THE LAST crown for November went to Brazil.
Early favorite Francielly Ouriques of Brazil was crowned Miss Asia Pacific International 2017 on Wednesday evening, November 29 during the pageant held at Resorts World Manila in Pasay City.
Ouriques succeeded Miss Asia Pacific International 2016 Tessa le Conge of the Netherlands. The Philippines’ Ilene de Vera finished fourth runner-up. The candidates were given the same question during the final round.
The question was, “Do you think the advocacy in promoting fostering love, appreciation, and unity in diversity is relevant in this day and age?” Ouriques had a translator during the final question and answer.
Her answe was translated as: “I believe that we are all equal before God and all of us should be able to spread love, and spread good things among everybody.”
“Respect, unity, and love are principles that my parents thought me and that everybody should foster that,” she ended her answer. Ouriques already excelled even during the preliminary rounds, bagging the Best in Swimsuit and Best in National Costume awards.
Ouriques’ court includes Acacia Walker of New Zealand (first runner-up), Valeria Cardona of Honduras (second runner-up), Morgan Doelwijt of Netherlands (third runner-up), and Ilene de Vera of Philippines (fourth runner-up). De Vera, who hails from Cebu, finished Mass Communication at University of the Philippines Cebu.
She was also one of the early hot picks for Miss Asia Pacific International 2017 and finished runner-up in swimsuit, national costume, and long gown competitions.
The Philippines already has four crowns in Miss Asia Pacific International that include Carines Zaragoza (1982), Bong Dimayacyac (1983), Lorna Legaspi (1989) and Michelle Aldana (1993). November had been the month for international pageants, which included the Miss Universe competition held Nov. 26 and won by Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters of South Africa.
