Welcome back, Dayanara!

We Filipinos love beauty queens, and 1993 Miss Universe Dayanara Torres is the classic example. When she won the coveted crown, we joined her fellow Puerto Ricans in cheering for the beautiful señorita who stole our hearts with her movie appearances, dancing and hosting skills.

The then 19-year-old star also won the heart of her leading man, Aga Muhlach (now happily married to another beauty queen, Charlene Gonzales).

How time flies!

Dayanara returned to Puerto Rico in 1998 to continue her singing career, recorded Antifaz, which topped Billboard charts in her country and the Philippines, and met her husband (now her ex), Marc Anthony.

Dayanara also topbilled stage productions, and her Dayanara doll sold like the proverbial hotcakes in the Philippines and Puerto Rico.

When she got married, Dayarana moved to New York City, where she gave birth to Cristian Anthony, 15 and Ryan Anthony, 13. When the union ended in divorce, she and her sons transferred to Los Angeles, which is now their home base.

The former beauty queen, now 42, considers herself lucky for getting work opportunities that don’t take her away from her boys. She worked with the soap opera The Young & the Restless, played the lead in My Network TV/ Fox’s Watch over Me and starred in a few movies.

But before she’s an actress and celebrity, Dayanara is a mom.

“I’ve been mostly committed to raise my boys, and I dedicate my life to them. Priorities change when you become a mother. That is why my principal role has always been to be a mom first,” the single mom smiles.

The boys are older and on their own, however. So, Dayanara decided it’s time she picks up the pieces of her career. Call it fate. Call it coincidence. But when she met Gary Valenciano (himself part-Puerto Rican, courtesy of his mom Grimilda) and his wife Angeli in Los Angeles late last year, Dayanara jumped at the chance to reconnect with her Filipino fans.

Her sons are excited for her comeback and are even proud of their mom, who can balance career and motherhood like a pro.

She asked Angeli to manage her again and decided to return to the Philippines at a time many of us in this pageant-crazy country are going gaga over the 65th Miss Universe contest.

“It’s the perfect time to get back to the country I love so much and keep very dear to my heart. I knew I had to be there,” says Dayanara.

No one knows how a Miss Universe bet — and titleholder — feels like Dayanara does. She knows the tense days and nights, the endless rehearsals and pictorials, the nerve-wracking schedule. But she also knows that all these can lead to that victory walk with the glittery crown on her head and the Miss Universe sash around her waist.

Her advice to this year’s candidates: “Be confident and show your personality! It is a beauty pageant, but it is not judged only on that. Confidence will get you much further than what physical beauty will ever get you to.”

Dayanara knows some girls are absolutely stunning. But the more important thing — the key to the crown — is not so much how they look, but what they are inside. It’s confidence and personality that will win the day.

“It will sweep the judges away every time!” Dayanara vows.

This confidently beautiful lady is bent on making up for lost time. She’s wiser, more experienced. She has a treasure trove of emotions to give her acting — be it in the movies, on TV and theater — more depth.

Just as important, Dayanara still remembers her Tagalog, which she learned to speak and understand the first time she stayed in the Philippines.

Welcome back, Dayanara! — With reports from Almed Garcia and Julian Mauricio