Miss Earth 2016 Katherine Espin turned over the crown to Miss Earth 2017 Karen Ibasco of Philippines.
(Photo from Miss Earth FB page)
THE PHILIPPINES has won its fourth Miss Earth crown.
Karen Ibasco, a medical physicist who graduated from the University of Sto. Tomas, bested 84 other candidates during the Miss Earth 2017 pageant held last night at the Mall of Asia Arena (MOA) in Pasay City.
Miss Earth 2016 Katherine Espino of Ecuador passed on the crown to the Filipina beauty queen.
Ibasco’s answer during the final Q&A helped her clinch the title.
All top four finalists were asked:
“Who or what do you think is the biggest enemy of Mother Earth and why?” Ibasco answered, “I believe that the real problem is not climate change. The real problem is us, because of our ignorance and apathy. What we have to do is to start changing our ways, to start recalibrating our minds and redirecting our steps. Because together as a global community our micro efforts will have a macro effect to help save our home, our planet.”
The other winners were Juliana Franco of Colombia (Miss Earth – Water), Lada Akimova of Russia (Miss Earth-Fire), and Nina Robertson of Australia (Miss Earth-Australia).
Cebuana beauty queen Karla Henry made history when she won the Philippines’ first Miss Earth title in 2008. In 2014, another Cebuana–Jamie Herrell–was crowned Miss Earth. Angelia Ong won in 2016.