Yllana Aduana invites ‘ardent earthlings’ to airport sendoff for Miss Earth 2023 quest

Miss Philippines Earth Yllana Marie Aduana. Image: INQUIRER.net/Armin P. Adina

MANILA, Philippines—Yllana Marie Aduana is calling on her “ardent earthlings” to join her as she embarks on the final leg of her journey to the 2023 Miss Earth crown, seven months after capturing her national crown that earned for her the right to compete in the environment-centric international competition.

“We’ll be holding an airport sendoff, so here’s an invitation for everyone! Hope to see you ARDENT EARTHLINGS at NAIA Terminal 1,” the medical laboratory scientist from Siniloan, Laguna, said in a social media post.

The sendoff is scheduled on Nov. 25, Saturday, 3 a.m., at the departure level of Terminal 1 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City. Aduana will take a flight to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, for the 23rd edition of the international pageant.

“It’s one of the rare times that Miss Earth will be held abroad so super exciting,” she shared. Vietnam is only one of two countries other than the Philippines to host the international pageant. It first welcomed the global tilt in 2010, making this year’s edition the second time the contest will be held there. In 2015, Austria became the first European destination of the competition.

Aduana will try to sustain the Philippines’ impressive record in the Miss Earth pageant and become the fifth Filipino woman to capture the title. The country has produced the most winners in the global tilt with four titleholders to date—Karla Paula Henry (2008), Jamie Herrell (2014), Angelia Ong (2015) and Karen Ibasco (2017).

At her press sendoff held at the Carousel Gardens in Mandaluyong City on Nov. 17, Aduana acknowledged that she is considered by many pageant followers as a frontrunner in the 2023 Miss Earth pageant. “As a person I am truly self-aware. And I won’t take that as a ground to be complacent. But instead, I take that as a motivation for me to do better and be better every day,” she responded to the question posed by INQUIRER.net.

“Mediocrity is just never in my vocabulary. So instead, that solid foundation that I am building on will have to be gravitating towards making that as an improvement of myself, as we gear towards the coronation in Vietnam,” she continued.

Aduana also declared that the Miss Earth pageant is her “first love,” having competed on the national level for the first time at the 2021 Miss Philippines Earth competition, where she finished as a runner-up. She was later crowned Miss FIT (face, intelligence, tone) Philippines in the same year, then joined the 2022 Binibining Pilipinas pageant where she finished in the Top 12 and received the “Face of Binibini” award.

She said there have been many people urging her to go for another shot at a national crown in various pageants, but has remained steadfast in her decision to return to the Miss Philippines Earth competition.

For her second attempt at the Miss Philippines Earth title, Aduana went to all 20 barangays in Siniloan to spread awareness on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations (UN).

After capturing the national title, she attended the UN global conference in New York, where she had the opportunity to talk about the “disheartening reality” that many Filipinos are still unaware of the SDGs that are supposed to be achieved by 2030.

In her quest for the international crown, and to further spread awareness on SDGs in the Philippines, Aduana visited all 17 regions in the country. The Miss Philippines Earth and Miss Earth pageants, both organized by Manila-based Carousel Productions, are anchored on the platform of environmental awareness and protection. The winners are dubbed “beauties for a cause,” and are tasked to spearhead projects that help save the environment.

The 2023 Miss Earth pageant will hold its coronation show at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center in Ho Chi Minh City on Dec. 22. Eighty-seven international delegates are expected to take part in the competition.