Ayssa Redondo on why Filipinos are doing well in Miss Intercontinental

Miss Intercontinental 2024 second runner-up Alyssa Redondo/ARMIN P. ADINA

The Philippines currently enjoys a placement streak in the Miss Intercontinental pageant that spans 11 consecutive editions. And the recent Filipino bet Alyssa Redondo shared her thoughts on why the country is doing so well in the international competition.

“Filipinos are nice and welcoming, and Miss Intercontinental is about being able to express yourself while being kind to everyone, because that’s what they look at mostly,” the Mutya ng Pilipinas queen told INQUIRER.net at her homecoming party held in Makati City on Wednesday night, Dec. 11.

Redondo went to the event straight from the airport, arriving from her triumphant trip to Egypt where she posted a second runner-up finish at the 52nd Miss Intercontinental pageant held at the Sunrise Remal Resort in Sharm el Sheikh on Dec. 6 (Dec. 7 in Manila).

She has extended the Philippines’ placement streak that started in 2013 when her fellow Mutya ng Pilipinas queen Koreen Medina finished as third runner-up.

During the final competition, Redondo earned an automatic entry to the Final 7 by receiving the “Power of Beauty” award when the Top 30 delegates were just being announced onstage.

“I think that’s why I got the ‘Power of Beauty,’ because I was able to embody my Filipino side, which is being kind and welcoming to everybody,” she shared.

“The ‘Power of Beauty’ is such an honor to bear, because it originated here in the Philippines, the first time Miss Intercontinental was here, when Karen [Gallman] won. And I’m so glad that I was able to bring this title to where it came from,” Redondo said.

“I think Power of Beauty is someone who is able to be the voice for the voiceless. And so I’m just compassionate and kind. And I think I have those traits,” she continued.

She and eventual Miss Intercontinental winner Maria Cepero both earned guaranteed placements in the final round when the competition was just rolling out the announcement of the 30 semifinalists, with the Puerto Rican bagging the “People’s Choice” award.

But the two, however, still both participated in the swimsuit and gown segments with the rest of the Top 30. Redondo was also proclaimed as “Best in Swimsuit.”

The 23-year-old Laguna-born vocational nurse from California described the new queen as both lovely and smart. “If you guys don’t know, she’s a law student. And she’s very kind. So congratulations to her, she deserves the crown,” Redondo said.

Cepero is the fourth Puerto Rican woman to be proclaimed Miss Intercontinental, following Elizabeth Robison in 1986, Maydelise Columna in 2010, and Heilymar Rosario Velasquez in 2016.

The Philippines has two winners to date. Aside from Gallman, Cinderella Faye Obeñita also won the title for the country in 2021, in the edition held after a one-year pandemic pause.