Mutya ng Pilipinas pageant sends veteran beauty queen to World Top Model tilt
World Top Model Philippines Cyrille Payumo/MUTYA NG PILIPINAS PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — In a move that surprised beauty contest followers, the Mutya ng Pilipinas pageant shared photos of the country’s official representative to the World Top Model contest, already in the airport to catch her flight to Hungary where the competition will conclude later this week.
Pageant veteran and international beauty titlist Cyrille Payumo will represent the Philippines in the 2022 World Top Model competition, which will be staged at the Magyar Nemzeti Museum in Budapest on Dec. 2 (Dec. 3 in Manila).
The Mutya ng Pilipinas pageant said in a statement that the global contest is a “prestigious competition organized by Fiore Tondi with Major Models, one of the leading modelling agencies in Europe.” Around 50 aspirants take part in the annual tilt, and the top finishers are recruited by some of the most prestigious establishments in the fashion industry, the national organization added.
This is not the first time for Payumo to receive a surprise appointment to an international competition from the Mutya ng Pilipinas pageant.
She was proclaimed first runner-up in the last Mutya ng Pilipinas pageant, held in 2019. But she suddenly found herself packing her bags for the Miss Tourism International pageant to take the place of the original representative, Tyra Goldman, who failed to qualify for the competition for being part foreigner.
In the 2019 global tilt in Malaysia, Payumo captured the crown to become the fifth Filipino woman to be proclaimed Miss Tourism International, after Peachy Manzano in 2000, the late Rizzini Alexis Gomez in 2012, Angeli Dione Gomez in 2013, and Jannie Loudette Alipo-on in 2017.
The statement quoted Mutya ng Pilipinas President Cory Quirino as saying, “we are confident about sending Ms. Payumo to this international event. In our organization, we act as bridges for our queens in the pursuit and fulfillment of their personal career choices.”
The national pageant organization had also made another surprise appointment earlier this month, when it sent 2019 semifinalist Maria Angelica Pantaliano to the 2022 Miss Tourism International pageant in Malaysia. She captured the Miss Tourism Metropolitan International crown in the competition staged on Nov. 25
The ongoing 2022 Mutya ng Pilipinas pageant will select the Philippines’ representatives to next year’s World Top Model and Miss Tourism International competitions at the coronation night which will be staged at the FilOil EcoOil Center in San Juan City on Dec. 4. EDV
