November 23, 2025 | 10:55am
MANILA, Philippines — Right after the winner was announced last Friday, reaction was swift. The audience was outraged and they showed how they felt. The boo came next. Even when the Mexican delegation exited the hall, the boo continued.
Before Omar Harfouch resigned as part of the selection committee, people thought that Miss Mexico Fatima Bosch was simply standing up for herself during the sashing ceremony altercation. In countries where English is not the lingua franca, words like “damage” could be misheard as “dumb”and “dumb” could certainly create “damage,” especially when bystanders take sides hastily without ascertaining facts.
Harfouch alleged the business ties between Miss Universe president Raul Rocha and Bosch’s father, leading to some pundits drawing their own conclusions about the issue.
Harfouch is not the only juror to leave the selection panel. Claude Makelele and Principessa Camilla di Borbone, who was supposed to preside over the deliberations, also left. Speculations arose that they may have reconsidered their participation in the contest, where the winner had been allegedly pre-determined, even before the competition began.
Apart from Bosch, Paraguay’s Yanina Gomez also drew controversy with her alleged involvement with one of the jury members of the pageant’s committee member. Paraguay automatically qualified through the online poll as People’s Choice awardee, outplacing Miss Australia Lexie Brant, who was ranked at the 30th spot.
Gomez also bagged the Beyond the Crown top prize, an advocacy competition. The Netherlands’ Nathalie Mogbelzada and the Philippines’ very own Ahtisa Manalo were the runners-up.
Not that Gomez’ project was inferior, as it could have its merits. It was winning it with a shadow cast over the process.
Even selection committee member Natalie Glebova, Miss Universe 2005, said she would not participate again if the transparency issue was not resolved.
However, there were also good things that came out of the competition. Friendships and new bonds were formed. For Ahtisa, it was with Miss Panama Mirna Caballini and Miss Pakistan Roma Riaz. And may I add that Val Taguba’s creation was a chef d’oeuvre. Seldom would we see such inspired work on the global stage.
After 44 years, Malta had its much-awaited placement — and a Top 12 at that! This just goes to show that those who wait will surely be rewarded.
The new entrants, like Palestine, Guadeloupe, Mayotte (to name a few), gave stellar performances. China was a revelation this year. And so was Miss Bangladesh.
Well, it’s too bad deserving queens were robbed of their true placements and titles. But that has happened before, in one form or another. In fact, each year has its own set of issues; it just got messy this year.
But I tell you this, people’s memories are short-lived. They won’t even remember why they fussed so much over this when they’ll talk about this in the future, especially with Pinoy’s fickle memory. The next gossip will eclipse this issue and that will be the new topic, until a new one surfaces.
Let’s just hope that the Puerto Rico edition next year will be much more transparent and fair. This is because honest efforts are costly and can hurt the heart and mind for a very long time.
But hey, what’s a pageant without a little drama?
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