Cristina Gonzales-Romualdez (right) crowns Sophia Quintanar Mara sa Noble Queen of the Universe./ARMIN P. ADINA
Former Tacloban City Mayor Cristina Gonzales-Romualdez turned over her Noble Queen of the Universe crown to Visayan mother Sophia Quintanar Mara, scoring a back-to-back for the island group in central Philippines in the international event organized by actress Patricia Javier.
Three Filipino women, representing Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, participated in the annual event held at the ballroom of Novotel Manila Araneta City in Quezon City on Dec. 12.
Four more titles were awarded, with two of them going to Filipino participants. Princess Margaret Olarte from Luzon was Noble Queen Globe, while Mabel Victor Manabat from Mindanao was Noble Queen Tourism.
Sarah Rockyasl from the Middle East was crowned Noble Queen International, while Janina Lorelei from Romania was Noble Queen Earth. Shalona McFarland from the United States was proclaimed as the lone runner-up.
Romualdez, also a former singer-actress like Javier, received her title last year in Japan. She said she is “proud” that another Visayan woman succeeded her. “Maybe it’s just meant to be like that. Perhaps women from the Visayas are really just hard working,” she told INQUIRER.net.
She said she is confident that Mara will do a great job with the title. “I know she has a lot of advocacies. I’m aware that she really has a long line of different advocacies that she has been working on ever since, for many years,” Romualdez said.
The Noble Queen of the Universe Ltd. Inc. organization says the annual search is an advocacy event that gathers remarkable women who have been contributing greatly to society through various projects and activities.
For Romualdez, the advocacy work will not end after she has passed on her title to her successor. “I’ll still be helping. Because what’s great about Noble Queen, like Patricia and the rest, they’re still helping, the rest are still very active even if it is no longer their reign,” she shared.
“We’re all queens, you know? It’s more like we encourage each other as women, women that want to help other women, women that help children. And we also promote advocacies and encourage other women to also, you know, get involved with different purposes now,” Romualdez continued.