Beauty pageants have been part of the Philippine culture since the 1920s and the country has produced a number of crowned beauty queens as well as runners-up from international competitions, which include the four major pageants such as Miss Universe, Miss International, Miss World, and Miss Earth.
The Philippines won't be a pageant powerhouse without the franchise owners and organizations that strongly support the selection of candidates to represent the country.
A recent example is when talent manager Wilbert Tolentino, franchise owner of Miss Planet Philippines, immediately calls out the alleged unauthorized appointment of a Philippine representative to its international competition on January 20 in Cambodia. His talent, actress and Binibining Pilipinas first runner-up Herlene Budol, was the official representative to the said pageant. However, due to their unfortunate experience in Uganda during its supposed schedule of competition in November 2022, Wilbert decided not to join the pageant anymore. Thus, he publicly stated that he did not approve of any candidate representing the Philippines in the competition.
In his statement, he said that he wanted to "protect the interest of the public, especially the women who may be misinformed" about who has the legal authority to send Philippine representatives in such competitions.
Aside from Wilbert, get to know the people and organizations that run the most prestigious pageants in the Philippines here:
The Miss Universe Philippines is a competition and organization that selects the official representative of the country to the Miss Universe pageant. This used to be under Binibining Pilipinas Charities Inc. (BPCI) until its franchise was granted to Miss Universe Philippines Organization in 2019.
Empire Philippines Holdings, Inc. currently holds the local franchise of the Miss Universe, with former Binibining Pilipinas queen and Miss Universe 3rd runner-up Shamcey Supsup as its national director. The organization's first representative to the Miss Universe pageant was Miss Universe Philippines 2022 Rabiya Mateo.
Binibining Pilipinas is one of the four prestigious pageants. Owned by Binibining Pilipinas Charities Inc., the annual competition currently selects queens to represent the country the Miss International, Miss Globe, and Miss Charm International. BPCI used to send candidates to Miss Universe--producing four crown winners such as Gloria Diaz (1969), Margie Moran (1973), Pia Wurtrzbach (2015), and Catriona Gray (2018).
BPCI also acquired the franchise of Miss International and conducted the Miss Philippines pageant to select a representative for the competition. The organization currently has five Miss International crown under its wing, which were won by Aurora Pijuan (1970), Melanie Marquez (1979), Lara Quigaman (2005), Bea Santiago (2013), and Kylie Verzosa (2016).
BPCI is owned by Jorge Leon Araneta of the Araneta group while his wife, former Miss Colombia Stella Marquez Araneta, heads the organization.
Miss World Philippines (MWP) is also one of the most prestigious pageants in the country. It has produced one titleholder, actress Megan Young, who was crowned Miss World in 2013.
Aside from selecting a representative to the Miss World, MWP also chooses candidate to represent the Philippines in international competitions such as Miss Supranational, Miss Eco Intenational, and Miss Reina Hispanoamericana, where Winwyn Marquez was hailed the first Filipina candidate to win the crown. It also selects representatives to male pageants such as Mister World and Mister Supranational.
Miss World's local franchise is currently owned by ALV Pageant Circle. It was formerly headed by Cory Quirino, who resigned as its national director in 2017. Since then, the organization is supervised by Arnold L Vegafria, who is also a known talent manager in show business.
Carousel Productions Inc is the organization that currently owns and runs Miss Earth, the intenational major beauty pagent based in the Philippines; and its local version, Miss Philippines Earth. Using the slogan "Beauties for a Cause," the pageant also aims to create awareness about environmental preservation. Since its creation in 2001, the Philippines already has four titleholders namely Karla Henry (2008), Jamie Herrell (2014), Angelia Ong (2015), and Karen Ibasco (2017).
Philippine Stock Exchange Director Ramon Monzon is the current president of Carousel Productions. The organization was also the holder and producer of the Mutya ng Pilipinas and Miss Asia Pacific international pageants until they relinquished the franchise in 2001.
Former Mutya ng Pilipinas winner and Aisa Quest representative Lorraine Schuck is the cofounder and Executive Vice President of Carousel Productions.