Bicol fields competitive bets to Miss Universe Philippines 2025 pageant
Rani Lachmi Dado (left) from Albay and Shaina Rabacal from Camarines Sur. Image: INQUIRER.net/Armin P. Adina
For a time, many pageant fans considered Bicol as the “Venezuela of the Philippines” for producing top-notch pageant contestants, collecting crowns from major competitions. Various factors contributed to this, according to the region’s bets to the 2025 Miss Universe Philippines contest.
Bicol pageant veterans Rani Lachmi Dado and Shaina Ong Rabacal were presented as the official delegates from Albay and Camarines Sur, respectively, to journalists and online content creators at the Incanta Cave Bar and Restaurant in Quezon City on Monday afternoon, Feb. 10.
INQUIRER.net asked the two during the press conference why, for them, Bicol has produced some of the most iconic Miss Universe representatives from the Philippines.
“Because of the handlers, the glam team; handlers are like the second parents of the beauty queens. First we’re just regular students in school, and then someone comes along our way, believes in us, believes in our beauties, and trains us to be way much better. I think they are the reason why beauty queens are produced profoundly in Bicol,” Dado said.
Rabacal, for her part, cited how seriously Bicolanos take their pageants. “They’re very committed, they’re very dedicated. Even in barangay pageants, it’s a serious thing. Even in shool pageants, the candidates and the glam team give their 100 percent best,” she shared.
Among the Bicolano beauties who made a huge impact among Filipino pageant fans is Miriam Quiambao, who almost gave the Philippines a third Miss Universe victory in 1999, 26 years since Margie Moran won the crown.
Venus Raj, who ended a decade-long placement glut for the Philippines in the Miss Universe pagent in 2010, is also a Bicolana, and so is Catriona Gray, the country’s most recent Miss Universe winner who bagged the crown in Thailand about seven years ago already.
“It’s more the culture, actually, way back in Bicol. We have this community where we know all of them, we know all the designers, the trainors, the makeup artists. And it’s actually quite amazing how every city, every municipality has their own style, has their own pride,” Dado said.
Rabacal vouched for the “work ethic” in the region as another factor. She also said the questions asked in Bicol pageants “are something that shape us, that show our personality.”
Apol Mora-Viñas, who shares the local directorship with her husband Mark, said it is in the Bicolanos’ nature to excel. “Because of the competitiveness, we produce competitive girls, just like us, we are very competitive.”
She herself is a beauty queen. She was part of the pioneer batch of the Miss Global Philippines pageant, being one of the single mothers who joined. She was also the first-ever Queen of the Beautiful Planet winner, and finished second in the first Miss Posture Philippines search.
Mora-Viñas said whatever Bicolanos go through, being hit by a typhoon, or anything, they can still exude grace under pressure. She even jested that it could also be because of the chili peppers that spice up their cuisine.
Dado and Rabacal wil be among more than 70 delegates from across the country and overseas Filipino communities who will compete to succeed reigning Miss Universe Philippines Chelsea Manalo.
