WHAT is the inspiration of the designer of Teresita Ssen “Winwyn” Marquez’s National Costume for the Reina Hispanoamericana 2017 competition?
Designer Edwin Uy explained through Facebook that Marquez’s national costume is “Pintados Warrior Queen from Cebu.”
“When the Spaniards came here in the Philippines, the very first people they saw were the tattooed people from Cebu which they called the Pintados,” Uy explained.
Marquez’s “Pintados Warrior Queen” was one of the top three finalists for Best in National Costume, along with Panama and Venezuela.
Panama’s Carolina Castillo won the award. Uy’s post, however, made some netizens question the “Pintados” part, saying the Pintados he is referring to are not from Cebu but from Tacloban City which celebrates the Pintados Festival.
Uy made another Facebook post to explain why he mentioned Pintados from Cebu and not Tacloban City.
“The very first people that the Spaniards encountered in the Philippines were the Cebuanos as they first landed in Mactan. They labelled the tattooed people Pintados. The term Pintados came from them. Pintados were the people from the Visayas, which includes Cebu, Leyte and many other places in Visayan region,” he added.
Marquez, daughter of veteran actors Alma Moreno and Joey Marquez, is currently in Bolivia to compete in the Reina Hispanoamericana 2017 pageant to be held on Nov. 5. She is the first Filipina to represent the country in the competition.
