Kris Tiffany Janson, Cyrille Payumo vie for Miss Universe Philippines provincial titles

Miss Tourism International 2019 Cyrille Payumo (left) and Miss Intercontinental 2014 second runner-up Kris Tiffany Janson. Images: ARMIN P. ADINA/Inquirer.net

MANILA, Philippines—The fifth edition of the Miss Universe Philippines pageant heats up as a new system for recruiting aspirants is rolled out for the 2024 competition, with popular names enlisting for various qualifying contests.

For next year’s national competition, the organizers will not be entertaining individual applications. Instead, Accredited Partners (APs) in different places across the country will be conducting qualifying pageants or screenings to select their delegates who will be fielded to the Miss Universe Philippines stage. Among those who are competing are international Filipino beauties Kris Tiffany Janson and Cyrille Payumo.

Janson, who finished third in the Miss Intercontinental pageant in 2014, is among the official candidates of the Miss Universe Philippines-Cebu pageant organized by the AP in the Visayan province.

The Cebuana model was the first Binibining Pilipinas queen to be sent to the Miss Intercontinental pageant, when the national charity organization acquired the franchise for the global tilt in 2014.

Miss Intercontinental 2014 second runner-up Kris Tiffany Janson. Image: ARMIN P. ADINA/Inquirer.net

Janson, now 33, was able to stage a pageant comeback after the Miss Universe pageant relaxed its age requirements and lifted the maximum-age restriction.

Payumo, meanwhile, will be trying her luck in the Miss Universe Philippines-Pampanga pageant, organized by the AP in the Central Luzon province, the culinary capital of the Philippines.

She was proclaimed first runner-up in the 2019 Mutya ng Pilipinas pageant and was sent to the Miss Tourism International contest in Malaysia where she became the fifth Filipino woman to bring home the crown.

Miss Tourism International 2019 Cyrille Payumo. Image: ARMIN P. ADINA/Inquirer.net

In the past, pageant veterans who want to participate in another national competition submit their applications directly to the main organizers. But the Miss Universe Philippines team adopted the system implemented by the Miss USA pageant, where state pageants are held to select the delegates who will proceed to the national search.

Miss Universe Philippines National Director Shamcey Supsup-Lee told INQUIRER.net in an earlier interview, “It’s for the better. We feel like with this new system, we’re not just opening up for women of all ages, but every girl who does not have the capacity to represent themselves, this is it, they have the backing of the community, of their provinces.”

She continued: “With the help of the [APs], we also want to create a fair playing field. There’s one whole team to help a delegate to vie for that most coveted crown, most coveted title.”

The national organization is searching for a successor for Michelle Marquez Dee, who finished in the Top 10 of the 2023 Miss Umiverse pageant, topped the fan voting, led in the national costume online poll, received the “Spirit of Carnival” award from Carnival Cruises, and was one of the three “gold finalists” of the “Voice for Change” initiative by Miss Universe crown provider Mouawad with CI Talks.