While Philippines has proven to be a powerhouse in the pageantry with wins in all Big4 pageants, the country is yet to pioneer its win at Miss Grand International. This year, Samantha Panlilio is representing Philippines at the international pageant and has emerged as the front-runner for the coveted crown.

From her send off party where she was focused on realizing her dream to giving stellar performances at the preliminary competitions, Samantha has shown that she has the potential to debut her country’s win in Thailand and bring the crown home.

On being asked why she deserves to be the first winner of Miss Grand International crown, Samantha replied, “I think that I should be the first Filipina to be crowned as Miss Grand International because I know that I have the grit, I’m ready to work, and whatever the challenge you put in front of me, I know that I can handle it.”

It is also interesting to note that both the Binibining Pilipinas winners who represented Philippines at their respective international pageants, brought home the international crowns; Cinderella Faye Obeñita was crowned Miss Intercontinental 2021 in Egypt, while Maureen Montagne was named Miss Globe 2021 in Albania. If Samantha brings home the Miss Grand International 2021 crown, she will be the third Binibining queen to consecutively win the crown.

Seeing both the beauties bring home their crowns, it has motivated Samantha to do better. She said, “You know, at first, I’m only human, I did feel the pressure. But at the end of the day, I’d like to take it as inspiration because they have done amazing. And that drives me even harder to do better for Miss Grand International.”

“They give me motivation…. I saw that they were just so confident and they were really able to just keep everything together.… Instead of taking it as pressure and putting all the weight on my shoulders, I’m taking Maureen and Cindy’s wins as an inspiration to push me even harder, to really clinch that first golden crown”, she added.