Miss Universe Philippines 2024 delegates Mary Rose Guiral (right) from Naic, Cavite, and Kim Irish Placibe from Toledo City in Cebu. Image: INQUIRER.net/Armin P. Adina
There have been beauty queens who thrived in male-dominated fields before embarking on their own pageant journeys, but it is rare to see a welder and a plumber try their luck in a beauty contest, and the Miss Universe Philippines 2024 competition has those two among the aspirants competing for the crown.
Mary Rose Guiral from Naic, Cavite, holds a certificate as a welder, while Kim Irish Placibe from Toledo City in Cebu studied as a plumber in school. And both ladies did not just stop at acquiring their credentials, they really practiced welding and plumbing among men.
Guiral said she grew up in an orphanage that offered welding and computer studies. “Unfortunately, I do not have any interest in computers, so I took welding. And thankfully, I graduated, I had the certificate. I’m a certified welder. So, that’s where I started my welding career. I used it to sustain my education and my family because I am a breadwinner,” she told INQUIRER.net on the sidelines of the Miss Universe Philippines pageant’s signing event with lead sponsor Villa Medica held at Hilton Manila in Pasay City last month.
Placibe, for her part, shared that she first chose to study cosmetology at a vocational high school, but ended up shifting to plumbing because she felt that she could still dabble in makeup and hairstyling at home or with friends. “So I went to the plumbing class and asked the teacher if the major was available for females. He asked if I can handle being inside a roomful of boys with just two girls,” she said, and confirmed she agreed to the condition.
The Caviteña from Naic pursued further studies in mechanical engineering after earning her certificate in welding, while the Cebuana plumber said she still enjoys handling pipes because it gives her the opportunity to visit different places and explore communities she has never been to.
Guiral said engineering is not that far apart from pageantry. “We are innovators and we are problem solvers. As a Miss Universe Philippines candidate, we do not just speak about certain causes, but we also provide solutions,” she explained.
“As someone who is in that industry, I have provided already a solution for our agricultural sector, because that is my advocacy. We have designed and fabricated low-cost machineries for our farmers and fishermen, and they are being used by our coffee farmers in Cavite, already,” she continued.
For Placibe, the courage that pushed her to engage in plumbing is also what it took for her to embark on pageantry. “You have to take a risk, because that’s what I learned during my high school years. It is never easy to be in a male-dominated world, and you have to bring it to pageantry, the courage to present yourself, to be you with no filter at all,” she said.
Guiral and Placibe are among the 52 delegates competing in the 2024 Miss Universe Philippines pageant, who are all aspiring to succeed Michelle Marquez Dee as bearer of the national crown.
The winner will be known on May 22 at the culmination of the coronation show at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. The eventual titleholder will represent the Philippines in the 73rd Miss Universe pageant in Mexico later this year.