Miss International pageant says ‘our time has come’

The Miss International pageant promises “one dynamic final show” next month. Image: Facebook/Miss International

MANILA, Philippines—The Miss International pageant heralded its upcoming 61st competition with the hashtag #MissInternationalOurTimeHasCome on different social media platforms, and it was followed by the posting of the 2023 delegates’ photos and profiles.

“It’s our time! Our time has come. It’s our turn! It’s no longer them,” Stephen Diaz, the Filipino head director of Miss International pageant organizer International Cultural Association (ICA), told INQUIRER.net in an online interview.

The Japan-based international competition is scheduled to welcome the delegates in Tokyo next month for the 2023 pageant, which will culminate in a coronation show on Oct. 26 at the Yoyogi Gymnasium No. 2 in the Shibuya ward.

Diaz said, “For the longest time, Miss International was very quiet and contented just being on the sideline. But now, major national pageants want us. Miss International is now the major crown of several national pageants with long history.”

The 59-year-old Binibining Pilipinas pageant has assigned the Miss International delegate as its top national winner in the annual competition since 2021. And for the first time this year, the 31-year-old Puteri Indonesia will send its top winner to the said global tilt. The 89-year-old Señorita Colombia pageant is also sending its top 2023 winner to the Tokyo-based contest.

Several other enduring national competitions in other countries have also followed them, and have designated the Miss International pageant as the contest where they will field their respective winners starting this year.

“Our time has arrived, and this is it. There’s no turning back. We bring to the world pageantry as it should be. So follow our journey, see what we have been working so hard for,” Diaz continued, teasing “one dynamic final night” next month.

The Filipino pageant official said he will be in charge of this year’s production, and he promised to deliver a show different from the Miss International ceremonies that the global audience has been accustomed to for decades. For one, he said the program will run for only two and a half hours, far shorter than the previous four-hour shows.

ICA also chose a bigger venue for the 2023 Miss International pageant to accommodate more people, and Diaz encouraged the fans from around the world to loudly cheer for their respective delegates. There have been prevailing observations that the global tilt sneers at enthusiastic shows of support during the final show, but he said this is not true.

Diaz also earlier clarified the pageant’s decision not to have a swimsuit parade during the final show. “Why do people keep on saying that [Miss International] has no swimsuit competition? I believe it’s just a classic case of poor reading comprehension because this year, more than ever, the swimsuit evaluation is even much stricter than before,” he said on social media.

The delegates will still be evaluated in their swimwear for body proportion and complexion in a closed-door session with a group of evaluators. It will only be during the coronation show that the candidates will not be made to wear swimsuits.

The Philippines will be represented in the 61st Miss International pageant by 2022 Bb. Pilipinas Nicole Borromeo, whose photo and profile are already posted on the contest’s Facebook page. She will try to become the seventh Filipino woman to capture the global crown, following Gemma Cruz (1964), Aurora Pijuan (1970), Melanie Marquez (1979), Precious Lara Quigaman (2005), Bea Rose Santiago (2013) and Kylie Verzosa (2016).

Jasmin Selberg, the third Miss International winner from Germany, will relinquish her title to her successor at the end of the coronation show.  /ra