Miss Universe Philippines national director Shamcey Supsup. Karen Flores Layno, ABS-CBN News
MANILA – She competed in Miss Universe in 2011 and finished third runner-up to Leila Lopes of Angola.
And now, Shamcey Supsup helms the organization that will pick the Philippines’ next representative in Miss Universe.
“We will try our very best to produce a Miss Universe Philippines candidate who can really represent our country and be able to showcase what we have,” said Supsup, the national director of the newly formed Miss Universe Philippines (MUP) organization.
“Siyempre this is the first [Miss Universe Philippines pageant], we may make mistakes along the way and it’s a difficult responsibility. I mean, coming from the known Aranetas and we’re a very new team,” she added, referring to the family that owns Binibining Pilipinas Charities Inc., which held the Miss Universe franchise in the country for more than 50 years.
“But with the help of a lot of people, and of course the pageant fans – sila ang inspiration namin to really do better and hopefully improve the whole journey for the girls.”
On Friday, Supsup and the rest of the MUP organization presented its 52 candidates to members of the media at the Manila Hotel.
The former beauty queen is visibly happy with the turnout of applications for their first-ever pageant, which focuses solely on preparations for the Miss Universe stage.
“I’m honored that we were able to find amazing women from all around the Philippines to take part in this journey,” Supsup said. “Actually I’m amazed kasi I saw some of them during the screening and parang ngayon pa lang may transformation na – what more after the two months of preparation for the ultimate pageant? So there are so many things that we can do pa.”
All MUP candidates will undergo two months of training (“for personality, for their advocacies, makeup, walk, pasarela, and more,” according to Supsup) from experts and teams from different fields.
They will also be traveling to different parts of the country as part of the organization’s efforts to promote local tourism.
“The next few weeks will be really tiring, but it’s going to be fruitful as well because we’re not just training them for the pageant. We’re training them for life. And win or lose, they will emerge as strong women after Miss Universe Philippines,” Supsup said.
And when asked to give advice to the first batch of MUP candidates, Supsup replied: “My advice to the girls is just to be proud of where they came from. Sabi ko nga, if you have a dialect or you speak Bisaya, don’t be afraid to speak in Bisaya because we have to be proud of where we came from.”
“Para you know, the youth or the little girls looking up to us will also be proud of where they came from.”