And the winner is ... Pamboy Pastor, beauty connoisseur
Have you ever met a walking encyclopedia of Miss Universe pageants from the time it was created in 1952 right down to the present — that’s 65 years’ worth of knowledge, enough to fill a library?
Meet Antonio “Pamboy” Reyes Pastor, beauty connoisseur, writer, and passionate nationalist — as a Political Science student of UP Diliman, he dreamt of destroying imperialists, feudal landlords, bureaucratic and corrupt capitalists; he was a member of the Center for Nationalist Studies, Kabataang Makabayan, and League of Filipino Students with David Celdran.
But back when he was eight years old and his world was yet unfazed by the “isms” of the times, he remembers coming home from school at Colegio de San Agustin in Dasmariñas Village, Makati where he was valedictorian and curling up in front of the TV set to watch the Miss Universe contest which was held in the country in 1974. “We watched the parade of floats, Kasaysayan ng Lahi, every day, all the pageant activities, the Barangay Day, Friendship Week, and I watched the finals at my cousin’s house, we didn’t have color TV then. It was held on July 21, Sunday, at the newly built Folk Arts Theater. I was cheering for Miss Philippines Guada Sanchez, but my favorite was Miss Aruba Maureen Ava Vieira,” Pamboy vividly recalls. “Everybody thought Miss Puerto Rico, a statuesque 5’10” stunner, would win, but it was Miss Spain Amparo Muñoz who won. However, Amparo was dethroned because she didn’t fulfill her obligations as Miss Universe. She died at 56 after an undisclosed long illness.”
Miss Aruba was so in love with the Philippines that she went back in 1975 and even made a movie titled Miss Aruba Went to Town.
Not a few beauties have likewise fallen in love with our men, proving to the world that Pinoys are great lovers. The first-ever Miss Universe Armi Kuusela Hilario was encashing her prize money when she met Virgilio Hilario at the First National City Bank. After a faster-than-a-whirlwind courtship, the couple got married, two-and-a-half months short of completing Armi’s reign. Miss Asia 1965 Angela Filmer married businessman Joe Faustino.
A House Full Of Memories
At his cozy home in Quezon City, it’s easy to get marooned in a vast sea of albums and clippings, and all the precious memories, not all of them necessarily beautiful, he has hoarded over the decades, which he indulgently shares with us (while testing our beauty queen IQ) one balmy afternoon. Why, he has a memory like an elephant: he can name who won on which year, what the candidates wore, the bloopers, the scandals, and a thousand and one bits of trivia at the flick of a finger!
Remember 1971 Mutya ng Pilipinas Carolyn Masibay? “She was like a diosa washing clothes in a batis with her batya and palo-palo in Tatalon when designer Rudy Fuentes and his group who were shooting a film in the area learned about her.”
Remember 1977 Miss Young International runner-up Dorothy Sue Bradley? She never met her father, Richard Bradley who left her mother when Dorothy was a baby. With the help of her mentor Rene Salud, she was reunited with her father in San Jose, California. She now lives in the US.
Remember Jennifer Cortez, 1978 Bb. Pilipinas Miss Universe? She was a student of Far Eastern University and lived in Dapitan, Manila in a house that had no stove, no TV, and no refrigerator before she joined the contest. After the contest and after she was discovered by Romy Vitug to play an extra in the movie Pagputi ng Uwak, Pagitim ng Tagak directed by Celso Ad Castillo, she was able to buy a stove, a TV set with Betamax, and a big bed. “But during the pageant held in Mexico, she had to wash her clothes because she did not bring enough, and she would ring Manila for the organizers to send her money as she was only given $100 for the duration of the pageant,” Pamboy recounts.
Who doesn’t remember Tetchie Agbayani, now a popular actress? She ran away from home because her parents were very strict and was forced to sleep in the classroom at the University of Santo Tomas where she was a senior high school student.
Some sad notes: Miss Universe 1955 Hillevi Rombin died in a plane crash in Burbank, California. The private plane was driven by her son who was reportedly under the influence of drugs. Miss England Kathleen Ann Anders died in a car accident. Miss Young Philippines 1979 Ma. Theresa Carlson, battered wife, leaped to her death in 2001. Pinky Alberto died at 49 of what was described as “occult cancer.”
Some scandals: Miss USA 1957 Leona Gage was pulled out of the 15 finalists when a guy who said he was her husband called up just before that crucial moment. Gage was said to be getting a divorce. At the 1975 Miss Universe pageant held in the Philippines, runner-up Helen Morgan never got to replace Amparo Muñoz when she stepped down because it was discovered that Helen was an unwed mother.
