Last December 2023, the online registration for all aspirants was opened. I was having second thoughts again but hearing my daughter's cheer when I asked her if she wanted me to join a pageant, her reaction was priceless! Her eyes twinkled and smiled while telling me "Go Mommy! I'd love to see you on stage". It was a heartwarming moment that made me fill out the application form the following day. Just before the year ended, I received an invitation message from the Queen Mother of Cebu for a physical screening on January 13, 2024, at the Elizabeth Hotel. I was delighted and at the same time, I was a little nervous because fifty aspirants were chosen to have a physical screening.
During the physical screening, I had to come early since I was one of the first batch screenees. I arrived at 9:30 in the morning since my schedule was at 10:00. I was happy to see familiar faces once again. I've seen some of my fellow pageant enthusiasts when we used to see each other before, joining local beauty pageants. Oh, good old days! To make the story short, the physical screening with four batches of screenees ended at 3:30 pm. The first batch of screenees were advised to wait for their text if we were able to make it as finalists for this year's Queen Mother of Cebu. It was commendable that the organization was able to prepare snacks and even lunch for all of us, big thanks to everyone!
Since I did not leave the hotel I just waited and watched other aspirants as they introduced themselves and answered the interview questions by the panel of judges just as we did during the first batch. It was quite inspiring to hear other mom's stories and advocacies. It was a great platform to share our stories and be heard. During the third batch, I received a text at around 2:00 in the afternoon that I made it as one of the finalists who successfully made it for the first batch screenees and had to wait until the screening was over for the official sashing, orientation, and contract signing. Finally at 3:30 in the afternoon the search was over and instead of 21 official candidates, they decided to make it to 25 official candidates. After thorough deliberation, the official 25 candidates were announced by the producer and founder of Queen Mother of Cebu, Ms. Juliane Mae Vera Cruz, and sashed by the reigning Queen, Ms. Myth Anisca Maguate together with Ms. Amy Undaloc of Chameleon Models of Cebu.
I was indeed grateful for this opportunity and excited as I unveiled this journey together with the other awesome mommas who will surely enjoy our future activities, especially visiting the chosen charities of the foundation which I will share on this blog.
I have started quite early for the courtesy call of the Municipality I'm representing which is my second home, the whimsical town of Tuburan, Cebu. I am very grateful to Ms. Vera Cruz for her quick response despite the short notice and also to Ms. Amy Undaloc for the assistance. They sent me the sash right away for my courtesy call. To the people who helped me, Auntie Ada and Monique Acha for booking me a schedule out of the Mayor's busy schedule, I'm beyond grateful, and also to Mayor Diamante for sparing some time for this courtesy call, Thank you! For my siblings, especially my sister Sway who’s also a pageant enthusiast, thank you for the words of encouragement and for sponsoring my registration fee.
We have four months to bond as fellow candidates which will most likely become a strong bond of sisterhood that I look forward to.
Moving forward, be with me on this journey as I share my advocacy and the tidbits of our activities on my future blog posts. I am looking forward to your support and your upvote means a lot, again this is your candidate no. 21, for Queen Mother of Cebu 2024.