Beauty, Madness and Politics

I bet all of you know the Bicolana beauty Ms. Maria Venus Raj who won the Bb. Pilipinas Universe crown in early March of this year. Filipinos the world over were surprised when the Bb. Pilipinas Charities Inc., the local holder of the Miss Universe franchise decided to dethrone Maria Venus Raj on the grounds that she has inconsistencies in her birth record. They then announced that the Cabalen Helen Nicolette Henson would replace Maria Venus Raj’s place. The BPCI think that it’s that simple. They never realized that the dethronement was wrong timing. It never occurred to them that its election season and those opportunistic politicians would do anything and everything just to gain media mileage. If you noticed, Liza Masa, Loren Legarda, CHR Chairman Leila de Lima, Albay Governor Joey Salceda joined the chorus of other people in media and Venus fans in myspace and facebook asking BPCI for her reinstatement.

The BPCI was put in a vulnerable position so they decided to give back the crown that I think Maria Venus Raj deserved. I read an article at the Philippine daily inquirer regarding Venus’ dethronement. She was allegedly asked to sign a resignation letter by the BPCI. BPCI said that it would be better if she resigns instead of being dethroned because she’ll be subjected to ridicule all her life. Venus apparently refused to sign the document without her lawyers and after 8 hours of deliberation, BPCI decided to strip her of her crown.

I can’t for certain verify the authenticity and the credibility of the write up that I read. But if that’s what BPCI did to Venus, then there’s a possibility that Janina San Miguel’s resignation back in 2008 was also initiated by the BPCI. It bothers me until now why Janina San Miguel decided to resign. Bb. Pilipinas, being the country’s premier beauty title is sought after by millions of Filipino women. She (Janina) already had it but she just threw it away. If the allegation of the Inquirer correspondent was accurate, then Janina San Miguel may have been forced to resign her title. I know, she had English blunder on the national stage but she won the crown fair and square. She was forced to sign the resignation document and being only 17 years old at that time, she may not have thought about calling a lawyer.

On Maria Venus Raj’s case, I think that the BPCI do not like her that they went out of their way to remove her. It’s obvious that they’re rooting for Helen Nicolette Henson. They may have also thought that since Venus comes from a very poor and farming family, they can easily get rid of her. Siguro iniisip nila na since pobre naman ito, madali lang itong dispatsahin. Pero they’re on the wrong side. They got away with Janina San Miguel but not this time.

I think that Maria Venus Raj’s handlers and PROs did very well. They photograph her walking in the rice paddies in her village in Bicol. It sort of humanized her and Filipinos were able to relate to her. They were able to empathize on the pain that a poor person has to go through in achiever his/her dreams. Aside from that, it’s election season. Daming pa poging politico na gustong mapag usapan at gustong makisawsaw. It also depicted Madam Stella de Araneta and BPCI as evils.

I think nothing will stop her (MVR) in achieving her dreams anymore. Win or lose in the upcoming Miss Universe contest, she’d already proved to be a good example to us all. She taught us not to give up on our dreams no matter how hard the obstacles are.