MANILA, Philippines — For the second part of her “This is the Philippines” tourism video explaining the origin of her national costume, Philippines’ representative for Miss Universe 2018, Catriona Gray, highlighted the resilience of the Filipinos in Visayas.
In her seven-minute video released Tuesday, Gray showed clips of the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan or Yolanda that took more than 20,000 lives in 2013.
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“When everything you love has been ripped from you, how do you find the strength to keep going? Maybe the answer lies in our history. Within every Filipino is a warrior,” Gray wrote on her Instagram account.
Gray also interviewed a resident in Tacloban, Leyte affected by the typhoon. She also featured the historic MV Eva Jocelyn from Samar, which was washed off ashore Tacloban during the height of Yolanda.
MV Eva Jocelyn was later on dubbed “Yolanda Shrine” to commemorate the victims of the deadly typhoon.
The video was aptly titled, “This is Visayas: Survivors and Warriors,” as it did not only show the struggles of the people of Visayas during the typhoon, but also showed Visayan culture, which included the Pintados festival.
Gray shared that” the tattoos represent an individual’s journey and a public testimony recounting acts of combat, bravery, and strength, that perfectly represents the courageous and resilient Filipino spirit amidst trials we face in this day and age.”
During the national costume competition, Gray wore a body suit dubbed "Fight" as she represents the modern version of a warrior. Her costume also bore patterns that can be attributed to the Pintados or tattooed warriors to represent Visayas.
“After this trip and just hearing all the stories and you know thinking about what it would feel like to be in their shoes – You know, everyone loses something, everyone falls down, everyone suffers disappointment and regret but it's really about what makes you step back again, what gives you the push to keep going,” Gray said after personally visiting Visayas.
Gray's video was crafted by her team, which included Jolo Lurca III, Jojo Bragais, Justine Aliman and Jearson Demavivas.