Herlene Budol. Image: Instagram/@herlen_budol, screengrab from YouTube/Wilbert Tolentino VLOGS
Herlene Budol was in tears as she begged organizers of Miss Planet International to allow her and her fellow delegates to return home, after their “traumatic experience” in the pageant.
Budol’s manager Wilbert Tolentino opened up about their experience with Miss Planet International in his YouTube vlog yesterday, Nov. 15. Delegates were apparently not provided with food and accommodation during their stay in Kampala, Uganda, where the competition was set to take place.
The Binibining Pilipinas 2022 first runner-up was then shown talking to organizers about leaving the venue, as many candidates decided to back out.
“I want to go home… I want to go out, I have a driver here,” Budol told the staff in between sobs.
Another candidate can also be heard addressing organizers and asking for help so other delegates will be allowed to leave.
“Let them go, let the girls leave. She wants to leave, she doesn’t have [to stay]. It’s her right to leave,” the candidate said.
After discussing with organizers, Budol and some of her fellow candidates were finally allowed to leave the pageant venue and stay in their own temporary homes in Uganda.
It appears Budol is yet to board a flight back home to the Philippines, as one of her latest Facebook posts showed her in a video call with a loved one and assuring them that she will come home safe.
Tolentino announced last Friday, Nov. 11, that their team decided to back out from Miss Planet International after they experienced “uncertainties” from the competition’s organizers.
Tamila Sparrow of Czech Republic also accused pageant organizers of “scamming” the candidates. Sparrow claimed that the organizers did not pay for the delegates’ accommodation and food, adding that there were individuals “not involved [in] the pageant” who used their own money to keep them fed and safe.
Miss Planet International will no longer push through with its originally planned Nov. 19 pageant in Uganda, and will instead be held in Cambodia in January 2023. /ra
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