MA. RAFELA YUNON-BB. PILIPINAS- WORLD-2003

MA. RAFAELA YUNON-BB. PILIPINAS-WORLD 2003

JOSEPHINE ESTRADA-MISS PHILIPPINES-UNIVERSE 1962

JOSEPHINE ESTRADA-MISS PHILIPPINES-UNIVERSE 1962

1962 — Miss Philippines Josephine Brown Estrada left Manila for Miami, Florida by KLM flight via Tokyo and San Francisco. She was seen off at the Manila International Airport by her good friend, Susan Roces.Josephine, who speaks fluent English and Spanish, served as an interpreter to some Latin American delegates. Josephine’s first starring-role movie, June Bride (opposite Eddie Gutierrez), was shown on June 23, 1962, a few days after she left for the pageant. After the pageant, Josephine continued her showbiz career; she was chosen by the Department of Foreign Affairs as an official Ambassadress of Goodwill to the 1965 Berlin Film Festival. She was our lone delegate to the 1965 David de Donatello Film Festival in Italy. In 1966, she received the Ciriaco Santiago Memorial Award from the FAMAS.

She is now based in the United States.

Melanie Marquez -Miss International 1979

Mimilanie Laurel Marquez was born on July 16, 1964 and became a Miss International for the year 1979.

She is from Mabalacat, Pampanga and one of the daughters of the late director, Artemio Marquez. After winning the beauty crown, she went on to to pursue a career in modelling and show business, where she uses her nickname Melanie as a screen name. She has been active as an actress, TV host, film producer, and most recently, as a celebrity endorser.

In addition to being Ms. International 1979, Melanie was also the Face of the 80s winner in New York in 1985, was first runner-up in the Supermodel competition in 1986, and was the Most Glamorous Woman in Italy, also in 1986. In 2005, she also competed in the Mrs. World pageant.

Melanie also continues to coach girls internationally in pageants, often making appearances at local ones; her most recent noted appearances included the Binibining Pilipinas World of BC 2004 pageant, and the Binibining Pilipinas World of Canada pageant, 2004. She was voted as the Most Beautiful Miss International in 2000.

Melanie had been to hell more times than what were probably enough for one lifetime. Before Adam, she already had four children from three husbands-Manuelito, 21, from action star and Pampanga Governor Lito Lapid; Mazen, 13, from an Arabian businessman; and Maxene Xuxa, 11, and Michelle Zarah, 8, from actor Derek Dee.

The twists and turns in her colorful life could shame those of a telenovela with the most convoluted script.

According to Melanie, "The most difficult part was when everything seemed to conspire against her.


Her ex-husband wanted her in jail. She said she was afraid, she'd lose custody over her two daughters. She had to run away with them and entered the US through the Mexican border because one of them didn't have valid papers.

His eldest son Manuelito rebelled against her. She had to flee to another country to lick her wounds and reassess her life.

Filipina,Gemma Cruz Araneta,Miss International,celebrities

Gemma Cruz Araneta- First Filipina Miss International

GEMMA CRUZ-ARANETA




Gemma Teresa Guerrero Cruz Araneta is the first Philippine delegate to win the Miss International title in the pageant's fifth edition in Long Beach, California in 1964. She is the first Filipina to win an international beauty pageant tilt.

Araneta received "Outstanding Manileña" and also, was awarded by President Diosdado Macapagal the "Golden Heart" Presidential decoration.

Araneta's paternal great-grandmother was Doña Maria Rizal, the sister of Philippine's national hero, Jose P. Rizal.



She earned the right to represent the country by winning the Miss Philippines pageant, sponsored by the City of Manila in 1964. Araneta donated the US$10,000 prize money she won as Miss International to Boys Town and Girls Home , a place where indigent and out of school youth are housed in Marikina City in the Philippines. This led the Congress to pass a resolution to exempt her from paying taxes.


Article about Gemma Cruz Araneta:

Gemma Cruz Araneta on Miss International

Did you have a feeling you were going to win? People still ask me that question. Perhaps it is because I am best remembered as the first Filipina who brought home an international beauty title.

That was in 1964 and the official title was "International Beauty Queen", 1965-- Miss International, for short. To avoid being misunderstood, I always say that I did not expect to win but, in fact, since the 1960's, I have had a theory about international beauty contests which I had never shared with the public. Last 5 May 2002, it occurred to me that "Points of View", a TV talk show co- hosted by humorist/ writer Jessica Zafra and publisher/Congressman Teodoro Locsin,Jr, would be the ideal forum for my ideas. They had invited several beauty queens, a local contest organizer and a gay talent scout to discuss why the Philippines has not won a major beauty title in the last two decades or so.

