Binibining Pilipinas 2015

by: Psychic August

The Binibining Pilipinas (BPCI) 2015 batch of beauties to international beauty pageants like Miss Universe, Miss International, Miss Supranational, Miss Intercontinental will fare much like how their predecessors did this 2014:  they will fail to secure the top crown in these pageants.

While many will be hopeful that at least one of the candidates fielded by BPCI in 2015 will finally get hold of the top crown in international pageants, they will all be disappointed even more. We will see the uproar of netizens and the other more silent pageant fans being stoked to higher levels than what was just recently witnessed when Philippines' bet  for the Miss Universe 2014 title,  Mary Jean Lastimosa, failed to cut the Top 5.

There will be more clamor for reforms in the BPCI - that Madam Stella Marquez de Araneta retires from her top post, that at least BPCI starts accepting Filipino fashion designers to do the gowns for Binibining Pilipinas international bets, etc.

But I see some light at the end of the tunnel.  If, and only if, there is enough public clamor to do so, BPCI will consider the works of some top Filipino fashion designers for its pageant bets this year, and even to the extent of, due to very insistent force, putting aside Colombian designer Alfredo Barazza, or  lose the support of majority of it's local patrons.

To conclude, although I still see that 2015 will still, all the more, be a lackluster year for Philippine bets to international beauty pageants, not just from those of BPCI, but also those from other local pageant organizations, the year will at least introduce some good precedents for the pageant scene in the next coming years.

And BPCI chairperson Madam Stella Marquez Araneta will still keep her post.

Reading Date: January 26, 2015
Photo: BPCI

Coming Soon:  Philippines 3rd Miss Universe

Stella Marquez Araneta @ Miss Universe Franchise

by: Psychic August

"How long will Stella Marquez de Araneta, now 77 yrs old,  keep the Miss Universe franchise?"

Madame Stella Marquez-Araneta keeps the Miss Philippines Universe franchise as long as she is alive, as the Philippine franchise was acquired for her by her husband; she still has several years ahead of her.

After her tenure, the chair of the Miss Philippines Universe franchise will be passed on to  male relative of her husband  (Araneta), but her South American friends and relations will still play an active role in it.

Although the head of the franchise, Madame Araneta has been delegating more and more work in the recent years, due to her age, to her close friends and even relatives.  The Colombian fashion designer Alfredo Barraza, who designs the gowns that Miss Philippines Universe gets to wear at the Miss Universe pageant, will stay. There will be no change in this set up in the foreseeable future.

In running the Miss Universe chapter here in the Philippines, Madame Araneta is basically serious, especially in her younger years, although at times her approach and policies have often bordered on being too commercialized.  It is after all, a major business for her and her husband.  But again in the recent years, she has left more of the operation of the franchise to her various South American friends, like the  fashion designer Alfredo Barraza, as mentioned earlier.  Her husband, every now and then, gets to lend a hand.

Admittedly these friends of hers, in taking over the hands on running the organization, have had a not so positive effect on the franchise which can often be seen in the approach and the presentation of candidates to the Miss Universe pageants.  With everything that is said, at the end of the day, the Araneta couple is generally pleased with the outcome of how their business is run, as well as the profits.  


Reading Date: January 9, 2015
Photo Sources: Various