By Atty. Howie Calleja
As many of our countrymen sat breathless by their television to watch our Miss Universe hopeful Ms. Rabiya Mateo last Monday, the reality of the pandemic seemed to be set aside for a few hours. She was successful in continuing the decade-long Filipino streak in the Miss Universe to reach the Top 21 but, unfortunately, was unable to go beyond that. Though her preparation, intelligence, and beauty cannot be denied, we must ask ourselves the question: is a beauty pageant in a pandemic insensitive to the situation we find ourselves in today?
The Philippines is known for obsessing over three “B’s”: basketball, boxing, and beauty pageants, and, more often than not, our success -and shortcomings- on the international stage make for great news items the following days. Our long history, and fascination, with beauty pageants began in the Spanish colonial days, whereupon one lucky lady would be picked to be the “Reina Elena” to celebrate the immaculate conception. Later on, the Americans cemented pageantry as a Filipino pastime in the early 1900s, where the Manila Carnival Queen choosing became a celebration of Filipino-American friendship. In no uncertain terms: pageantry is in our blood.
The question that first allowed Ms. Mateo to represent the Philippines on the international stage was “This pandemic has made clear our priorities, essential and non-essential. Where do pageants stand in this time of crisis?” Now, we must ask ourselves this question now. As the international community was rocked by the global pandemic, we look around to see the world’s strongest economies at the brink of collapse, businesses declaring bankruptcy, and world leaders still attempting to rebuild and reunite their countries, is it frivolous to have a pageant?
In my opinion, beauty pageants have only become more necessary over the past year and a half, as we need even more influencers to bring the country’s struggles on a global stage. Seeing what Ms. Myanmar was able to accomplish to advocate for support for democratic protestors in her country, we must recognize the immense capacity for these candidates to shed light on pressing issues facing their country. Ms. Mateo’s advocacy is education and she has spoken about the struggles of distance-learning and advocated for accessibility, a term whose meaning has change since pre-pandemic era; her adaptability in advocating for education in the new normal is commendable and we can only hope that the next Philippine representative will be able to promote relevant policy changes during her tenure.
Though the opposing view could be that pageants are oblivious to our current crisis, optimism does not have to be equated to ignorance. In fact, it may be the very thing that propels us forward into a state of normalcy. To celebrate the beautiful and passionate women in a pageant like Miss Universe may put a pause on the everyday anxiety and stress the country faces, but it also reminds us that there is still much to be excited about. We’ve seen the world attempt to move forward with technological innovation in every sphere of society, and how necessity has become a catalyst for transformation. Why then, shouldn’t we also be excited about the return of entertainment, competition, celebrating the dreams of young women, and everything pageantry is?
Though Ms. Mateo was unable to crack the top 5, most of the questions the top competitors were asked related to our ongoing pandemic and provided insight on how young women all over the world felt about their own government’s policies, and how we can move forward. Truly, they are not oblivious to what is happening outside the glamour of the pageant. Instead, they move forward being a symbol of hope and optimism for a better future for the world, the universe rather.
