The most entertaining part of Bb. Pilipinas 2008 was the question and answer portion. Based from the questions prepared for them by the judges, one contestant said she would like to emulate President Macapagal Arroyo (ows, kawawa naman), another one would like to do Mother Theresa (go gurl!) and the answer of Janina San Miguel, who eventually won Bb. Pilipinas World, was a classic that could go viral and surpass the interview boo boos of Miss Teen South Carolina Lauren Caitlin Upton.
Hilarious it may seem, many thought that she did not deserve the award. Some commented that the pageant should advance the tradition of "beauty and brains" in the country, and her winning was a disaster to the Philippines. A few opined that she would be a catastrophe when she would represent the country in the international pageant.
... and all of these because of her answer to the question: "Well, my family’s role for me is so important becoz there was the wa- they’re, they was the one who’s …. very… Haha .… Oh I’m so sorry, uhmm …. My pamily .… My pamily .… Oh my god …. Ok, I’m so sorry .… I .… I told you that I’m so confident .… Eto, uhhmm, Wait .… Hahahahaha, uhmmm, Sorry guys becoz this was really my first pageant ever becoz I’m only 17 years old and ahahaha I, I did not expect that I came from, I came from one of the tough 10. Hmmm, so .… but I said that my family es the most important persons in my life. Thank you."
She is a Mass Comm student in the University of the East, and the one who posed the question was Viviene Tan, the executive of Thames Business School and a daughter of PAL's Lucio Tan (hmm related to Ms. Criselda Tan, ADDU Mass Comm 2007). Dissecting her verbatim speech and seeing her actual video footage on You.Tube, I wonder if people realize that she knew the answer, but she was destitute in words. The poor girl was laughed at by the audience, as in ROFLOLMAO. Kawawa talaga.
My take: when she goes to the international pageant, I suggest she answers all questions in Filipino. She brings an interpreter. That's what those Brazilian, Ukrainian and Mexican contestants have been doing because of the the FACT that ENGLISH is not their mother twang. I guess Janina should do it also.
Second, question and answer in Bb. Pilipinas should be both be in English and Filipino. Everyone has a common sense and such question as posed by Bb. Tan can be answered even by a pre-schooler. Just ask it in Filipino, and Janina can answer you in 30 minutes extemporaneously. Kaya nga Binibining Pilipinas!
