The Philippines and the UNIVERSE

Filipinos are notable beauty pageant connoisseurs. We are the only country can consider beauty contest as our national sport. 😂

I think everyone I know - gay or straight watches the Ms. Universe live telecast. It is one of the most anticipated event every year that viewership would equal or sometimes exceed Manny Paquiao's boxing title fights. It is quite ironic because basketball is considered our national sports. Nationwide participation is more present in the Ms. Universe than professional basketball.

We have our own local version of Ms. Universe contest during our barangay fiestas. Which becomes more of a comedy show because participants are gay and transwoman members of the community. Contestants are parading their versions of Ms. Universe and even celebrities look alike. Entertainment like this is quite simply original Filipino. 

Filipinos solidarity for their candidate is a force to reckon with. We are always a top candidate in online voting. I can see people reposting posts calling people to vote for our candidate in droves on social media platform. Support like that can be very useful if we put that same effort politically. 😂

The recent social media backlash on the 2023 Ms. Universe held in  El Salvador perceived fiasco on the Top 5 candidates finalist stirred controversy. Some saying  that it was more of a cooking show (luto ang laban) instead of beauty pageant. Probably to a lot of Filipino fans thought it was rigged because this year's candidate showed the same level of competency as the previous winners from our country. Filipino fans had high hope that Michelle would be the next Filipina to win the title. 

But we didn't win. That showed the ugly sides of Filipino fans like a faithful lover scorned.