Sushmita Sen: Miss U ’94 crowned in Manila

‘It’s Miss India,’ the Philippine STAR bannered on its front page, May 22, 1994 issue.

Sushmita Sen, the first Miss India to win the Miss Universe title, was crowned on May 21 amid glittering rites at the Philippine International Convention Center.

The beauty pageant comes to mind upon the official announcement that the Philippines is hosting the event on Jan. 30, 2017, replacing our very own Pia Wurtzbach, Miss Universe 2015.

Much earlier, in 1974, Manila first hosted Miss U contest held at the Folk Arts Theater. This columnist attended both ’74 and ’94, staged early in the morning for the benefit of the American television audience who’d be watching them at night (primetime).

Margie Moran crowned Amparo Muñoz of Spain in ’74 and Dayanara Torres of Puerto Rico crowned Sushmita Sen in ’94.

Sushmita may well be called a surprise winner, ‘eclipsed’ by South American and European beauties during the preliminaries. Then came that all-important question-and-answer portion. ‘What is the essence of being a woman?’

Poised and confident, Sushmita answered: ‘The origin of the child is the mother and is a woman. A woman is one who shows a man what love and sharing and caring is all about. That is the essence of a woman.’

How could she lose with that answer?

The finalists were Carolina Gomez of Colombia, Minorca Mercado of Venezuela, Lu Parker of USA, Silvia Lakatosova of Slovak Republic and Charlene Gonzalez of the Philippines.

Will this columnist attend the Miss Universe pageant in January? Chances are YES. Let’s admit it, among the major international beauty tilts (Miss World, Miss International, Miss Earth), Miss Universe is the most popular among Filipinos. — RKC