The daughter of a Filipino mother and an African-American father, Chelsea was considered a dark horse during the months-long runup to the pageant’s finals.
By Alex Y. Vergara
In a competitive field composed of beauty pageant veterans, including a couple of rivals who competed before and did well on the international stage, 24-year-old Filipino-American Chelsea Manalo from Meycauyan, Bulacan wasn’t expected to run away with the coveted Miss Universe Philippines crown.
In the end, she seemed to have surprised even herself when she was announced winner as the five-hour-long event at SM-Mall of Asia Arena ended last night. Chelsea edged out fellow Filipino-American Stacey Gabriel of Cainta, who had to settle for first runner-up.
Dubbed by pageant fans as Bulacan’s “Black Barbie,” Chelsea bested the likes of Quezon Province’s Ahtisa Manalo and Taguig’s Christi McGarry for the title previously held by Michelle Marquez Dee.
A pageant frontrunner throughout the four-month duration of the most-watched local beauty pageant in the Philippines, Ahtisa, Binibining Pilipinas International 2018, had her beauty pageant pedigree working for her, having won first runner-up at Miss International six years ago. In the end, she settled as second runner-up to Chelsea.
The 33-year-old Christi, who was also heavily tipped to win the crown despite her age, is also a former Binibining Pilipinas titleholder who did well abroad, bagging first runner-up in Miss Intercontinental. She finished fourth runner-up last night.
Looking regal in a strapless white Manny Halasan gown with a feathered cape, a composed Chelsea, who reminded pageant fans of previous Miss Universe winners such as Leila Lopez and R’Bonney Gabriel, calmly answered the final question, which seemed to have resonated well with the judges.
“As a woman of color, I have always faced challenges in my life. I was told that beauty has standards,” said Chelsea, a graduate of Tourism Management from the De La Salle University. “But for me, I have listened to my mother, to always listen to myself, uphold what you have. Because of these, I am already influencing a lot of women who are facing me right now. As a transformational woman, I have here 52 other delegates with me who have helped me to become the woman that I am. Thank you!”
Chelsea will fly to Mexico later this year to compete at the 2024 Miss Universe beauty pageant. Except for Stacey and Christi, Chelsea’s runners-up didn’t go home empty handed.
After the pageant’s livestream on YouTube, people behind Empire.ph led by Jonas Gaffud, appointed Ahtisa (Miss Cosmo Philippines), Baguio’s Tarah Valencia, third runner-up to Chelsea (Miss Supranational Philippines), and top 10 finishers Alexie Brooks of Iloilo (Miss Eco-International Philippines) and Cyrille Payumo of Pampanga (Miss Charm Philippines) to represent the country at several international beauty pageants to be held abroad later this year.
Stacey, who was set on winning the Miss Universe Philippines crown, reportedly declined any appointment, while Christi didn’t qualify for any of the other titles because of her age.
