CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Philippines’ Ahtisa Manalo finished as Third Runner-Up in the 2025 Miss Universe pageant held in Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday, November 21.
Manalo’s placement ends the country’s drought in securing a Top 5 finish in recent editions of the pageant since 2021.
The 28-year-old earned the Miss Universe Philippines crown last May as the representative of Quezon Province and has spent the past months in intensive training.
As she shared, her Miss Universe journey has been 18 years in the making, having joined pageants at the 10 years old.
This milestone also marks the conclusion of her pageant career, as she dons the Philippine sash for the final time.
Standing beside Manalo in the winning circle were Miss Mexico as the titleholder, Miss Thailand as First Runner-Up, Miss Venezuela as Second Runner-Up, and Miss Côte d’Ivoire as Fourth Runner-Up.
To date, only four Filipinas have brought home the Miss Universe crown: Gloria Diaz (1969), Margie Moran (1973), Pia Wurtzbach (2015), and Catriona Gray (2018).
READ: Ahtisa Manalo: “I’ll give my all. This is my last pageant”
Ahtisa’s performance
Manalo is a pageant veteran and has always been admired by fans in the industry, and her performance onstage earlier today captured the hearts of Filipinos.
It began with her loud scream of “Pilipinas!” on the international stage, proudly raising the country’s banner once again, as she had represented the Philippines in other global pageants before.
She was unstoppable as she passed every elimination round, starting with her strong preliminary performance that earned her a spot in the Top 30.
Her swimsuit performance brought the heat to the stage as she strutted in a white two-piece bikini made by Filipino brand Bench, securing her place in the Top 12.
Her white, ethereal gown — embodying the timeless beauty of a Filipina — helped her solidify her position in the Top 5.
Ahtisa’s answers
Back-to-back questions were thrown at her once she entered the Top 5.
When asked “As a global ambassador [citizen], what will be your contribution to humanity?” she responded:
“I wanna be the hope of people. I come from a very poor background. I started pageants at ten years old to put myself through school and to lift my family out of poverty. And if there’s anything that I want to show the universe, I’m here right now and standing as Miss Universe because I was able to get myself out of any situation because I was hardworking, I was persistent, and I fight for what I want.”
For the second question, identical to what the other finalists received, she was asked: “If you win the title of Miss Universe tonight, how would you use this platform to empower young girls?”
She answered, “I work with an organization called Alon Akademie. Where we work with young people to provide them opportunities to make them realize that it doesn’t matter what your life [circumstances are], it doesn’t define where you will go. And I wanna continue working with Alon Akademie in a bigger platform like Miss Universe to pursue, making sure people who come from low-income backgrounds are given the same opportunities as everyone else. Thank you!”
Her stellar performance earned her the 3rd Runner-Up title, giving the Philippines another placement after Cebuana beauty queen Beatrice Luigi Gomez’s Top 5 finish in 2021.
Ahtisa’s experiences
Aside from being the Philippines’ representative on the Miss Universe stage this year, she has already worn the country’s sash in different stages.
Manalo won the Miss Philippines-Cosmo title and was sent to the inaugural edition of the Miss Cosmo pageant in Vietnam, where she finished in the Top 10.
Her first national competition was the Reyna ng Aliwan search in 2017, representing the Niyogyugan Festival of Quezon Province, finishing as second runner-up.
In 2018, she was crowned as Binibining Pilipinas-International and was sent to the Miss International pageant in Japan, where she was proclaimed as first runner-up.
