Tracy Maureen Perez enters the Top 13 in Miss World 2021

Tracy Maureen Perez has made it to the Top 13 of the 70th Miss World competition!

From the 40 candidates, the Cebuana beauty queen was chosen to be one of the semi-finalists who will move on to the next phase of the pageant held in Puerto Rico on Thursday (Manila time).

She also gave a powerful speech as she was called to the front of the stage.

"If I told any of you my life story, my experiences, you will also probably wonder, how in the world did she get here? Well, you know what, I am so much bigger and so much stronger than all of the unfortunate things that happened to me," she said.

"And I know in my heart that all those experiences led me to this day to this very stage and I want people to see me, to see themselves in me and to be reminded that what we go through in life should not dictate where we’ll ever be," she added.

Here is the full list of candidates who made it to the Top 13:

• Vietnam
• Mexico
• Northern Ireland
• Philippines
• Poland
• Somalia
• USA
• Colombia
• Czech Republic
• France
• India
• Indonesia
• Cote d'Ivoire

There was initially only supposed to be 12 semi-finalists, but there was a tie.

Philippine bet Tracy is vying for the country's second Miss World crown. Megan Young won the first one in 2013. —JCB, GMA News