Miss Cosmo Philippines Ahtisa Manalo. Image: Facebook/The Miss Philippines
When Ahtisa Manalo received the Miss Cosmo Philippines title after the 2024 Miss Universe Philippines competition, many pageant fans were shocked, saying it was a “downgrade” from the Miss International pageant where she had already competed in 2018, and even finished second.
A lot of netizens voiced out their frustration and said the next best thing to the Miss Universe Philippines crown would have been the Miss Supranational Philippines title, which was also one of the options for the other top finishers in the recently concluded national pageant.
The contest’s executive vice president, Voltaire Tayag, already revealed to INQUIRER.net in an interview that as second runner-up in the Miss Universe Philippines pageant, Manalo had first dibs on the other titles at stake, and she chose the Miss Cosmo Philippines crown.
First runner-up Stacey Daniela Gabriel was not considered for any of the additional titles because she declined any of them, as she had confirmed in her Instagram post and YouTube video. Hence, Manalo had the advantage of taking her pick first.
“My answer to Voltaire was ‘only if, and if you double check and you triple check that I’m not Miss Universe Philippines, I’ll accept Miss Cosmo.’ Because I came from the startup industry and I love being part of young organizations, I love being part of making something out of nothing. And I think that Miss Cosmo is the perfect venue for me to share my talents and experience,” Manalo said at the media conference for the four titleholders under The Miss Philippines held at Empire Studios at the Estancia Mall in Pasig City on June 10.
She was joined by Miss Supranational Philippines Tarah Valencia, Miss Charm Philippines Cyrille Payumo, and Miss Eco International Philippines Alexie Mae Brooks at the gathering before members of local media.
Manalo had also started her engagement with the young organizers of her international competition in Vietnam. She will be among the four participants invited for the launch event of the Miss Cosmo pageant today in its home country.
“It will be the first edition. And the good thing about a pageant that hasn’t staged a pageant before is that it’s unchartered territories. And there will be a lot of things to discover, a lot of things to figure out. And I do think that the four-day trip I will have in Vietnam, it will have a lot of valuable experiences for me there,” Manalo shared.
She also said that based on the limited information she has gathered about the Miss Cosmo pageant, the competition is looking for an “impactful beauty.” Manalo said being an entrepreneur could work to her advantage because she can offer a lot to the organization.
She will be joined by her fellow delegates Saranya from Malaysia, Ketut Permata Juliastrid Sari from Indonesia, and Mbali Dlamini from South Africa, as well as some national directors from different countries, at the Miss Cosmo launch event at Gem Center in Ho Chi Minh City.