CEBU CITY: No Place for Future Venus Rajs?

Aside from being a world-class island flocked by diverse people and a rich culture that is truly Filipino but with a distinct Cebuano flavor, the CEBU province is probably one of the few remaining places in the world to have beauty pageants that doesn’t have a swimsuit round. As a beauty pageant enthusiast and as a citizen of a country who loves beauty pageant next to a Kris Aquino Controversy, this is definitely sad and disappointing. Although the aim of the Cebu Provincial Government is noble for women, somehow the move can also sacrifice a few artistic, and self-expression moves.

Ever since Gloria Diaz, Margie Moran and among many other women who bagged international titles in honor of our country, beauty pageants have become one of our past times and entertainment. These women became respected in their chosen fields. Although I admit, that some local pageants can be a good outlet for people’s mockery and would probably promote women as sex objects, banning pageants from having the swimsuit round might not really be the best solution. Instead I think they should assign a governing body to events like this and before the actual date of these events some specifications should be implemented.

Such talk about swimsuits in beauty pageants came once again as a hot topic because PB Member Arleigh Sitoy wanted to amend the Provincial Code to allow candidates to wear swimsuits. However, PB Member Agnes Magpale cleared out the issue and said there’s no need to amend the code because such only prohibits those skimpy bikinis that tend to project women as sex objects. The swimsuit category can still be a part of any pageant given that it’s based on internationally-accepted standards on female beauty pageants.

Well I guess that’s actually good news. After all people do have all the right to whatever choice of clothing they want to wear, on the other hand it also requires responsibility and some moral approach. Lewdness and misconducts are still unacceptable. I think as a country that takes its beauty pageants seriously, I think the people can be good judges as to when women are projected as mere objects or when they are treated as MAJOR, MAJOR role models. So I guess, we’ll be seeing more of Venus Rajs in the near future then?