I did not attempt to answer that question and embarked on my theory instead: After the Second World War, international beauty contests were organized ostensibly to promote goodwill among nations. Miss Finland, Armi Kuusela, won the first Miss Universe title in Long Beach, California. Was it a mere coincidence that Finland happened to be the first country to pay the USA its war debts? Interesting, isn't it?

There were years when Latin American candidates all but monopolized the international beauty arena even as that region seethed with political and socioeconomic dissent, endangering vast North American investments in the agricultural and mining sectors. Then the focus shifted to Western Europe. A blonde Miss Germany was crowned Miss Universe shortly after the Berlin Wall was erected. Coincidentally, she was a beautiful refugee from the communist East.

Perhaps, I am over-extending the efficacy of political analysis but at the inception of the Cold War and during its peak, global beauty contests were not as blatantly commercial nor as vulgar and frivolous as they are now. Goodwill, the avowed objective, was a diplomatic persuasive device and an elegant euphemism for a savage hunt for new markets and huge profits.


Be that as it may, I have always maintained that due to a certain confluence of events in 1964, the atmosphere in Asia made it conducive for a Miss Philippines to win the Miss International pageant which was held yearly in the USA. My having won convinced me that my political hypothesis, though somewhat imaginative, was indeed valid. It can be argued, therefore, that there is more than meets the eye in those international beauty extravaganzas.

For those too young to know, the Vietnam war was raging across the China Sea by the time I had won the Miss Philippines crown. The USA was already neck- deep in the quagmire. Its allies in the SEATO (later ASEAN) were being pressured to send troops to Vietnam. The Philippine President, Diosdado Macapagal, was very reluctant to send our boys to fight somebody else's war. Only medical missions and engineering battalions were committed for civic action programs. Aha, I mused, the USA will have to promote goodwill to soften him up. America bombed Hanoi and Haiphong, a bellicose maneuver that threatened to engulf the whole of Southeast Asia in the war. Upon arrival at Long Beach , I said in an interview that I was worried about not being allowed to leave home because of the Vietnam War.

All the Asian candidates-except Miss Taiwan-made it to the semi-finals. As we jumped with joy, she was livid but I was too busy analyzing my case to figure out if the "one-China policy" had affected her chances. Evidently, Asia had become the center of American attention and interest.

However, a domestic issue that gnawed at the heart of American society-racial discrimination-- suddenly sprang at the horizon. Civil Rights groups were demonstrating in front of Lafayette Hotel, where we were billeted and the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium where the pageant was being held. At that point, local newspapers were already saying that it was " touch- and -go" between Miss USA and Miss Philippines. Suddenly, Miss Brazil, a gorgeous mulata from Rio de Janeiro, suddenly grabbed center stage because of the racism issue. She was the real threat, I concluded, not Miss USA. On the other hand, since we were both "colored", maybe a morena might be just a bit more acceptable to a general public that was not quite ready for a dark mulata beauty queen. Besides, if a morena Miss Philippines should win the title, that would neutralize accusations of racial discrimination.

When Miss Brazil was named Second Runner- Up (third place), she was visibly devastated. She must have thought the racism issue would work in her favor. Then, Miss USA was named First Runner- Up (second place). She beamed and looked as if she understood why. I began to panic- Oh, my God, did I miss someone in the political spectrum or is my theory really valid? I guess it was because just as I vaguely suspected and sincerely hoped, I became the first Filipina to win an international beauty title. So, what do you think? Do political concerns wag international beauty pageants?

source: http://www.voy.com/120884/4/267.html

Filipina,Gemma Cruz Araneta,Miss International,celebrities

Margie Moran-Floreindo-Miss Universe 1973

Maria Margarita “Margie” Roxas Moran-Floirendo, from the Philippines, won the Miss Universe crown in 1973 in Athens, Greece.

The full-time university student and part-time Auggie Cordero model won the right to represent the country in the Miss Universe pageant after winning the Miss Philippines competition. Moran said that she entered the contest because of the incessant urgings of friends and family.

The 19-year-old, 5ft 6in beauty was one of the favorites during that edition, also garnering the Miss Photogenic title.

She eventually married Congressman Antonio "Tony Boy" Floirendo and settled in Davao, managing a resort called "Pearl Farm" in Samal Island.