Some headline-making Miss U news: At the coronation night of the 1979 Miss Universe pageant, the stage at the Perth Entertainment Center in Australia collapsed, injuring all the runners-up, leaving only Miss Venezuela onstage. Our candidate then was UP student Dang Cecilio who was not injured in the accident but sustained a bruised self-confidence when she didn’t get into the top 12, claiming that there was cheating.
In 1975, at the Miss Universe pageant in San Salvador, where Chiqui Brosas was representing the Philippines, there was bombing outside while the winners were being announced. El Salvador was then under the military rule of Arturo Armando Molina.
Some political events that marred the Miss Universe pageant: In 1972, there were Puerto Ricans who went on a pilgrimage to Israel and were reportedly killed by Japanese Yakuzas. This created a fracas in Puerto Rico where the Miss Universe pageant was being staged that year. There was a blackout in the telecast when Miss Israel was called as third runner-up. Also that year, Israeli athletes were massacred at the Munich Olympics and the reigning Miss Universe, Miss Lebanon, who was the wife of the No. 2 Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), was banned from crowning her successor.
And some blind items, too: Who was this Bb. Pilipinas who died because she was allegedly hexed by someone who fell in love with her husband? Who was this beauty queen who died after a lipo treatment at a clinic because the doctor left an instrument in her tummy? Who’s this beauty queen, now in her 50s, who got into drugs and now sells fish in a wet market? Who is this beauty queen whose husband divorced her because she was a shopaholic and was suffering from psychological problems?
A Beauty-Full Life
Pamboy has been a staunch beauty watcher and supporter. In 1987, he had a classmate in Public Administration, Rose Bud Adriano, whom he thought was beauty queen material so he encouraged her to join the Bb. Pilipinas contest. “Even our teacher Vivian Alvarez thought that Rose Bud was beautiful enough to join the contest. So Rose Bud and I took the jeepney to Ali Mall where the Bb. Pilipinas office was located. I found out later that our teacher was herself a former beauty contestant during the time of Aurora Pijuan and Simonette de los Reyes.”
He has lived a charming life surrounded by beauty queens. He does not only admire them from afar, he has made friends with them, like the “always fun and funny” Gloria Diaz, the “party-goer” Czarina Zaragoza who always makes him laugh, and the “passionate” Pilar Pilapil who has opened up to him.
The Perennial Question
And now, to address the perennial issue of whether beauty contests are relevant or not, Pamboy relates, “Our first-ever Miss Universe crown was won by Gemma Cruz in 1964, and during that time, people thought Filipinos lived in trees and caves. Gemma was an anthropologist and understood the culture of the country. She was able to advertise the country and stir interest in what was happening here.”
Over the decades, the standard of beauty at the Miss Universe pageant has changed. “Before, they were looking for movie stars who were photogenic, telegenic, and cinematographic for Miss Universe and Miss International, ” says Pamboy. “When the pageant went to Miami, they started looking for bosomy, busty, voluptuous beauties who were statuesque. Today, we have lanky, tall candidates.”
Pamboy once met producer Vic del Rosario who was looking for beauty queens to groom for the movies. Indeed, a lot of our beauty queen became actresses.
While Pamboy never dreamt of winning a beauty title, he has earned at least one bragging right. “I once appeared in the movie Fortress in the Sun as the young Fred Galang, with Eddie Garcia and Nancy Kwan,” he discloses.
Pamboy has himself attended the Miss Universe pageants held in Vietnam, Bangkok, Macau, and Singapore. And he’s certainly watching this year’s pageant on Jan. 30 at SM Arena, notwithstanding the steep prices. “But the patron tickets at P50,000 are sold out,” he says. “I will try to get a non-patron ticket.”
He hopes, too, that Steve Harvey — famous for his Family Feud and for creating a near-feud at last year’s Miss U because he named the wrong winner — would use a teleprompter so as not to commit the same mistake. This is, of course, not the first time a host made a boo-boo — or should we say, slip of the tongue. At Miss USA 1980, Bob Barker was supposed to announce the 3rd runner-up but he instead said 2nd runner-up. Of course, he corrected himself and apologized — but perhaps not as profusely as Harvey as people made no big deal of it in Barker’s time.
For all this beautiful work Pamboy has devoted his life to, he deserves no less than a crown, a sash, and a scepter.
