Maan Bayot vies in Miss Maja Int’l

Curtain-raisers:
• Our condolences to Korina Sanchez and her family on the death of her mother, Celia Sanchez, 65, last Sunday night (March 28). The remains are at the Santuario de San Antonio in Forbes Park, Makati City.

• From reader Leah Garcia, this piece of good news: Just want to let you know that in the recent staging of Miss Saigon at the Fox Theater here in Michigan, USA, Filipinos, especially Jon Jon Briones as The Engineer were well-applauded. Jennifer Hubilla as Kim was also very good. In some instances, she sounded a lot like Lea Salonga! They made us Filipinos in Michigan really proud.

• A Funfare DPA called my attention to my occasional mention of Diether Ocampo and Andrea Bautista as sweethearts when, in fact, according to the DPA, they are not and have never been. The DPA volunteered the information that Andrea’s boyfriend is a young doctor who recently passed the board exams, the son of a governor (I won’t say of what province, though). The guy, whose surname starts with the letter "Y", heads an agency of the DENR. There. Loud and clear?

• The good news is that the movie The Exorcist: The Beginning might finally be shown before end of the year. But the bad news is that our very own Billy Crawford has been removed from the cast. According to reader Vicente Sorongon (no address given in the e-mail), Billy was excluded from the movie’s reshoots. The movie has long been completed last year and was scheduled for release last February worldwide. But after it failed to impress during its test screening, the studio decided to do reshoots with a new director, Renny Harlin, replacing Paul Schrader. Besides Billy, Gabriel Mann has also been replaced. Oh, my. There goes Billy’s Hollywood debut! Better luck next time.

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Like Maricar Balagtas, 2004 Bb. Pilipinas-Universe, 2004 Bb. Pilipinas-International Margaret Ann "Maan" Bayot, 21, believes in trying and trying again until she succeeds. In 2002 when she first joined the Binibini, Maan finshed first runner-up and that same year she was tapped to represent the Philippines in the Miss Internet WWW in Turkey where she placed second runner-up.

Again, like Maricar, Maan doesn’t mind being tagged a "repeater" because she isn’t the only one anyway. Previous losers who eventually bagged the title went on to win honors in international contests. Name (just) one? Lalaine Bennett, the first Filipina to finish runner-up in the Miss Universe Pageant in l963. Lalaine, now a widow residing in the US, was Miss Luzon the first time she joined the Miss Philippines contest and won the title the following year.

Besides competing in the Miss International contest to be held in China in September, Maan got a "bonus" by also representing the country in the just-revived Maja International contest in Colombia (home country of Bb. Pilipinas Charities, Inc. head Stella Marquez-Araneta).

The Maja contest, organized to honor the memory of world-famous painter Don Francisco de Goya, was last held in 1995. The very first Maja contest was held in 1966 in Zaragoza, Spain, with Bernice Romualdez as the Philipine bet. In 1973, the Maja title was included among the four at stake in the Binibini search. The first Bb. Pilipinas-Maja was Nanette Macapagal Prodigalidad who placed first runner-up in the Miss Maja International contest that year.

So far, no Filipina has won the Maja title (but dozens have finished runners-up), making it the only other international title that has proven to be elusive to the Philippines, the other being Miss World.

Maan is leaving any day now for Colombia. Let’s wish her godspeed and good luck.

What’s Up?

• The four winners of Calle 5 Food Zone Band Showdown, which is held every Monday and Wednesday, were named recently. They are J. Struxz (March 15), Muzik Power (March 17), Recklo (March 22) and Dynastic (March 24). Another competition is scheduled tonight, sponsored by San Miguel Draft Beer. Calle 5 Food Zone is located at 1328 A. Mabini St., Ermita, Manila.

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