Composite photo of Filipino Miss Universe title holders. From top: Gloria, Margie Moran, Pia Wurtzbach and Catriona Gray. In 2016, I wrote an article and a feature story for Asia Calling about the hows and whys of the Philippines being a mad-crazed country over beauty contests. It seems that watching and (for some girls and boys and gays) joining a beauty pageant is part of the Filipinos' DNA. Last Monday, 17 December, the Filipinos have once again proven that their lives evolve around beauty contests when everyone was glued on television and the Internet to watch the live broadcast from Bangkok. The streets were also empty and public employees stopped serving clients until the broadcast was over. These things happened before when boxer Manny Pacquaio fought. Later on, the interest in Pacquaio's matches has waned but not on beauty contests. The bet, a 24-year-old Filipino-Australian Catriona Gray, didn't disappoint. She was crowned Miss Universe 2018 after being a ...
Welcome to my site. A bit about myself. I’m a professional journalist, academic researcher, and editor with more than two decades of experience in multimedia work. I'm also a serious photography hobbyist whose interests range from travel to portrait images. I hope you enjoy reading my stories and looking at the photos I have taken while jogging, walking around cities and villages or just when I'm gardening. :)