DAVAO CITY—A group calling itself #SpectaHuelars is boosting the advocacy for sports and children’s literacy of a Davaoeña who is on a journey to the crown in this year’s Binibining Pilipinas.
One of the group’s leading personalities, Astrid Mondragon Abanto Cuezon, said it was the group’s first public support of a pageant aspirant who is a resident of this city. Many of the 600 members are spread across the country working in various companies and organizations.
The group of friends formed the hashtag group with the name of Jehza Mae S. Huelar, a candidate of this year’s Binibining Pilipinas. It would be Huelar’s third shot for the crown. She placed second runner-up in the 2016 pageant and landed in the top 10 finalists in last year’s pageant.
Cuezon, who traced her roots to the pioneering families of this city, said her friends found it inspiring for Huelar to work “behind the camera and away from the spotlights all her advocacies and concern for the ordinary people.”
“One time, she solicited donations and help from friends when she heard of a fire here,” she said.
“She would also drop by some streets to teach street children or out-of-school youth,” she said.
“It’s these advocacies that draw us to her, to support her advocacies and to call on many others to help her, especially in helping the disadvantaged children,” she said.
But Huelar told reporters in a mobile phone interview that sports was also her big advocacy.
“When I got depressed one time, I got into sports and helped me out of it,” she said. “I saw its importance on children. Sports does not only help them physically, but also psychologically.”
Despite her low-profile social work, she was tapped to be the Maharlika Sports Ambassador for Children and Youth Affairs and Ambassador of Children and Youth Affairs on film by the Film Academy of the Philippines–Mindanao.
“This time, the #SpectaHuelars would create a noise for her,” Cuezon said. Huelar stands 5’5.5” and two Davaoeño designers crafted her gowns. Her national costume was designed by Neil Patrick Jimlani and her evening gown by Xioti Chiu, who said the gown was inspired by the temples and iconic temples in Thailand when Chiu was there.