Reflections from a Cebuana beauty queen

I have never been that close to a beauty pageant stage. This one night, the night of the coronation, I was – one of the perks of being the auditor who hands over the envelope of winners to the emcees. From where I was sitting, no detail escapes. But I wasn’t auditing the candidates, to be honest. Team PwC was simply tabulating the judges’ scores and personally helping the judges input their verdicts electronically. All these for the first-ever Binibining Cebu.

Binibining Cebu is another testament to the creativity in Cebu and the use of partnerships to make something work. This is a big promotion for “unknown” towns of a well-known province, put together by these gentlemen, namely Kenneth Lim, Kenneth Cobonpue, Raymond Tio, Cary Santiago and the Bb. Sugbu Charity Foundation Inc., in cooperation with the Sacred Heart School for Boys Batch 1985 Foundation Inc. Individually, they are neophytes in beauty pageants, but collectively, they delivered a world-class stage that night featuring Cebu’s 54 towns and cities, and the ladies that represented them.

I must admit I heard most of these towns for the first time. I am now familiar with many of them. Some of them I now won’t forget.

I could try to describe the grace the 54 candidates paced themselves with, but my words would not do justice to the human art form that only a live performance can project. That same performance, with shades ranging from the nervous to the confident during the question-and-answer segment, elicited some reflections worthy enough for a piece for ABC this Sunday.

A funny remark always breaks the ice. Ms. Barili was asked what her message would be to the winning candidate if she didn’t turn out to be her. In candid honesty, she replied: “I will tell her, congratulations!” The funny turned to solemn when Ms. Santander, another top 12 candidate was asked, after going on a diet during the pageant weeks, what she would eat first after the pageant. She replied, “Chicharon!” to the crowd’s delight. But she was not referring to any ordinary chicharon: only the chicharon her family produces. The same chicharon business that allowed her parents to put her to school.

The young millennials that the candidates are, they seem to deliver a common message to fellow millennials speaking from their own autobiographies: use willpower, keep pushing, and even go beyond what one thinks one can do. One of the 12 finalists, who eventually made it to the top five, gave what for me is a distinctive take. She implied that among millennials, individuality or being different seems to be the norm.

Her message is, there is nothing negative about being the same – that is, about being in the same “army of people ready to make a difference.” How does one make a difference? Ms. Bantayan has a simple but hard formula: “Instead of asking the question ‘How do I make more money?’ ask instead, ‘What kind of world do we want to live in, what kind of people do we want to breed?’” I swear, right there and then, she was able to make a difference.

There is one other lesson from Ms. Bantayan that is important to reflect upon, and for me, could lead to an important protocol that can raise the standard of living or alleviate poverty in people’s hometowns. She was asked during the semis: if she was to represent a town in Cebu, other than her own, what town would that be? She replied she could only see herself representing the town she grew up in as she has taken it as part of her identity, and “while other municipalities are equally beautiful, there is nothing that will be as beautiful as home.”

Fighting, loyal and sentimental words, I must say, that make me immediately reflect on a common story of people born especially in less-developed towns, or in impoverished ones. They become successful and never look back. If more people who left their hometowns, and became successful, looked back and helped as if it was their moral obligation to do so, there would be more inclusion, fewer towns would be left behind, leading even to a more prosperous national economy.

Probably the most heart-rending message to millennials, and my message of choice this Sunday, came from Ms. Badian. She experienced the grief of losing the man whom she calls her father to a “peaceful goodbye.” She said it taught her that in so far as time with our family is concerned, we cannot take our time, because we do not know how much time is left, so each possible moment with our family must be cherished and embraced. (She won the pageant.)

While her message made me pensive, I reflected on an even more absorbing thought that’s apt for a day of remembrance. I remembered my mother, how she was with me and my siblings, and I thought that we, the children, would not get to love our parents more than they loved us. It seems impossible to outdo that love that nurtured us when we were helpless, hapless and nothing. Perhaps the only time that we can exceed that affection is when they are gone and simply remembered – except that I seem to hear a voice whisper, “Not even then, my child, not even then.”

To the organizers and candidates of Binibining Cebu, hats off for a world-class pageant and its timeless lessons.

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Alexander B. Cabrera is the chairman and senior partner of Isla Lipana & Co./PwC Philippines. He also chairs the Tax Committee of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP). Email your comments and questions to [email protected]. This content is for general information purposes only, and should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional advisors.