MANALO sisters: Bianca (right) with Kate and Nicole, who is a candidate for this year’s Binibining Pilipinas pageant. Edmund Chua/normannorman.com
At home, it is usually the mother who grooms the daughters into becoming beauty queen material.
Well, not in the case of beauty queen-turned-actress Bianca Manalo’s family.
Bianca revealed it was her late father, Rodrigo, who taught her to confidently answer pageant questions at the early age of 6.
“[My father] was my first trainer,” Bianca said at the recent press conference of her latest ABS-CBN primetime series, “My Super D.” “He would tell me to sit beside him as he watched the Miss Universe pageant on TV.”
“I didn’t want to, because I was only 6 and was busy playing,” she recalled. “When it came to the question-and-answer portion, he would lower the volume and ask me, ‘How would you answer that?’ I would be confused, because I didn’t know why I had to.”
Years later, she would realize that she indeed wanted to be a beauty queen. “When our eldest won, I told everyone that I also wanted to join the pageant.”
Eldest sister Kate is one of the top 10 finalists of Miss World 2002.
MANALO sisters with dad Rodrigo
“I remember, Daddy spoke to me the day after I won [the Bb. Pilipinas-Universe 2009 crown],” Bianca shared with reporters. “He said he must have done something good in his life to deserve such talented daughters.”
Last Monday was her dad’s birthday, so she paid his grave a visit. He passed away on April 29 last year.
With her father gone, Bianca is making sure her younger sister, Nicole, gets all the support she needs for this Sunday’s 2016 Binibining Pilipinas coronation night.
“I’m giving my all-out support to my sister,” Bianca said. “I’m giving her tips on just about everything—from how to answer questions to how to maintain composure. I tell her to always take deep breaths so she won’t feel the pressure and to just enjoy the experience.”
“I also remind her that she is not only there for herself, but also for her family, and if she would be blessed, for the whole country,” she added.
This is the second time that Nicole is competing in the Binibining Pilipinas beauty tilt. She failed to bag the title in her first attempt in 2014.
In an online report, Nicole admitted to feeling pressured by the fact that her family already has three beauty queens—sisters Kate and Bianca, and mother Norma Ramos (the first Miss Caloocan in 1970). Their aunt, Nini Ramos-Licaros, is 1968 Bb. Pilipinas-International.
“My Super D,” which premieres on April 18, also stars Marco Masa and Dominic Ochoa.
E-mail mcruz@inquirer.com.ph