Angela Nainang from Mabalacat (left) and Patrizia Garrido Bosco representing the Fil-Italian community (right) were introduced as official candidates
Day 2 at the Mutya ng Pilipinas 2014 Metro Manila screenings at Sequoia Hotel in Quezon City was quite eventful with the announcement of 2 official candidates:
Angela Nainang from Mabalacat, Pampanga. She was chosen during a previous screening held in the province. Angela is a graduate of Medical Technology and passed the board exam earlier this year. She holds the title of Miss San Fransico 2013 and was 1st Runner-up in Miss Mabalacat 2014.
Patrizia Garrido Bosco who is based in Italy and will be representing the Fil-Italian community in this year’s competition. The half-Pinay, half-Italian head-turner works as a model (sfilata di moda) in Milan. She speaks English well but with a strong Italian accent and knows a few words in Pilipino.
These gorgeous girls all dream of becoming beauty queens…
Fifteen darlings showed up for today’s screening while yesterday’s haul was 17. Not as many girls as last year because another pageant seemed to have sucked up all the pretty girls in sight. It seems that this pageant is trying to get into the Guinnes Book of World Records by having some 200 contestants in its upcoming tilt!
No matter, Mutya ng Pilipinas has produced world-class beauties like Bea Santiago, Mutya Datul, Rizzini Gomez, Angeli Dione Gomez and Koreen Medina in recent years and we can expect the franchise to produce more international winners in spite of the low turn out.
As for me, I spotted at least 3 crown-worthy beauties who won’t disappoint us abroad! But I’m keeping my choices a secret since I’m part of the screening panel. If I do announce my favorites, it will be on the day before coronation…
Backstage as the girls wait for their turn to be presented…
Apart from scrutinizing the applicants on their physicality, the screening panel gets to dig into the minds of the girls during the one-on-one session. It can be very nerve-wracking for them but to be honest, I was pleased with this year’s batch – most of them handled our (sometime intrusive) questions quite well.
The style I prefer of course is the natural way of answering. I do not really find it attractive when contestants ‘speechify’ or talk as if they are declaiming or announcing big news. Unfortunately, speechifying is the trend among our contestants even up to now. While that sells in the Philippines, it doesn’t impress judges in big international pageants.
Cristine Racel from Olongapo was the most familiar face in today’s screening
The most notable applicant was Cristine Racel whom most pageant fans will remember as the first runner-up of Janicel Lubina in Slimmer’s World Miss Bikini Philippines 2013. In many ways, Cristine here is more blessed than Janicel because Simmer’s World was able to send her to the Miss Tourism Queen Asia 2013 in China where she placed 3rd Runner-up. But Janicel, who was supposed to compete in a pageant in Egypt earlier this year, did not get her visa so the opportunity ended up in smoke.
The 15 applicants on Day 2 of Mutya ng Pilipinas 2014′s screening. The 2 girls in the foreground are official candidates…
I wonder if the winner of Mutya ng Pilipinas 2014 is somewhere in this photo above. Perhaps yes… perhaps no. We will find out on coronation night, August 8, 2014, Friday at Solaire. The pageant will be televised at a later date on GMA7.
We will know the official list of contestants on Day 3 of the screening which is set for Friday, June 27, 2014. For now, we can expect 30 girls on that list and you can expect to see their names on this blog as soon as I can post them. Here are more photos of what ABQ saw at today’s screening…
My seatmate on the screening panel – beauty queen Bong Dimayacyac, who is on vacation in Manila right now!
The official photographer of Mutya ng Pilipinas at work…
Mama Rene Salud and Lynette Padolina… screening judges!
Official Mutya ng Pilipinas 2014 Candidate Patrizia Bosco in the foreground with some of the applicants behind her.
Mama Rene Salud (middle), Lynette Padolina (right) and official Mutya ng Pilipinas 2014 candidate Angela Nainang (left)… with some of the applicants.