Filipina,Margie Moran,Miss Universe,celebrities

Gloria Diaz-First Filipina to be crowned Miss Universe

Gloria Diaz-Bb. Pilipinas Universe 1969

She won the title MISS UNIVERSE 1969


Gloria Maria Aspillera Diaz (born 1950) is a veteran in Philippine cinema, and the first Filipino to bring home the Miss Universe crown.

Díaz was born in the Ilocos region of Northern Philippines. Often referred to as one of the Díaz clan in newspapers, Díaz was one of 12 children. One of her sisters, Rio Diaz-Cojuangco, was also a Filipino actress and beauty titlist, who fell ill with colon cancer and died after a six-year battle.

1969 Miss Universe

Díaz was only eighteen when she became Miss Universe of 1969 after outsmarting other candidates on the question on how to welcome the first men that had just landed on the moon--Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins--as soon as they were back on the planet. She was crowned in the international American-owned pageant in 1969 in Florida, USA after their footage was set on the Statue of Liberty in New York.











Gloria Diaz: Gorgeous at 55

By Ricky Lo

If a man on the moon would come down, how would you entertain him?

“I guess since he has been in the moon so long he would enjoy anything that an ordinary man would.”

With that witty answer to a question popped to the five finalists by host Bob Barker, Gloria Diaz, 18, bagged the country’s first Miss Universe crown, with the headlines saying America conquered the moon, because Neil Armstrong took the first ever human step on the moon at the time the 1969 Miss Universe Pageant was being held in Miami, Florida (37 years ago this month), but “the Philippines conquered the Universe!”
It was the first time that the Miss Universe Pageant posed the question to the five finalists. The final question was an off and on feature of the pageant until in 1990 when it had taken root and every pageant since then had the finalists answer a final question.

If asked the same question today, how do you think Gloria Diaz , 55, would answer?
Laughed Gloria, “I would say, ‘I’ll give him a cellphone so he can text me’.”
Cellphones were not even a seed in the electronic mind of inventors during that “Gloria in Excelsis!” era. Since then, so many things have changed.

Gloria joined showbiz after she relinquished her crown and introduced the “wet look” with her first movie, Ang Pinakamagandang Hayop sa Balat ng Lupa; survived a marriage to best friend Bong Daza with whom she has two beautiful daughters, Isabelle (named after Gloria’s character in Pinakamagandang Hayop), 18 a Child Psychology sophomore at La Salle; and Ava, 15, high school junior at Assumption (which frowns on students whose photos appear in the media); plus adopted son Raphael (22, a second year college student at La Salle) who has made Gloria and Bong lola and lolo twice over.
Many other milestones have happened in the life of Gloria who is now happy with her beloved Mike de Jesus (a banker), a very private person who is the exact opposite of all the men linked to Gloria.

In the following conversation, Gloria recalls those days of glory and what else happened between then and now – and why she wouldn’t let any of her daughters follow in her Miss Universe footsteps.
What comes to your mind when you watch a beauty contest, especially a Miss Universe Pageant?

“You know, it’s funny but I don’t relate to the whole proceedings; I relate to the whole thing only when the winner’s name is announced. When I watch a beauty contest, I think of my kids, but not of myself joining. It has nothing to do with me. You know, if Isabelle ever joins a contest... I hope she never will. Even watching fashion shows, hindi ako maka-relate; I only think of my kids in it.”
How did you feel at that moment when the spotlight suddenly focuses on the new winner as soon as you put the crown on her head (her successor was Marisol Malaret of Puerto Rico)?

“That’s the reality. Just before the pageant, you are the focus and the center of everything. But as soon as you pass on your crown, you’re out; nasa sidelines ka na lang. I think they give you 48 hours to vacate the suite and you’re on your own. Baka ngayon, with Donald Trump, baka they give the Miss Universe only 24 hours. In fact, on the night you crown the new winner, you lose your limo; they give it to the new winner.”

Did you feel, you know, rejected?

“No. It’s just... how do you call it?...an awakening – reality striking back. When you are Miss Universe, everything seems so unreal, parang fairy tale. You can have anything you ask for. And then, after one year, it’s back to reality.”
What’s the best thing about being Miss Universe?
“I guess having done my best for the country.”

