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| Miss Manila Karen Ibasco beams after winning the Miss Philippines Earth crown |
City of Manila's representative Karen Ibasco was crowned as the new Miss Philippines Earth on Saturday, July 15, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Ibasco succeeded Miss Philippines Earth 2016 Loren Artajos, who took on the crown after Imelda Schweighart resigned from her duties in November 2016 due to personal issues against her including the viral video cursing Miss Earth 2016.
Ibasco will compete for the Miss Earth pageant in November in MOA Arena.
Ibasco, 26 is a medical physicist who teaches at University of Santo Tomas. She bested 39 other aspirants.
During the final Q&A, the five finalists were asked the same question: "The government's slogan is, change is coming. What change do you wanna see in terms of environmental policies in the country?"
"In terms of environmental policies, everyone is experiencing climate change, the whole world is experiencing climate change. And I'm just grateful that the Philippines has signed the Paris Treaty and what I want to see is to pass the carbon tax. In that way, we will invest in renewable energy to help our world to be a better place, a greener and habitable for the whole humanity," Ibasco replied which earned the cheers of the audience.
Ibasco, prior to joining Miss Philippines Earth 2017 is a crossover beauty as she joined Bb. Pilipinas 2017 in April.
Nellza Mortola Bautista was crowned Miss Philippines Fire; Kim De Guzman was crowned Miss Philippines Air; Vanessa Castillo Miss Philippines Eco-Tourism; and Jessica Marasigan Miss Philippines Water.
Miss Earth Air 2016 Michelle Gomez and Miss Earth 2016 Catherine Espin were also present during the finals. Other former Miss Earth winners including Jamie Herrel and Angelia Ong graced the events as courtside commentator while Sandra Siefert acted as backstage reporter who interviewed the candidates. Catherine Untalan also helped the girls in hosting.
This year's Miss Philippines Earth is not just about beauty, not just about grace but was all about transparency.
Selection of Top 15 were categorized into four segments namely; beauty and figure, poise, beauty of face and intelligence in environmental awareness. From those categories, the judges determined the Top 10 semi-finalists who were casually interviewed by host Robi Domingo using several hashtags about the environment.
During the opening number, the girls looked gorgeous donned in wonderful costumes as they danced and paraded the stage. Likewise, the audience were in awe during their cultural attire presentation but unfortunately Miss Lucena City had a bad fall but her co-candidates were kind enough to assist her. Special Awards from the sponsors were announced.
At the same time, additional special awards were likewise given away such as Best in Evening Gown awarded to Sadrine Stoelzaed; Miss Philippines Hannah's 2017 Marie Sherry Ann Tormes Best in Swimsuit and Best in Cultural Attire Elizabeth Amahan.
The judges were Bang Nanalao, Sari Yap, Dita Sandico, Tim Yap, Ambassador Effie Ben Matityau, Sanith Wijieyiratne, Ambassador Rolando A. Guevarra A. Alvarado, Jeffrey De La Paz and Lorraine Shuck.
Early favorites Pulilan, Bulacan and Puerto Princesa City failed to make a cut in the Top 10.
Story by: Eric Arevalo
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