Victory for Cebu: Gazini Ganados wins Miss Universe Philippines 2019

Gazini Ganados, who represented Talisay City, Cebu, wins the Miss Universe Philippines 2019 title. She was crowned by Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray. PHOTO FROM BB. PILIPINAS FACEBOOK PAGE

QUEZON CITY, Philippines — The beauty queen who represented Talisay City, Cebu won the most coveted Miss Universe Philippines 2019 title during the coronation night held Sunday, June 9, 2019 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Gazini Christiana Ganados’ beautiful face and killer walk earned her the chance to represent the Philippines and compete in Miss Universe 2019.

Ganados wore a gown by Cebu’s topnotch designer Cary Santiago.

Ganados succeeded Catriona Gray, who won as Miss Universe 2018 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Ganados also earned two special awards on coronation night: Best in Long Gown and Miss Photogenic.

Asked by judge Bobby Barreiro on how she will get more women in the workplace if she wins the crown, Ganados answered:

“If I win the crown tonight, what I will do is to promote my advocacy. My advocacy is for us women to fight for our rights and for the elderly care and for us to be able to know that someone is loving and someone is pushing us to whatever ambitions that we have. We will be able to rise from our decisions to whatever dreams that we have, goals that we have, and we will achieve it because of those values, those wisdoms that they gave us.”

New queens

Bea Patricia” Patch” Magtanon of Bataan will represent the country in the Miss International pageant.

The alumna of the University of the Philippines Diliman, who recently passed the Bar Examinations, was clearly one of the crowd favorites as audience literally stand up to cheer on her.

Emma Mary Tiglao of Pampanga won as Bb. Pilipinas-Intercontinental while Laguna’s Leren Mae Bautista went home as Bb. Pilipinas-Globe.

Maguindanao’s Resham Ramirez Saeed won as Bb. Pilipinas-Supranational 2019, while Cebu City’s Samantha Lo was Bb. Pilipinas-Grand International.

Read more: Samantha Lo wins Bb. Pilipinas Grand International; marks third year for Cebu’s winning streak

Lo was crowned by last year’s winner, Eva Psychee Patalinghug, another Cebuana.

Maria Andrea Abesamis of Pasig City ended with a first-runner up recognition on her second attempt. 

Samantha Bernardo hoped to finally earn a crown on her second try but the Palawan native failed to do so. 

Bernardo was crowned as the second runner-up, the same placement that she earned in 2018.

The biggest upset of the night went to Negros Occidental’s candidate Vickie Rushton.

Rushton was hoping to go home with a crown in the 2019 edition of the pageant. In 2018, she was the pageant’s first runner-up.

Rushton was one of the strongest contenders of the 2019 batch.

Early in the competition, Rushton hugged most of the special awards.

These are: Bb. Poten-Cee, Miss World Balance, Miss Creamsilk, Manila Bulletin Reader’s Choice Award, Miss Ever Bilena and Jag Denim Queen 2019.

Rushton was asked by actor Daniel Padilla the question: “Why is mental health as important as physical health?”

Rushton started out with an answer that emphasized the importance of self love but then seemed to have lost her train of thought as a heckling crowd affected her composure. 

Unfortunately, Rushton did not win any crown.

Delay

Technical issue resulted to a two-hour delay of the Binibining Pilipinas 2019 program.

It was supposed to start at 7 p.m.

The program started a few minutes past 8 p.m. but the music abruptly stopped while the candidates were dancing as part of the opening number.

The technical team also encountered problems with the stage lighting.

The program finally resumed at 9:27 p.m. to the delight of the live audience.