You’ll forever be the first Filipina Miss Universe.
“You know, the pressure during my time was not that big. The country had never won the crown so I, and the girls before me, were expected to do so. I think the pressure on the girls now is much, much more.”
And the worst, if any?
“I was 18 then and at that time uso ang mga disco and hanging around. I never experienced that phase of growing up. Parang that never happened in my life. Right away, I was working and traveling. I missed all the parties that girls my age were going to.”
Do you realize that that was 37 years ago?
“I know! Isn’t that awesome? Thirty-seven years and we are still around!”
What were your vital statistics when you won?
“34-24-34.”
And now?
“36-27-37.”
Has any part of your body been, well, “enhanced”?
“‘Renovated,’ you mean?”
In a way.
“Not yet, not yet! I don’t want to say never because that’s very difficult to say. But if I hit 60 and I haven’t done it, I guess I won’t. Not that I don’t need it. Nowadays, I’m not basically aware of beauty; I give it na to Isabelle and Ava – you know, sa inyo na ‘yan. I think I’m more aware now of my health. I eat mostly vegetables. I try to avoid fats and sugar.”
You are not the type who dwells on the past, are you? You know, like your failed marriage (to Bong Daza).
“No, I’m not. Bong and I are still good friends. But you know, don’t think that I don’t regret a few things.”
Like what?
“Maybe the thing about Vic Vargas (Who died a few years ago. – RFL). When I think about it now, I get cross, you know. But aside from that, only very few. My marriage to Bong? It wasn’t that bad.”
And you’re happy with Mike now.
“Of course! In fact, if not for Bong, I wouldn’t appreciate Mike.”
He seems to be the exact opposite of Bong.
“Yes, they are exact opposites. You know Bong, tell him that you want to have a party and he can organize one in 15 minutes. You can be sure that all those he invites will come. But Mike and I, even if we plan weeks in advance, if we invite 20 people baka five lang ang sumipot. Mike and Bong are okay. Sometimes pa nga the three of us eat out together.”
Which is more fulfilling, winning a Miss Universe crown or winning an acting award?
If you didn’t become Miss Universe, what would you have been today?
“Maybe I would have finished Law and become a lawmaker and a politician. Maybe I would have joined an NGO and done public service. But definitely, I would be married to somebody rich so I would be honest.”

source: Philpost

Filipina,Gloria Diaz,Miss Universe,Bong Daza

Corazon C. Aquino--Asia' s and Philippines' first Female President

María Corazón Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino (born January 25, 1933), widely known as 'Cory Aquino', was President of the Philippines from 1986 to 1992. She was the first female President of The Philippines. She was Asia's first female President and world-renowned advocate of democracy, peace, women empowerment, and religious piety.

Aquino is the widow of the popular opposition senator Benigno Aquino, Jr., and when he was assassinated at then Manila International Airport on his return from exile on August 21, 1983, she became the focus of the opposition to the autocratic rule of President Ferdinand Marcos.

Corazon Cojuangco was born in Manila into one of the richest Chinese-mestizo families in the Philippines, the powerful Cojuangcos of Tarlac province. Her mother's family, the Sumulongs, also belong to a political Chinese Filipino family in Rizal.

Growing up in a privileged family, she was sent to St. Scholastica's College and finished grade school as class valedictorian in 1943. She was sent overseas to study in Ravenhill Academy in Philadelphia (where Princess Grace Kelly of Monaco once studied), the Notre Dame Convent School in New York, and College of Mount Saint Vincent, also in New York. She studied liberal arts and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree major in French and minor in Mathematics in 1953. She intended to become a Math teacher and language interpreter.

She returned to the Philippines to study Law at Far Eastern University, owned by her cousin Don Nicanor Reyes. In 1955 she married Benigno Aquino, Jr.(Ninoy), who had just been elected mayor of Concepción in Tarlac province at the age of 22. They had five children together: a son, Benigno III, and four daughters, Maria Elena Aquino, Aurora Corazon Aquino, Victoria Eliza Aquino, and television host Kris Aquino.

source: wikipedia

Filipina,Gregoria de Jesus,Corazon Aquino,Kris Aquino

Gregoria de Jesus-Katipunan's Lakambini-Wife of Andres Bonifacio

Gregoria de Jesus

Gregoria was born in Kaloocan on May 15, 1875. Her parents were Jesus de Jesus who was a carpenter and served as gobernadorsillo while her mother was Baltazara Alvarez Francisco.


She married Andres Bonifacio in a Roman Catholic rites at the Binondo Church in 1894 and in another set of rites in the Katipunan in July 1893,the same time when the women’s chapter of the Katipunan was formed.Together with Marina Dizon, Josefa Rizal, Angelica Lopez, Delfina Herbosa and Benita Rodriguez, they were initiated as Katipunan members. She adopted the name Lakambini.

