Miss Philippines Tourism Herlene Budol. Image: INQUIRER.net/Armin P. Adina
MANILA, Philippines—ALV Pageant Circle of talent manager and entrepreneur Arnold Vegafria, which is the organizer of the recently concluded Miss Grand Philippines pageant, issued a clarification regarding the national title awarded to comedienne Herlene Nicole Budol, who many thought would be sent to the 2023 Miss Tourism World pageant.
“Our Miss Philippines Tourism title is a generic title with no contractual obligation to any international pageant,” ALV Pageant Circle said in a statement released on social media on Wednesday, July 19, the day after Inquirer.net broke the news that the “Magandang Dilag” star is not the country’s official representative to the Miss Tourism World pageant this year.
The Hiyas ng Pilipinas pageant is the legitimate Miss Tourism World franchise holder for the country, the organization’s chairman, Mike Sordilla, had told Inquirer.net in an earlier interview. The national contest’s Facebook page also posted copies of their license certificates for the global tilt as well as for the Miss Omninational and Miss Summit International contests.
“It has never been our intention to instigate any conflict of interest with our fellow pageant organizers [who] we regard with mutual respect,” ALV Pageant Circle said. To their defense, it was never mentioned in any public event of the Miss Grand Philippines pageant, including the coronation show held at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City on July 13, that the Miss Philippines Tourism winner would compete in any international contest.
The confusion among pageant followers must have stemmed from the fact that Budol received her title from 2022 Miss World Philippines-Tourism Justine Felizarta, who was first runner-up in the recent Miss Tourism World pageant. “While we acknowledge the achievement of [Felizarta]…we would like to clarify that we have since ceased from using the Miss Tourism World Philippines title,” ALV Pageant Circle said.
The organization said it has “not yet issued any official confirmation regarding [Budol’s] participation in the Miss Tourism World pageant,” adding that because her title is generic, “our choice of global pageant may vary year after year, depending on the deals and visions of the organization.”
Glyssa Perez and Trisha Martinez both received the Miss Philippines Tourism title in the Miss World Philippines pageant in 2019 and 2021, respectively. Both former queens did not compete in any international pageant. But ALV Pageant Circle said Budol may finally get her chance to represent the country abroad.
“We are excited to announce that Miss Philippines Tourism 2023 will be competing in a different international tourism pageant, which we will announce very soon,” the organization said.
It can be recalled that after Budol finished as first runner-up in the 2022 Binibining Pilipinas pageant, her manager sent her to Uganda for the Miss Planet International pageant. But the global tilt encountered problems that prompted several participants, including the comedienne, to back out of the competition. /ra