Philippines is the only country to have completed all the Big 4 pageants in the span of two years today. The nation quite rapidly achieved its feat of victory in such short span of time. It all started in 2013 with Megan Young’s win at Miss World which marked Philippines’ first victory at the pageant. In the same year, Bea Rose Santiago became the fifth woman from Philippines to wear Miss International crown. 2014 did not left Philippines empty handed as it attained yet another Big 4 crown by Jamie Herrel winning Miss Earth crown. In 2015, Philippines yet again proved its powerhouse status by winning Miss Earth crown back to back, keeping it in Philippines for another year along with proudly grabbing the most glorious crown of Miss Universe.
2013 was another expectant year, when Philippines was trying hard to bring one of the most elusive crown of Miss World. With Megan Young representing Philippines at Miss World the expectations were certainly high. A well known actor, model and VJ, Megan Young was quite confident as she projected herself at Miss World pageant. During the preliminaries, Megan won the "Top Model" competition, placed second in the "People's Choice," placed fourth in the "Multimedia Challenge" and fifth in the "Beach Beauty" contest. A competent Filipina beauty queen, Megan as radiantly vigorous on the coronation night! After advancing through quarter and semi-finals, Megan in her Top 5 question and answer segment expressed: “Miss World for me treasures the core values of humanity. Core values guide people on the way they act and the way they do. I will use this to show other people how they can understand each other. As one, we can help society.”
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Megan not just won the hearts of crowd with her genuine answer but also managed to gain the first Miss World crown for her nation. Megan Young also received the Continental Queen of Beauty title as Miss World Asia 2013, the highest ranked contestant in the Asian region. As Miss World 2013, she traveled to England, France, United States, Haiti, Indonesia, China, Puerto Rico, Hong Kong, Russia, India, Barbados, Spain, Sweden, Colombia and the Philippines.
In the same year, in December, Bea Rose Santiago brought relief to the souls of Filipinos by winning the fifth Miss International crown for her nation when her fellow countrymen were facing the Typhoon trauma. In her final question and answer segment, Bea poured in her heart as she expressed: “The whole world saw my country Philippines suffered. The agony of my people was felt but one by one, country to country came to help. I would like to thank all the nations that helped my country in our darkest hours. You have opened my heart and eyes and how important it is if we all support each other.If I become Miss International, I will uphold international camaraderie. To sustain the spirit for sympathy and to continually share the message of hope. I believe that whatever calamity may come to us as long as long as we have each other, there will be hope.” Bea won the hearts of judges thereby claiming the title rightfully.
In 2015, the proudly Filipina beauty queens appeared yet again as show stealers. The pageant season kicked off with Miss Earth 2015, whereby Angelia Ong not just stole the audience’s spirits by her spectacular evening gown and swimsuit performance but also through her final answer. Angelia made the crowd applaud with her answer when asked by Judge, Eva Krsak for a new Miss Earth slogan for the next 15 years. She said she will replace "Beauty With A Cause" with "We Will Because We Can" because all things are possible if we work together. Angelia became the first ever beauty queen to win the title back to back at Miss Earth along with becoming the third Miss Earth from Philippines.
On December 2015, Philippines yet again won the Miss Universe crown for the third time when Pia Wurtzbach swayed the audience with her breathtaking swimsuit, evening gown and question and answer rounds performances. Pia smartly added her opinion in the final round as she explained: “To be a Miss Universe is both an honor and responsibility. If I were to be Miss Universe, I will use my voice to influence the youth and I would raise awareness to certain causes like HIV awareness that is timely and relevant to my country which is the Philippines. I want to show the world, the universe rather, that I am confidently beautiful with a heart. Thank you.”
Philippines after sweeping the entire Big 4 crowns within two years, has established that it is the new powerhouse of beauty pageants! Do you think 2016 will yet again make Philippines the Performer of Year?