Pauline Amelinckx with Ecuador’s Andrea Aguilera. Screengrab from Miss Supranational / YouTube
In the run-up to the Miss Supranational pageant held in Poland in July, photos circulated online showing the eventual winner Andrea Aguilera from Ecuador helping out eventual runner-up Pauline Amelinckx from the Philippines in a medical situation. The incident, which earned praises from netizens and gratitude from the Filipino delegate, was an enriching experience from the now-reigning queen, she said.
“I also learned about that experience because it was a coincidence. She was having not a good moment. It wasn’t like a huge emergency. She wasn’t having a good moment because of, you know, the pressure of everything in the final night, and she just needed to rest. And I was there for her, and for me it was a pleasure to help her,” Aguilera told the Inquirer in an interview upon her arrival in Manila on Sunday morning.
Aguilera is in Manila to grace the back-to-back final shows of The Miss Philippines Culture and Heritage Celebration and the Mister Pilipinas Worldwide competition at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City on Oct. 24.
The Inquirer was the only news organization that joined the team that picked her up at the Terminal 1 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City, and the first to interview her upon landing. The conversation took place inside the vehicle on her way to the Dusit Thani hotel in Makati City where she is billeted.
In July, when Amelinckx got back home from the competition, she profusely expressed her gratitude to Aguilera for helping her when she felt nauseous and dizzy right before the preliminary competition, a crucial stage of the pageant that would help determine the semifinalists. She said that during the final moment of the competition when they were the last two delegates standing on stage, “I told her, if it wasn’t for you I might not have been here in the Top 2 with you.”
Aguilera said she was grateful, too. “You know, I learned from that experience, how to manage that kind of emotions, what to do in that kind of moment. And I’m so happy for her because she overcame that difficulty very easy, and very fast. And it made me learn how strong you can be if you really want something,” she shared.
The international titleholder has continued her health-related pursuits by working with the Sasakawa Health Foundation to spread awareness on leprosy and Hansen’s disease. “I didn’t know too much until a few days that I started to learn, to investigate about this problem. And we really want to help with their initiative,” Aguilera said, adding that she also hopes “to keep the legacy of the Miss Supranational brand, ‘aspirational, inspirational,’ and show to the world what the pageant really is all about.”
Meanwhile, reigning Mister International Kim Goodburn from Thailand and reigning Miss Asia Pacific International Chaiyenne Huismann from Spain will also attend the twin events. EDV