CEBU CITY, Philippines— A force of nature. That’s what Miss Universe Singapore 2023 Priyanka Annuncia is.
The beauty queen is in Cebu to promote her advocacy against sex crimes and human trafficking. Annuncia is not only a beauty queen but also a private investigator.
“[I have been] a private investigator for almost four years. I have been so fascinated with the criminal justice system ever since I was a kid,” she said in an exclusive interview with CDN Digital on Tuesday, November 29.
Priyanka shared how she started her advocacy and how her Miss Universe stint helped pave the way to get her message out.
“It was interesting for me because it has always been an aspiration of mine to actually be able to grace that stage and I am just really proud that I got to represent my country in such a beautiful and honorable way. Shockingly, I wasn’t nervous at all when I got on stage, I was waiting, I was at peace and I was just taking my moment to shine,” she said.
After her stint as Miss Universe Singapore, more doors opened for her, like her connection with the international non-government organization International Justice Mission (IJM).
“They have offices all over the world they have one here in Cebu that has a special unit called the OSEC Unit, Online Sexual Exploitation of Children and this is where they deal with a lot of those crimes that are happening here in Cebu. And so I am here with IJM and women on a mission,” Annuncia said.
Priyanka Annuncia’s mission in Cebu
During her stay here in Cebu, Priyanka and the rest of the team’s organization will mostly be doing groundwork, pinpointing hotspots of sex crimes and human trafficking.
Priyanka said that they will be talking to some investigators, lawyers, and other sources to see what they can do and how they can start a process to combat these crimes.
She said that these crimes happen differently in other countries, and in the Philippines, these crimes happen with the use of the Internet, which is, for her, a very big and hard hurdle to get through.
“It is online, and many people all over the world have access [to the Internet],” said Priyanka.
Priyanka shared that she was ignited to pursue this mission after one of her friends from Thailand became a victim of a sex crime.
Moving forward, every time she meets a person who is a victim of a crime, she always keeps in mind to look at them as normal people and to not look at their past. But she also makes it a point to be one with them in moving on and being able to help others survive this painful experience.
In the time that she has spent as an advocate, Prinyaka said that her biggest achievement so far was getting the work started.
“You can be very apprehensive because it is such a dark crime, it is very heavy and I wanna continue to travel more.”
Prioritizing her work is the secret for Priyanka to be able to juggle her work as a private investigator and her work as an advocate.
On a side note, Priyanka got inked the moment she arrived in Cebu by one of Cebu’s best tattoo artists, Ann Savage.
With her tattoos, she said she will always have a special place for Cebu in her heart.
Priyanka also sends her appreciation to all her Filipino fans for supporting her during the recently concluded Miss Universe 2023 pageant.
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