Miss Universe Philippines 2020 Rabiya Mateo was one of the first contestants to arrive in the USA as she along with two other queens met at Filipino-owned O Spa and Skin Care in Cerritos, California to film a few video segments for the upcoming Miss Universe pageant. Since Rabiya had been in the host country for a long time, Team Philippines couldn’t send her off with a press conference then.
The Miss Universe Philippines team organized a virtual send-off media conference earlier today for Rabiya few days away from the commencement of Miss Universe 2020. The conference was attended by the press from Philippines and some pageant bloggers along with the directors of Miss Universe Philippines.
Rabiya attended the conference from Fort Lauderdale, which is where she is staying for the time being until she arrives to the Miss Universe bio-bubble, Hard Rock Resort, Hollywood on 6th May 2021. A few miles away from the final venue and hopefully a few miles away from the crown, Rabiya shared her experience right from her arrival to her journey till date and how prepared she is for the competition being so close.
Shamcey Gurrea Supsup-Lee was the first person to address the conference as she conveyed her best wishes to Rabiya. She was proud of Rabiya and her journey and said she wouldn’t be surprised if Rabiya brought home the fifth crown for the country. She also appreciated Rabiya for her journey and asked her to just enjoy and savor every moment at the competition and everything will fall into place. ”No matter what happens, we are all very proud of you and you will always be our queen,” she added.
When asked on if given a choice who would Rabiya choose as her roomie, she replied if it were up to her, she would like to be roomies with Adline Castelino of India so she can fill up the half of her Indian heritage with more cool learnings. She also added that till now she has only met Laura Olascuaga of Colombia and Vanessa Velasquez of El Salvador in person so far and is excited to bond with more of her sisters soon.
Rabiya also shared her belief in the ‘Something old, something borrowed’ tradition to bring luck to her as she hinted on something that former Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach has passed on to her. According to the tradition, you should borrow something from a friend or loved one in a successful pageant journey for the most luck, but any important friend or loved one will do just like Pia in this case. For Rabiya, it is all about what you believe, but it is certainly fun to partake in this tradition and think of creative "something old" winning ideas for a competing candidate like her.
She shared something Miss Shamcey shared with her i.e. the mantra to “Know when to peak”, that is why for her it is okay to conserve some energy in some aspects of the competitions and put out her best in the preliminary competition and which is why she shared that she has been practicing to have that winning perspective.
Addressing the recent online turmoil where Amanda Obdam and Nova Stevan received unpleasant comments from Filipino fans, apologies from Miss Universe Philippines Rabiya Mateo, which were made virtually to Nova and Amanda for the treatment of their fans. She also shared that she along with her team has been planning to make a video asking everyone to stop bashing other countries.
Ending the conference on a positive note Rabiya assured her countrymen with her preparations and confidence as she said, “I can say I am ready for the biggest fight of my life.” Rabiya has been in limelight since the very beginning and has been people’s favorite not just in her country but all around the world. Sending all our best wishes her way, we are eager to see the queen rule the stage.