Let me start this post by saying that I am not a fan of beauty pageants. When most young girls would sit by their television screens together with their mothers or sisters, I sat and watched old movies of different kinds. The only time I remember being ‘interested’ in these things was when the Ms. Universe pageant was held years ago in the country – of course, we were all swept away by all the glamour, the hype, and the fact that we have to feel proud because the Ramos administration was able to promote the country as a prime tourist destination because of this event.

But even if I am not a fan of beauty pageants, I am a fan of women. In fact, I think of them as God’s greatest gift to mankind. And do you know where you can find most of these women?

Apparently, a lot of them can be found at the Miss Resorts World Manila pageant held at the Newport Performing Arts Theater (a venue which deserves another blog entry altogether) last August 27, 2011.

29 women with beauty and brains competed for the much coveted Ms. Resorts World Manila pageant title

The pageant, which boasted of 29 young women (30 if you count MTV VJ Sarah Meier who hosted the event together with Rovilson Fernandez), gave varying definitions to what being beautiful means. If indeed beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then the pageant certainly gave everyone a reason not to despair despite the skyrocketing cost of gasoline, the news of economic recession in most first world countries, the never ending corruption charges in our government, and other bad news which makes you want to question where the world is coming to.

Everything about the Ms. Resorts World Manila finalists glitter with elegance and glamour similar to other high stakes beauty pageants in the country

But while we can argue the merits of what being beautiful means and that it is actually what’s inside that counts, pageants like these have their own standards of beauty – something that involves parading in swimsuit, in evening gown, and answering questions that may or may not become a part of Filipino popular culture (and perhaps, and more importantly, gay culture). I admire these women because standing up in front of a crowd, of a panel of judges belonging to the country’s elite, is not an easy feat because it means opening themselves up to criticism, to admiration, to judgment, and approval.

As the curtains closes on the 2011 Ms. RWM pageant, Princess Angela Abella's dreams, the reigning Queen, are just starting to come true

In the end, only one dream survived, but it doesn’t mean all 28 dreams have died. It probably meant more learning and experience for these women who are courageous enough to chase after their dreams than most of us who just watch and sit in front of our television screens.

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