BINIBINING Pilipinas titlists Leren Mae Magnaye Bautista and Samantha Ashley Villar Lo will be the first queens of the premier beauty pageant to embark on their international pageant journeys this October.
Bautista, 26, from Los Baños, Laguna, will vie for the 48th Miss Globe finals to be held at Holiday Village Montenegro Amphitheater, Ulcinj, Montenegro on October 20.
Leren, who is a BS Marketing Management graduate of Colegio De San Juan De Letran Calamba, is vying for the same crown that has been won by fellow Binibini titlists Ann Lorraine Colis in 2015 and Maricar Balagtas in 2001.
Leren is also gunning for her second international crown after winning as Miss Tourism Queen of the Year International in Malaysia in 2015.
Lo, 26, from Cebu City, will compete at the 7th Miss Grand International to be held at the Poliedro in Caracas, Venezuela on October 25.
Born and raised in Lake Mary, Florida to a Filipino-Chinese father and Cuban-Nicaraguan mother, Sam, who is a nursing student and ESL instructor in Cebu, will aim to become the first Pinay to win in the tilt that has seen 4 runner-up finishes by Pinay beauties namely: Ali Forbes (3rd runner-up 2013), Parul Shah (3rd runner-up 2015), Nicole Cordoves (1st runner- up 2016) and Elizabeth Clenci (2nd runner-up 2017).
Seeing off Leren and Sam and giving them their best wishes at the despedida party at Novotel Hotel at Araneta City were their fellow Binibini titlists Miss Universe Philippines Gazini Ganados, Bb. Pilipinas International Patricia Magtanong, Bb. Pilipinas
Intercontinental Emma Tiglao, Bb. Pilipinas Supranational Resham Hameed and runners-up Aya Abesamis and Samantha Bernardo, as well as representatives of the Bb. Pilipinas Executive Committee and members of media.
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Two homegrown international pageants, Miss Asia Pacific International and Miss Earth, are concurrently being held in Manila to select their new queens on October 9 and 26, respectively.
Miss Asia Pacific International presented its 55 delegates worldwide at the press presentation at Marriott Hotel last Tuesday while Miss Earth, now on its 19th year, introduced its 85 contestants from around the world at Diamond Hotel last Wednesday.
We will have an extensive report on these global tilts in next issues.
