It's that time of the year again (albeit a bit late). It's time to crown the new queens in our national pageant. I haven't paid much attention this year compared to the last couple of years because of some life-changing moments I had in the past months.
Predicting this year's winners is very hard because of what Catriona brought to the table. She raised the bar so high that it's quite impossible to choose the girl who can be her worthy successor. I managed to predict correctly the last Miss Universe Philippines since 2015 (check these links: Pia, Maxine, Rachel, Catriona) but I am NOT very sure this year. I can be off with my choices. Pageant experience, the all-important Q&A, and DESTINY will definitely play a big role in today's crowning.
THE TOP 8
It all boils down to the Top 8. Whoever will be on the Top 8 will be deliberated on by the judges and the BBP Execom and lawyers for the crown and runners-up assignments. Age eligibility, criteria fit, and rules of the international pageants will all be considered and matched with the Top 8 girls.
Here are my Top 8 bets: ARNOLD, LO, RUSHTON, TIGLAO, BERNARDO, ABESAMIS, GANADOS, MAGTANONG. It's just a matter of who will be placed where and how consistent they will be at the Finals (think Sandra Lemonon of BBP 2018 and Sirene Sutton of BBP 2017 who bombed the all-important Q&A).
I based the above choices from their performances at the National Costume Show (Fact: 6 out of the 8 are in the Top 10 of NatCos), the Free Speak, the Press Presentation, and the JAG Jeans show and their Top 10. All the rounds are included in the preliminary competition except the latter. Check out my "attempt" in predicting this year's placers (it was really hard and I will not be surprised if I'll be off.
MISS UNIVERSE PHILIPPINES
Vickie Rushton of Negros Occidental
Our goal for Miss Universe 2019 is to send a candidate that would continue the 9-year streak of the Philippines in the Miss Universe. I honestly believe that it's impossible for a back-to-back Team Philippines crown but I am hoping for a Top 6 finish at least. There are three (3) ladies whom I think will get the crown. I kept on going back and forth and finally decided just this afternoon to go with a Vickie Rushton-Gazini Ganados-Hannah Arnold win for the top crown.
Vickie Rushton is MEANT to get the Miss International crown but I also realized that she can push the envelope further and aim higher for Miss Universe Philippines. We need someone who is very ready and prepared to go to Universe. Vickie diligently paid her dues for a year as a runner-up to the current queens and she improved a lot from Vickie 1.0. I am quite certain that she will be victorious tonight. She is surely a lock for the Miss International title but I will not be surprised if she will win it ALL.
Vickie Rushton is MEANT to get the Miss International crown but I also realized that she can push the envelope further and aim higher for Miss Universe Philippines. We need someone who is very ready and prepared to go to Universe. Vickie diligently paid her dues for a year as a runner-up to the current queens and she improved a lot from Vickie 1.0. I am quite certain that she will be victorious tonight. She is surely a lock for the Miss International title but I will not be surprised if she will win it ALL.
Alternates: Gazini Ganados and Samantha Bernardo are my true favorites to win the crown. Both have the face and body for Miss Universe but they have a lot of areas to improve on. Either can win if BBP believes that they are still trainable in time for the pageant. Sam had this on the bag but she messed up in the Free Speak segment which was shown in the pre-pageant. We've gotten used to sending eloquent queens manlalamon ng mic like Catriona and Rachel so this might be an stretch for Sam if she will not pass the Q&A.
