RECENTLY crowned Miss Philippines Earth 2016 Imelda Bautista Schweighart, 21, says it is still a challenge to convince people that beauty contests are relevant in today’s society.
Even if she is a millennial, the Filipina-German beauty admits in a recent interview that promoting beauty contests is a platform to promote worthy causes just like the Miss Earth beauty pageant.
“I want more people to know that Miss Earth does only produce beauty queens but also advocates environmentalism and sustainable development,” Schweighart said.
As far as the Miss Puerto Princesa City stunner is concerned, her top agenda are soil protection and organic farming.
“We are much affected because most of the vegetables have no nutrition,” Schweighart said. “So soil protection from genetically modified organism and chemically engineered seeds are needed.”
She added that government must not give a big allocation of resources to infrastructure despite its dismal state which has caused a big dip in the country’s productivity.
“Instead of putting the budget there, put the budget to livelihood and [to] the poor [to] educate them, shelter them,” Schweighart said. “The education is toward organic farming.”
Schweighart said winning the pageant would allow her to amplify the awareness toward her advocacy.
She said Puerto Princesa, Palawan, will always hold a special place in her heart “because it offers good food, great people, beautiful sceneries and adventure.”
Different take
FOR Aurora Yumul, artistic director of Fringe Benefits Production, beauty contests are now more commercialized compared to earlier days.
“At present, title holders are expected to join show business and hook up with a movie actor to get a bigger mileage,” Yumul said in a text message.
It was different in the 1960s, according to Yumul, where women from well-heeled families join the contest.
One is Gemma Cruz, who later won the 1964 Miss International contest.
By winning the 1969 Miss Universe title, Gloria Diaz made the beauty contests more popular in the country. Earlier, a sub culture on beauty contests was reinforced when Filipino businessmen Virgilio Hilario and Jorge Araneta married 1952 Miss Universe winner Finnish Armi Kusela and 1964 Miss International Stella Marquez of Colombia, respectively.
Important element
THE height of student activism in the late 1960s and early 1970s had an impact on two beauty-contest participants that they responded to the call of the times.
Nelia Sancho and the late Maita Gomez proved that beauty queens are not just for the glamorous world when they joined the underground movement against the Marcos dictatorship.
In another interview, Emmie de Jesus, party-list representative of Gabriela, said they are against beauty contest.
“We don’t want beauty contests because it is a commodification of women,” de Jesus said. “Despite the good objectives of the contests, a beautiful face and sexy figure are going to be the most important elements in the contest.”
Still, Yumul believes beauty pageants will be around for a long time because many benefit from it. The bottom line is, it is business and some people are making money from it, Yumul added.
