A 17-year-old mass com student bungled her Q&A then went on to win the Bb. Pilipinas World title. See the video of Janina San Miguel’s question and answer interview here and Ruffa’s reaction here. Ruffa was a runner-up in the Miss World pageant a generation ago. Her title was “second princess”, a glamorized synonym for runner-up or second stringer.

I disagree with Ruffa Gutierrez that it’s embarrassing to be unable to speak in straight English. I disagree with her as well when she says that a beauty pageant should be both about beauty and brains.

In the first place, being articulate in English is not necessarily the same as having brains — especially for Filipinos. What is she implying — that every Filipino who was raised with English as their first language are all brainy? Paki sungkit nga yung kilay ko.

In the second place, there is a reason why beauty pageants are called beauty pageants and not IQ contests. If it were otherwise, winners would be declared, maybe, once every 10 years.

Finally, I don’t understand this insistence on conducting the Bb. Pilipinas pageant in English. I don’t understand why it is necessary to put all these girls through all that humiliation. While they are not expected to be Einsteins, they should at least have a chance to express what they mean without all the shitty language barriers. Beauties from Latin American countries win international beauty contests left and right and they don’t speak a word of English. Not because they are honor students but because they get the chance to say what they mean and mean what they say. There are interpreters in international beauty contests and the use of interpreters is not taken against the contestants.

I don’t know which is more embarrassing for the Filipina image — Janina San Miguel’s incoherent answer or Ruffa Gutierrez’s twisted self-righteousness.

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