The answer may be more obvious than you think: DONALD TRUMP.
The catapult of the Philippines in the top finals in the Miss Universe pageant recently is something of a curiosity for me. Miss Philippines has been on the rise at the Miss Universe pageant, placing as the top finalists in the last 3 consecutive years. The pageant-crazy nation takes these competitions seriously and these women who represent the Philippines are seen as national heroes. After the sport of boxing, beauty pageants are arguably the Philippines next favorite "sport." Miss Universe is a profitable world-wide presentation with a global reach and Donald Trump knew the value in it. So in 1996, he acquired it.
Donald Trump is a highly visible personality in the show, but we all know Mr. Trump as the real estate developer and his pretentious skyscrapers that have sprouted in cities all over the United States. But the most recent venture that Donald Trump has in real estate are his international projects and one in particular...the TRUMP Tower in Manila, Philippines.
Destined to be one of the most luxurious towers in Asia and the first to carry the TRUMP brand in the world's fastest growing region, Donald Trump must be strategic in which countries he wants to place in his international pageant. Placing the Philippines as the top finalist is strategic marketing for the Philippines as a nation, but more importantly for him where his shiny glass tower is located. Trump also has real ventures in Brazil, Panama and many other places all over the world.
Starting with Venus Raj in 2010, she received a lot of media attention even before the preliminaries. She rose to popularity after her inclusion in special photo ops with Donald Trump. She along with handful of selected contestants were selected to be muses for many ad campaigns as well. Miss Philippines 2011, Shamcey Supsup also received much praise last year and was invited to come back as a web host for this year's Miss Universe 2012 show. And now 2012's Janine Tugonon also received a handful attention, if not more than the previous year's contestants. This year she was featured in TV interview on Fox 5 with Miss USA- (http://youtu.be/3bAuW9ZSIEg) , a commercial for Australian Gold brand with only a handful of Miss Universe girls (http://tinyurl.com/bqklo3q) and the usual special photo ops with Donald Trump.
This post is not to say that Miss Philippines did not make it to the top finals in Miss Universe in her own right but we all know pageants are never political or biased right? There is always "luck", but the Q & A portion of show and the preliminaries really do reveal that Miss Philippines is not just beauty and brains, but also athletic, poised, and undeniably deserving of the Miss Universe crown. She truly a world-class woman.
But the next time we see these beautiful women again on stage before the world, let us remember that like beauty, we can't take anything at face value.
AFP Photo/Joe Klamar, AFP
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