Identity Crisis
Barely had the ink dried in the score sheets of the Search for Miss Bicolandia that chose the 20 official candidates last Saturday afternoon, when protests as to the identity of those who qualified to be screened came up.
Some questioned the qualifications of the candidates. Others asked, “Who is a Bikolano?”
These are valid and ringing questions that time and again hound the organizers of the search for Miss Bicolandia or any organization for that matter that sponsors a search for the best of the gentlemen or ladies of Bikolandia.
But not all beauty or brawn searches have the same criteria. One differs from the others. One may have a very strict definition of who a Bikolano is. Some others may have extended the definition to include some not included in other definitions. In joining a brawn or beauty search, the talent scouts must see to it that their candidates strictly meet the sought after qualifications. The criteria in any given search have been thought of and thought of again, discussed and discussed again until they are summed up in a statement that is passed on to the talent scouts.
In the Search for Miss Bicolandia 2007, the candidate must be a Bikolana by blood or by birth. A Bikolana by blood is defined as one whose “either of the parents or both parents are Bikolanos” even if at present the applicant-candidate is not a resident of the Bikol region. A Bikolana by birth is one whose “parents are not Bikolanos but the applicant-candidate was born in the Bikol region even if she is not a resident of the Bikol region.”
The Beauty Pageant Council of Naga City expected some objections or attempts to bend the rules, indeed, there were. But rules must be rules. They were not made to be broken if only to accommodate the most beautiful women in the universe, like Mona Lisa or Elizabeth Taylor or even Francine Prieto.
Even if one has resided in Naga City for years and years but both her parents are not Bikolanos and she was born outside the Bikol region — even if she has won a string of top beauty contest titles — even if she considers herself a Bikolana and takes pride in being called a Bikolana since she has learned to care for Bikol and so loved the language that she could speak it more fluently than any of the councilors of the Sanggunian Panlungsod of Naga —she has to be disqualified. Other beauty contest organizers may have included an applicant inclination or residence as basis for qualification, but the Beauty Pageant Council of Naga has its own set of criteria that makes it different from other beauty and talent searches.
One’s sense of belongingness or one’s preferences are not the ones at stake here. It is one’s birth or one’s bloodline.
The criteria set forth by the Beauty Pageant Council of Naga are not meant to spawn an identity crisis. They are meant to refine the standard of the beauty and talent search based on — as other nations would do in determining a person’s identity and citizenship — birth or blood.
Those whose expectations have not been met this year may make representations before the Beauty Pageant council of Naga and share with the Council a piece of their mind. Who knows their feedback may prompt the Council to explore other areas and discover gems of interest they have not as yet come across.
Source: http://www.bicolmail.com/issue/2007/august30/editorial.html
Some questioned the qualifications of the candidates. Others asked, “Who is a Bikolano?”
These are valid and ringing questions that time and again hound the organizers of the search for Miss Bicolandia or any organization for that matter that sponsors a search for the best of the gentlemen or ladies of Bikolandia.
But not all beauty or brawn searches have the same criteria. One differs from the others. One may have a very strict definition of who a Bikolano is. Some others may have extended the definition to include some not included in other definitions. In joining a brawn or beauty search, the talent scouts must see to it that their candidates strictly meet the sought after qualifications. The criteria in any given search have been thought of and thought of again, discussed and discussed again until they are summed up in a statement that is passed on to the talent scouts.
In the Search for Miss Bicolandia 2007, the candidate must be a Bikolana by blood or by birth. A Bikolana by blood is defined as one whose “either of the parents or both parents are Bikolanos” even if at present the applicant-candidate is not a resident of the Bikol region. A Bikolana by birth is one whose “parents are not Bikolanos but the applicant-candidate was born in the Bikol region even if she is not a resident of the Bikol region.”
The Beauty Pageant Council of Naga City expected some objections or attempts to bend the rules, indeed, there were. But rules must be rules. They were not made to be broken if only to accommodate the most beautiful women in the universe, like Mona Lisa or Elizabeth Taylor or even Francine Prieto.
Even if one has resided in Naga City for years and years but both her parents are not Bikolanos and she was born outside the Bikol region — even if she has won a string of top beauty contest titles — even if she considers herself a Bikolana and takes pride in being called a Bikolana since she has learned to care for Bikol and so loved the language that she could speak it more fluently than any of the councilors of the Sanggunian Panlungsod of Naga —she has to be disqualified. Other beauty contest organizers may have included an applicant inclination or residence as basis for qualification, but the Beauty Pageant Council of Naga has its own set of criteria that makes it different from other beauty and talent searches.
One’s sense of belongingness or one’s preferences are not the ones at stake here. It is one’s birth or one’s bloodline.
The criteria set forth by the Beauty Pageant Council of Naga are not meant to spawn an identity crisis. They are meant to refine the standard of the beauty and talent search based on — as other nations would do in determining a person’s identity and citizenship — birth or blood.
Those whose expectations have not been met this year may make representations before the Beauty Pageant council of Naga and share with the Council a piece of their mind. Who knows their feedback may prompt the Council to explore other areas and discover gems of interest they have not as yet come across.
Source: http://www.bicolmail.com/issue/2007/august30/editorial.html
Labels: Miss Bicolandia 2007, Related news and articles
# posted by gayon bicolandia @ 8:09 PM 
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