Miss Tourism International Rizzini Alexis Gomez holding the Sto. Nino image during the Sinulog 2015 grand finale. (photo grabbed from Rizzini’s Facebook account)
FRIENDS of the late Miss Tourism International 2012 Rizzini Alexis Gomez from the modeling and fashion industries will offer Mass for her at the St. Peter Funeral Homes in Mandaue City tonight.
Ricky Ballesteros, executive director of the Sinulog Foundation Inc. (SFI), said the Mass offering is organized by SFI with Cebuano fashion designer Cary Santiago.
“Some of her close friends already attended her vigil wake like the reigning Binibining Pilipinas Supranational 2015 Rogelie Catacutan,” Ballesteros told Cebu Daily News.
Dedicated
He said Catacutan is dedicating her Miss Supranational 2015 title quest to Gomez’s memory.
“Rogelie will compete this November for the international title. They are close friends,” said Ballesteros.
Gomez turned over the Reyna ng Aliwan crown to Catacutan in 2011.
Both women shared the same stage for the Sinulog 2015 Grand Finale last January.
Others attending tonight are Cebuano make-up artist Jonas Borces and other people who worked with the late Cebuana beauty.
Gomez died last Tuesday morning in a hospital in Cebu due to non-Hodgkins lymphoma of the lungs. She was 25 years old.
She won the Miss Tourism International 2012 title at Sunway Resort and Spa in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. It was the last pageant she joined before being diagnosed with the illness.
Gomez was the second Cebuana to win the Mutya ng Pilipinas title after Peachy Manzano in 2000.
Among those who posted on her Facebook account was Bohol’s Anna Maris Igpit, Binibining Pilipinas-World 2006.
“I am still in shock about the news of your passing but I guess God doesn’t want to see you suffer more. Your beautiful heart, humbleness and unassuming attitude will always be remembered. You gave so much pride not only to Cebu and to the Philippines but most of all to your family and loved ones to whom I would like to extend my sincere condolences. You are gone too soon, Rizzini.
Thank you for everything. You are in a much better place now and heaven gained another angel, this time with a crown,” said Igpit.