Jonas & Osmel: The Difference

 

 

The reason why I am writing this article is because I've read at missosology as to whether Jonas Gaffud is already of the same level as that of Osmel Sousa as beauty queen maker.

 

I do have an avatar at missosology but I prefer to vandalize on my own blog.

 

First, what are the achievements of Osmel Sousa so far?

 

For one, he puts Venezuela on map of the world as "Beauty Queen Factory of the World." He spearheads the Miss Venezuela Organization. All the Venezuelans who were able to capture the Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss International and Miss Earth crown are under his tutelage. All of these franchises are under his direction.

 

He mentored two "non-Venezuelan" who also win in an international pageant, that is, Miriam Quiambao of the Philippines who was Miss Universe first runner up in 1999 and Amelia Vega of Dominican Republic who was Miss Universe 2002.

 

He also produced a back to back titlist at Miss Universe in 2008 & 2009

 

On the other hand, Jonas Gaffud....

 

Puts the Philippines on map of the world as one of the "Beauty Queen Capital of the World." He owns the Mercator Modelling Agency. He was able to produce a number of finalist and a winner at Miss World and at Miss Universe.

 

It is obvious that Jonas' accomplishment runs short when compared to Osmel but it wouldn't be too long before he will be able to reach the same level of accomplishment the way Osmel did.

 

In the next five years, Jonas might be able to produce a back to back Miss Universe title, a Miss Earth and a Miss International from his training camp and to check whether his magic really works not only to a Filipina but also to foreign delegate, he might be able to train a foreign candidate too (to which I nominate Miss Malaysia for an Asian country and Miss Guyana for a South American country).

 

Actually, there is a big difference as to how pageants are conducted in the Philippines and in Venezuela.

 

Philippines is decentralized and composed of mosaic of experts. Venezuela is a centralized team.

 

Binibining Pilipinas who owns the franchise of Miss Universe and Miss International is under Stella Marquez de Araneta while Miss Earth is under Lorraine Schuck and Miss World under Cory Quirino.

 

The Miss Venezuela Organization owns the franchise of Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss Earth and Miss International; all under the direction of Osmel Sousa. Training of candidates for Miss Venezuela is also under Osmel Sousa.

 

Training of candidates for Miss Philippines for the Big Four crowns is divided into two camps: Aces and Queen (headed by Jonas Gaffud) and Kagandahang Flores (headed by Rodgil Flores). These two camps will soon be diluted by the rise of other training camps. Both of these camps have the same curriculum in training girls; they only vary in approach and execution.

 

The advantage of a decentralized system is that it allows competition with every camp and competition brings out the best in every person or team. There is also a smooth flow of idea and brainstorm in a decentralized system. It also allows specialization of each team contributing to a common goal. Binibining Pilipinas is responsible for bringing out the grandiosity of presentation of the pageant while the training camps hone the girls to put their best foot forward.

 

Another advantage of a decentralized system is that it prevents the recycle of girl for international competition. If a girl wanted to be able to achieve a specific crown, she is always back to zero. This will push her then to give her best shot. This is what happened to Parul Shah in 2013 who again competed in 2014 Binibining Pilipinas. Venus Raj competed at Miss Earth Philippines and was back to zero when she competed at Binibining Pilipinas.

 

The disadvantage of a decentralized system is when there is collision of idea between one team over the other as in the case of MJ Lastimosa in 2014. Her training camp wanted her to wear a pink gown while the franchise holder wanted her to wear a white gown. This kind of issue wouldn't happen in a centralized system.

 

Venezuela's centralized system became very effective because Osmel Sousa was able to master the challenges involved in a beauty pageant. But beauty pageant is ever evolving and there are changes that make some system obsolete.

 

When the Miss World Organization demanded that a representative for their pageant be selected from a separate local pageant, Venezuela then held a separate pageant. Since then, Venezuela failed to enter the Top 10 in the international competition.

 

A centralized system is a "one man show." All the decision making comes from the highest person of the hierarchy and there is a possibility of "specialization" in one pageant and "dormancy" in another pageant thus "reproducibility" if not "multiplication" of performance is being undermined.

 

Puerto Rico and Colombia always have a stellar performance at Miss Universe but not at Miss World. India and Jamaica performed well at Miss World but erratic at Miss Universe. Brazil performs well at Miss Earth but not at Miss International. Philippines evenly perform in all Big Four pageant not to mention Tier 2 pageants.

 

One advantage though of a centralized system is its ability to "cross-over" or "recycle" one candidate to another. Jessica Barboza won 1st Runner up at Miss Earth, she was then sent at Miss International where she also won 1st Runner Up a year after. It allows the candidate to fully justify her profile. However, it tends to undermine the capability of other candidates locally who may be able to execute a terrific performance.

 

If Osmel Sousa didn't wake up one day from his bed, there is a possibility that the Miss Venezuela Organization be in chaos. There might be a struggle in power as to who will lead the organization and in the end, it is those girls whose dreams will be shattered who will suffer.

 

Another difference of Philippines from Venezuela is the choice for plastic surgery. Osmel don't take "Black" candidates because it's like a hopeless case for him in things like fixing their nose. Jonas tend to concentrate on developing "inner beauty" (thus they have the Dale Carnegie training) to exude confidence then work on catwalk skills to bring out the concept of "natural." Plastic surgery for a Filipina beauty queen is a personal choice and at her own expense which is opposite to Miss Venezuela.

 

Given the disadvantages seen in a centralized system from Miss Venezuela Organization, I believe that the current set up for Miss Philippines is just fine (i.e., Jonas Gaffud and Rodgil Flores would remain mentors for candidates and franchises are held by another entity).

 

Some minor modifications though for Miss Philippines would be:

 

(1) Carousel Production should let go of the search for Miss Earth Philippines for integrity purposes. Let another franchise holder completely separated from Carousel Production handle the search.

 

(2) The Miss Supranational representative should be picked from Miss Earth Philippines first runner up since after all, it doesn't have question and answer portion and its advocacy is not clear.

 

(3) Representative for Miss Grand International should be picked from the first runner up of Miss World Philippines. Advocacy of Miss Grand International after all is a tweak of Miss World.

 

(4) Binibining Pilipinas is currently saturated with title thus it has to let go of the other title mentioned above. This would give opportunity to the runners up of the other two major pageant.

 

The victory of Philippines in international beauty pageant is not an overnight sensation. It is a product of group of individuals with common interest who are tired of seeing girl with Philippines sash become clapper each year. Instead of bickering, they unite together for a common goal and that goal cemented the victory.

 

Jonas Gaffud started training girls in 2002. He succeeded with his first protege when Rafaela Yunon entered the Top 5 of Miss World 2003. From 2002 to 2009, all his protege for Miss Universe failed to make it at the Top 10. In 2010, Venus Raj won 4th Runner Up at Miss Universe, the first finalist among Jonas' protege and that was after eight fucking years! Should Jonas and his team gave up after a year or two, Pia Wurtzbach might not have won the Miss Universe 2015. Jonas and his team will be once again put to a test on January 30, 2017 if he can duplicate the Miss Universe crown the way Osmel did in 2009.