triumphed
over life's challenges.
(The
writer wishes to express gratitude to the parents, siblings and relatives of the
candidates, Lawrence Medilo, Raymund Buslon, Joel Padolin and Chrysilli Mitzi
Ibaya of Bohol Magazine for willingly sharing their photo collections… ) |
