Filipinos take beauty pageants very seriously and now that it’s almost November — the month when the “Big 4” competitions are happening this year — pageant fever is intensifying. And it looks like the Philippines is off to a good start.
Elizabeth Clenci, it’s bet for Miss Grand International was second runner-up in the competition held last night at the Vinpearl Convention Center in Phu Quoc, Vietnam. She was bested by first runner-up Tulia Alemán from Venezuela and winner María José Lora from Peru.
Watch how Clenci did in the final show here:
During the question and answer round, the top five candidates were asked: “If you have to issue a law to punish criminals of war and violence, how would you punish these people and why?”
For Clenci, the solution is rehabilitation.
“They say a nation is judged not by the criminals and the crimes that they commit, but how the nation punishes them,” she said. “we cannot judge someone’s character based on the crimes that they commit.”
Clenci is Filipino-Australian and is from Mandaue City, Cebu. She won the Miss Grand International Philippines crown during this year’s Binibining Pilipinas competition that picked the country’s representatives for six international beauty pageants including Miss Universe.
The “Big 4” beauty pageants: Miss World, Miss Universe, Miss International, and Miss Earth are all scheduled to happen in the next month. Below is a list of the Philippines’ representatives and the dates and venues of the competitions.
Miss Earth
Date: Nov. 4, Saturday
Venue: Manila Philippines
Representative: Karen Ibasco
Miss International
Date: Nov. 14, Tuesday
Venue: Tokyo, Japan
Representative: Mariel de Leon
Miss World
Date: Nov. 18, Saturday
Venue: Sanya, China
Representative: Laura Lehmann
Miss Universe
Date: Nov. 26, Sunday
Venue: Las Vegas, Nevada
Representative: Rachel Peters
Reader Interactions