MANILA, 13 June 2006 — Marc Luther Dulatre, a 21-year-old Nursing student of the Philippine College of Health Sciences, and 17 year-old Hollee Ivy Luna of UP-Baguio were proclaimed Natatanging Ginoo’t Binibini ng Overseas Filipinos in rites at the SM Megamall Cinema 4 on June 7 (Migrant Workers Day), according to a press statement.
The pageant was exclusively for young men and women who have family members and close relatives abroad. Represented in the initial year of the pageant were “kababayans” in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, the USA, Canada, Italy, Austria, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Brunei, New Zealand and Australia. Dulatre, for example, is the cousin of Austria-based student, Dyllfrance Florante; while Luna, daughter of a former seaman, is the niece of Florida-based government employee, Vivian Glass.
Adjudged first runners-up were 19-year-old aspiring actor, Ramses Mendoza, whose aunt, Tess Almacen, is based in Carson City, California; and 19-year-old Paula Junne Ruiz, a Tourism student of UP-Diliman whose aunt is in National City, also in California. Second runners-up were Lesther Navarro, an 18-year-old HRM student of Jose Rizal University and whose aunt, Juliet Arcinas, is an OFW in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; and 19-year-old Charmaine Dinglasan of Sariaya, Quezon who has an aunt, Serafia Barbazon, in Australia.
The three-hour pageant, organized and produced by former overseas Filipinos themselves, was a grand presentation that featured the twenty-eight official candidates strutting their stuff in three competition segments — casual wear, resort wear and formal wear. One of the evening’s high points was a very moving audio-visual presentation showing the candidates’ relatives abroad to the accompaniment of Gary Valenciano’s “I Will Be Here.”
But what moved the audience more was the video presentation about the event’s supposed beneficiary, Jennifer Perez, whose parents, Aling Lydia and Mang Herminio, were the special guests that night. Twenty-three-year-old Jen was an OFW in Jordan. She was allegedly thrown out of the second-floor balcony by her employer after grappling for her cell phone which the latter wanted to confiscate. The fall rendered Jennifer paralyzed for life. She was repatriated to the Philippines on May 3, 2006, after being confined in a hospital in Amman for nine months. She would have needed medication and a breathing apparatus for life. Sadly, Jennifer passed away on May 17.
The show was directed by ace fashion director, Tom Po, who used to be an overseas Filipino himself, having lived and worked in New York for a number of years. Produced by Jhie Tinio, who was an OFW in Saudi Arabia and the UAE during the 1990s, and line produced by Rhoel “Chino” Mendoza.