Gregoria and Andres had one child but the child died of small pox and their house in Sta. Cruz was burned. She was designated the keeper of records and the seal of the Katipunan. To escape capture, she often crossed provinces on foot. After Bonifacio’s untimely death, she lived in the mountains of Pasig where she met Julio Nakpil. They were later wed in Quiapo Church in Manila.

They lived in the Quiapo house of Dr. Ariston Bautista, a friend of Filipino propagandists in Spain.

Gregoria died on March 15, 1943.


Filipina,Gregoria de Jesus

Melchora Aquino,the Mother of the Revolution

Known as Tandang Sora, Melchora Aquino,the Mother of the Revolution was born in Banilad,Kalookan City, on January 6, 1812 .

Using her small sari-sari store as refuge, she fed,treated and encouraged Bonifacio with her motherly advice and prayers the Katipuneros under the leadership
of Andres Bonifacio .

She was already old when the revolution broke out in 1896. She had very little education but she was literate.

She was aptly called the "Mother of Katipunan." When the Spaniards learned about her activities, they arrested her and exiled her to the Marianas islands.

When the Americans took possession of the Philippines in 1898, Tandang Sora, like other exiles returned to the Philippines, poor and aging. For a time, she lived with her daughter Saturnina.

On March 2, 1919, she died at the age of 107.

source: National Heroes

Maria Josefa Gabriela Silang-First Filipina to lead a revolution

Maria Josefa Gabriela Silang(March 19, 1731- September 29, 1763)

María Josefa Gabriela Cariño Silang was the first Filipino woman to lead a revolt during the Spanish colonization of the Philippines. An active member of the insurgent force of Diego Silang, her husband, she led the group for four months after his death before she was captured and executed.

She was born on March 19, 1731 in Caniogan, Ilocos Sur,with a mestizo (Spanish / Indigenous Ilocano ancestry). She was adopted by a wealthy businessman who later married her at the age of 20, but left after three years. In 1757, she married again, this time to 27-year-old indigenous ilocano rebel leader, Diego Silang. She became one of his closest advisors.

On May 28, 1763, her husband was assassinated by order of royal and church authorities in Manila. After her husband's death, shefled on horseback to the mountains of Abra to establish her headquarters, reassemble her troops, and rally the Tingguian community to fight. They descended on Vigan on September 10, 1763. But the Spanish garrison was ready, amassing Spanish, Tagalog, and Kapampangan soldiers and Ilocano collaborators to ambush her and rout her forces. Many were killed. She
escaped, alongside her uncle Nicolas and seven other men,but later caught on September 29, 1763. They were summarily hanged in Vigan's plaza, with Gabriela being the last to die.


source: National Heroes


Filipina

Cecilia Muñoz-Palma-First Female Supreme Court Associate Justice

Cecilia Muñoz-Palma (November 22, 1913 — January 2, 2006) was the first woman appointed to sit on the Supreme Court of the Philippines. She was appointed by President Ferdinand Marcos on October 29, 1973, and served in the Court until she reached the then-mandatory retirement age of 65. She later served as the president of the 1986 Constitutional Commission that drafted the 1987 Constitution.

The daughter of a congressman from Batangas, Muñoz-Palma earned her law degree from the University of the Philippines, and a Master of Laws degree from Yale University. She became the first woman prosecutor of Quezon City in 1947. Seven years later, she became the first female district judge when she was named a trial court judge for Negros Oriental.[1] In the next few years, she was assigned as a judge to Laguna and Rizal until her appointment to the Court of Appeals in 1968, the second woman ever to be appointed to the appellate court. In 1973, she again made history, this time as the first female Supreme Court Associate Justice, preceding by eight years Sandra Day O'Connor, the first female justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

source: wikipedia


Filipina,Cecilia Munoz-Palma,First Female Supreme CourtAssociate Justice

Estefania Aldaba-Lim-first woman to become special ambassador to the United Nations

Estefania Aldaba-Lim, Ph.D. (1917-March 7, 2006) was the first female secretary of any Cabinet of the Philippines, serving as Secretary of Social Services and Development from 1971 to 1977. She obtained her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Michigan in 1942. She was also the first Filipino clinical psychologist.

She played prominent roles as the former assistant secretary general of the United Nations Children's Fund's International Year of the Child. Aldaba-Lim served as President of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines. She also founded the Museo Pambata in Manila. In 1948 she set up the Institute of Human Relations at Philippine Women's University . Ms. Aldaba-Lim became was the first woman to become special ambassador to the United Nations, with the rank of assistant secretary general during the International Year of the Child in 1979. She received the UN Peace Medal Award from then Secretary General Kurt Waldheim.

source: wikipedia

Filipina