Post-pageant assessment of Binibining Pilipinas 2016

The much awaited successor of Pia Wurtzbach has finally been crowned in a glamorous presentation of Binibining Pilipinas last 17 April from Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The world is expecting who the lucky girl will be after Pia's victory at Miss Universe 2015 as there might be a possibility of a back to back win. The crown was eventually given to Maxine Medina.

Of the six titleholders, only two are second-timer: Kylie Verzosa and Nichole Marie Manalo.

Out of the six crowns at stake, four are protégé of Aces & Queen which is the same training camp of Pia. They are:

Miss Universe Philippines - Maxine Medina
Bb. Pilipinas International - Kylie Versoza
Bb. Pilipinas Intercontinental - Jennifer Hammond
Bb. Pilipinas Grand International - Nicole Cordoves

Two crowns went to Kagandahang Flores training camp and they are:

Bb. Pilipinas Supranational - Joanna Louise Eden
Bb. Pilipinas Globe - Nichole Marie Manalo

Binibining Pilipinas indeed gave it's best for this year's pageant. It was a superb presentation. All the candidates are carefully chosen. Sadly, Kim Ross Williams wasn't able to compete after her disqualification.

Here are my comments of the winners that were selected during the pageant night:

(1) Maxine Medina

She is an Interior Designer by profession. Who would have known that the girl who has a two second exposure from a citrus juice commercial would be the next Binibining Pilipinas Universe. She is a dark horse on the pageant. She is included on most list of Finalist but most bloggers are expecting Kylie Verzosa to win the crown.

 

Maxine's performance was elegantly executed. It was effortless. She was calm. If the Miss Universe would be next month, she is already prepared. Her answer at the Q&A portion has the gist in it. She just wasn't able to organize it well. Knowing the calibre of Aces & Queen, in months come, she would be further honed. This is not bad also for a first timer like her.

Her swimsuit performance was like that of Oxana Federova in 2002 and her Evening Gown performance has the regal bearing in it.

 

Her "Oriental looks" would be a great variety given the fact that Pia is a Eurasian.

(2) Kylie Verzosa

It's a victory on her second attempt. She doesn't seem to be happy when her name was called as Binibining Pilipinas International. Perhaps, it is because she is expecting the Miss Philippines Universe crown.

Kylie is on a difficult predicament in winning the Binibining Pilipinas International crown.

First, it's sort of a "curse" among Ateneo graduates not to make it international pageant. Lia Andanar won the Binibining Pilipinas International in the "Silver Edition" in 1989. Bianca Guidotti won the same title in 2014. Both are Ateneo graduates and they both failed to make it as semi-finalist, at least.

Ateneo Graduates at Binibining Pilipinas

Second, Kylie is a protege of Aces & Queen just like Bianca Guidotti. Kagandahang Flores training camp are the one who was able to produce "three" Miss International" title. If Kylie wants to win, she will need the help of Rodgil Flores.

If Kylie will win the Miss International title, she will be breaking the "curse" the way Shamcey Supsup did for University of the Philippines. Second, she will be giving Aces & Queen its third "Big 4" crown leaving Aces & Queen with one Miss Earth title for grab.

(3) Jennifer Hammond

Jennifer is already a professional model to start with. She is a member of the Professional Models Association of the Philippines (PMAP). But being a model is not a ticket to win an international pageant. Patty Betita was already a model when she won Binibining Pilipinas International.

Philippines performance at Miss Intercontinental is on an upward trend: Koreen Medina was 3rd Runner Up in 2013; Kris Tiffany Janson was 2nd Runner up 2014; and Christi Lynn McGarry was 1st Runner Up in 2015.

Miss Intercontinental is also the last crown left for the Philippines to conquer among the Tier 2 titles.

Since Jennifer is under the Aces & Queen camp just like Christi, she has to give her best shot for this year.

(4) Nicole Cordoves

Another Ateneo graduate who previously won the Miss Chinatown Philippines.

 

In the previous editions of Miss Grand International, it was a "clone" of Miss Universe and if it is true that the Fourth Edition will be held in Las Vegas then Nicole has to set her best foot forward.

Parul Shah who won 3rd Runner Up in 2015 is under Kagandahang Flores while Ali Forbes who also won 3rd Runner Up in 2013 was under RL's camp. Should Nicole won, this would be another addition to the legacy of Aces & Queen.

(5) Joanna Louise Eden

The only "bi-racial" who was able to held a crown. This is not a bad performance as well for a first timer who joined the pageant.

Mutya Datul who won the Miss Supranational in 2013 was on a different training camp while Rogelie Catacutan and Yvette Santiago were under Kagandahang Flores.

Kagandahang Flores must be able to strategize new technique to have Joanna win the title. It is obvious that whatever they are doing now is only partially working and they still haven't capture the winning recipe as evident with the performance of Rogelie and Yvette.

(6) Nichole Marie Manalo

The third titlist among the "Manalo sisters."  Should Nichole won the Binibining Pilipinas International title, their parents must have been very lucky to be gifted with beauty queen daughters conquering the "Big Three pageants" not to mention that their aunt is also a beauty queen.

Her sisters, Katherine Manalo was 2002 Binibining Pilipinas World and Bianca Manalo was 2009 Binibining Pilipinas Universe.

Anne Colis who is the reigning Miss Globe was from the Aces & Queen training camp. Nichole is under the Kagandahang Flores (KF) training camp. This would then be another challenge for KF to find the winning formula for Nichole.

It is evident that Binibining Pilipinas has "too much" franchise under their wing. This is the most numerous titles they have in their entire edition. It could be possible that owners of those pageants wanted representative originating from Binibining Pilipinas or it could be that Binibining Pilipinas has been greedy to accommodate all those titles under their wings knowing the fact that training will be done by another party.

Binibining Pilipinas should release at least two of those titles to Miss World Philippines or Miss Philippines Earth.

Training camps now has approximately 6 months to further polish the winners. Aces & Queen has four girls to polish unless Kylie would like to have a cross-over to Kagandahang Flores for insights. If that is the case, both training camps will have an equal share of girls to be trained leaving the representative for Miss Earth and Miss World to look upon.