Unhidden Beauty

It wasn’t long ago when we don’t have the prestigious beauty pageant in our town during fiestas. It used to be just a simple selection of ladies from each village. As part of fund-raising campaign to finance the whole activities, each contestant must raise the money and whoever raised the highest amount will be the “Beauty Queen”. Some people take it seriously though that they can raise as much as 2,000USD or more. For a small town like ours- that’s a big amount of money. Okay then, it’s all about pride.

Nowadays, the government would spend 4-5 grand (USD) for a beauty pageant. As we all know, it is a competition based mainly, though not always entirely, on the physical beauty of its contestants, and often incorporating personality, talent demonstration, and “question & answer” portion as judged criteria.

I think, I’m one of those who are so critical about this beauty contest thing. I don’t particularly like the way they present the ladies- especially in the swimwear part where they're almost naked in front of a large crowd. It may be an art but these ladies are so young. There I go again, being so conservative. I just don’t understand why it has become such a prestigious affair. Again, it’s all about pride, I guess. But what if the lady cannot deliver her answer- obviously, a memorized answer? It’s such a pity just like the previous, controversial Bb. Pilipinas Pageant.

Anyway, here’s what I got during the Beauty Pageant in our town, Mahinog. In fairness, they were so superb and modestly dressed.