Bb. Pilipinas Nicole Borromeo now top Asia-Pacific delegate in Miss International poll

Bb. Pilipinas Nicole Borromeo (left) now tops the poll for Asia-Pacific, with Australia’s Jazel Mae Alarca (top, right) in second place, and Farzana Yasmin Ananna from Bangladesh in third. Image: Facebook/Miss International

MANILA, Philippines—Binibining Pilipinas Nicole Borromeo is now the leading delegate from the Asia-Pacific region in the online voting conducted by the Miss International pageant, just one week before the coronation show.

The Cebuano lass has dislodged Vietnam’s Nguyen Phuong Nhi who led in the two earlier partial results posted on social media. The Vietnamese beauty has also left the Top 3 in the region as of the most recent post on Oct. 19.

Filipino-Australian Jazel Alarca, who is representing the Land Down Under in this year’s international competition, also moved a notch higher to second place since first joining the leaderboard in the previous count. Farzana Yasmin Ananna from Bangladesh is back in third place after missing out on the second partial tabulation.

As in the previous edition, the Miss International pageant opened a public voting via its official mobile app, powered by Choicely and available for free on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Automatic spots in the Top 15 await the top vote-getters in three geographical regions—Asia-Pacific, the Americas, and Europe and Africa.

In the Americas, Itzia Garcia from Mexico has maintained her lead for the third time, while Vanessa Hayes from Bolivia moved up a spot to second place. Yamilex Hernandez from the Dominican Republic is now in third place.

For Europe and Africa, Lysia Allaire from France regained the top spot after dropping to second place in the previous count. Nassita Diako from Cote D’Ivoire, who topped in the last count, moved down to the second spot, with Zoi Asoumanaki Greece placing third in the three partial tabulations.

Last year, first runner-up Stephany Amado from Cape Verde topped the poll for Europe and Africa, while second runner-up Tatiana Calmell from Peru earned the most votes among the delegates from the Americas. Savanna Delos Santos from Northern Mariana Islands, who topped the poll for Asia-Pacific, finished in the Top 15.

Borromeo will try to become the seventh Filipino woman to win the Miss International title, after Gemma Cruz in 1964, Aurora Pijuan in 1970, Melanie Marquez in 1979, Precious Lara Quigaman in 2005, Bea Rose Santiago in 2013, and Kylie Verzosa in 2016. The international pageant will crown its new queen in a coronation show at the Yoyogi Gymnasium No. 2 in Tokyo’s Shibuya ward on Oct. 26.  /ra