Newly appointed Tourism secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat dashed the hopes of a pageant crazed nation, when she clearly denied the possibility of hosting a Miss Universe 2018 in Philippines.

The talks of hosting Miss Universe 2018 in Philippines had started when the country ex-tourism secretary Wanda Teo had said it would help boost tourism for the Boracay beach which was shut earlier this year due to pollution. Teo resigned following a Commission on Audit (COA) report on the department awarded P60 million for ads to Bitag Media, a company owned by her brother Ben Tulfo.

"Hindi muna (Not) this year," Romulo-Puyat told a section of the media, shutting down any possibilities for any more rumours regarding the case. She cited financial reasons for the same. Puyat said that even with sponsors, the goverment will have to shell out money to host the pageant.

"Parang kakaroon lang natin ng Miss Universe. Maybe maghintay-hintay muna tayo. Baka there are other programs that we can implement other than Miss Universe," she added.

(We just had a Miss Universe here. Maybe it would be best to wait for now. I think there are other projects that we can implement other than Miss Universe.)

Puyat, who had been in the Department of Agriculture prior to her new post, said she wants to improve on the DOT's other projects, particularly those linked to culinary and agri-tourism.

"There are other ways to promote tourism. And Miss Universe is a very good program, but baka pwede tayo maghanap ng ibang programa like try natin i-continue yung Madrid Fusion kasi, hindi lang iyon nakatulong sa culinary tourism natin but nakatulong din sa ating agrkultura."

(There are other ways to promote tourism. And Miss Universe is a very good program, but there might be other projects we can try, like continue Madrid Fusion. Because not only has this helped our culinary tourism but also our agriculture sector.)

This news surely has come as a disappointment to a lot of Filipinos, and also puts a question mark on Philippines’ chances to hold another Miss Universe in the near future.