Emma Tiglao has coterie of beauty queens as cheerleaders during pageant
Miss Grand International Philippines Emma Tiglao/ARMIN P. ADINA
If newly-crowned Miss Grand International Philippines Emma Tiglao has a secret weapon to winning the crown, it would be her posse of beauty queens cheering her on whenever she appeared on stage during the competition.
Tiglao was the clear winner of the national tilt during and even before the coronation night last Aug. 24 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, receiving the loudest applause from the audience, and taking home not just the special awards but also the Best in Swimsuit and Best in Evening Gown competitions.
All these, she could thank her stellar set of friends composing of national titleholders who all stood loud and proud for their support of the Kapampangan broadcaster, each one of them establishing a connection with Tiglao through different circumstances.
Among those on the frontlines were her former Kagandahang Flores sisters and Binibining Pilipinas queens Kris Tiffany Janson, Rogelie Catacutan, Nichole Manalo, and Hannah Ruth Sison.
Joining them at the arena were Miss Global Shane Tormes, Miss Global runner-up Xena Ramos, Miss Cosmo World runner-up Sam Acosta, and Bb. Pilipinas International titleholders Angelica Lopez and Myrna Esguerra.
Lopez and Acosta were both trained by pageant mentor Georgette Garrido, who took Tiglao under her guidance for the Miss Grand International Philippines pageant. Esguerra, on the other hand, is a fellow Kapampangan.
Miss Grand International Philippines Emma Tiglao (right) and her beauty queen cheering squad composed of (clockwise from top, left) Kris Tiffany Janson, Rogelie Catacutan, Nichole Manalo, Hannah Ruth Sison, Shane Tormes, Angelica Lopez, Xena Ramos, Sam Acosta, and Myrna Esguerra/ARMIN P. ADINA
Lopez and Tormes had already appeared in a video with several other beauty queens to show solidarity with Tiglao the moment she signed up for the national pageant.
Joining them in the video were Kapampangan beauties Sophia Bianca Santos, Francesca Taruc, and Silvana Rauch, Tiglao’s fellow Mutya ng Pilipinas runner-up Larah Lacap, and The Miss Philippines-Cosmo Chelsea Fernandez, another of Garrido’s wards.
Another video was posted on the day of the coronation showing Esguerra among the bevy of beauties behind Tiglao, all wearing white shirts with “EMMA MARY” emblazoned in front, and “#TheGRANDandONLY” printed under the queen’s name.
Such show of solidarity among beauty queens from different pageant organizations to show support behind a fellow titleholder’s quest for another crown was unprecedented.
Tiglao’s expansive national pageant resume has enabled her to build relationships with a vast group of beauty queens. She was first runner-up in the 2012 Mutya ng Pilipinas pageant, Fourth Princess in the 2015 Miss World Philippines pageant, and joined the Bb. Pilipinas pageant twice before winning a crown in 2019.
Even Mutya ng Pilipinas Pres. Cory Quirino attended the 2025 Miss Grand International Philippines grand finals to show her support for the queen. She was the head of the Miss World Philippines Organization when Tiglao joined in 2015.
Such massive support will certainly come handy as Tiglao aims to give the Philippines a second consecutive Miss Grand International victory in the pageant’s 13th edition in Thailand in October. /edv
