Seven overseas-based Pinay beauties join Mutya pageant

FELICIA Baron, Arizona

Seven beauties from overseas Filipino communities are expected to join 23 homegrown bets during the presentation of Mutya ng Pilipinas official candidates at the Holiday Inn Galleria in Pasig City today (Wednesday).

The 42-year-old national contest pioneered the participation of overseas-based candidates to recognize their Filipino ancestry and heritage, very much like the Philippine Basketball Association’s inclusion of part-Filipino cagers.

The Filipino community of Canada is represented by 21-year-old professional model Bea Rose Santiago, who has signed up for both Ford and Elite, two of the world’s most prestigious modeling networks.

Twenty-year-old Batangueña Megan Cannova, who was crowned Miss Belleza Latina in 2009, is the pride of the Filipino community of Southern California in the United States.

Two other women from the United States have joined the fray—consistent honor student Felicia Baron from Arizona and Tifani Alexandra Grimes from Northern California.

The three US-based ladies hope to duplicate the feat of Miriam Chui from California, who bagged the title in 2002.

Norway’s Maria Bergensen also aims to follow in the footsteps of fellow Filipino-Norwegian Kirby Ann Basken, who won the crown in 2006. Germany’s Cathrin Kloters, a prima ballerina, aspires to replicate compatriot Jacqueline Schubert’s victory in 2009.

Both Basken and Schubert shared top Mutya titles with homegrown bets in their respective years.

BEA Rose Santiago, Canada

The European delegation is completed by Belgium’s Roxanne Corluy.

This year’s tally of overseas-based candidates is just a slot short of the record Mutya set in 2005, with eight representatives from Filipino communities abroad. That year, the top two honors went to Filipino-foreigners. Italy’s Carmizienas Nicolosi bagged the title, while Katarina Koegl finished second. Two other runners-up were part-foreigners—Jordanian-Filipino Arabella Hanesh of Pangasinan and Pakistani-Filipino Namkeen Hameed from Ilocos Sur. Abigail Cruz was the only “pure Filipino” who made it to the pageant’s top five that year.

During the past years, the Mutya search has become a close fight between homegrown candidates and overseas-based bets, although the former continued to dominate.

Aside from Chui, Nicolosi, Basken and Schubert, only Christi Lynn McGarry from the United States East Coast brought home a crown during the last decade.

McGarry was proclaimed Mutya Asia Pacific last year, sharing top honors with Mutya Tourism International Barbie Salvador of Pangasinan and Mutya Intercontinental Carla Lizardo from Bicol.

Salvador was later proclaimed Miss Cosmopolitan International in Malaysia while McGarry made it to the semifinals in the Miss Intercontinental pageant in the Bahamas.

The 30 bets are also set to battle it out in the designers’ competition on Wednesday at the Holiday Inn Galleria.