ON JULY 4, a sashing ceremony was held at Park Inn by Radisson in Bacolod City for two beauty queens who will represent their respective franchises in the Miss World Philippines (MWP) pageant in Manila in February next year.
Ashly Nicole Gadingan, 21, and Ysabella Wuthrich, 23, were formally introduced to the media and officially sashed as MWP candidates representing the Negros Island Region (NIR) and Bacolod City, respectively.
The event was intimate yet elegant, made even more notable by the presence of MWP national director Arnold Vegafria.
At that point, everyone thought everything had gone smoothly.
But only minutes after the ceremony ended, controversy erupted. Facebook figuratively went up in flames as online bashers began attacking Gadingan and Wuthrich.
But why? The flood of hostile comments across various Facebook posts was truly appalling.
The question is: Pero, ano gid ang natabo nga ginbira kag ginpang-insulto gid sila online? Those were very unfair and uncalled for bashing.
WHERE’S THE LIN-AY?
The issue on Facebook intensified with each passing day. One asked the question that quickly became the center of the controversy: “Where’s Jamaicah?”
Jamaicah refers to Jamaicah Bantigue of Don Salvador Benedicto, the reigning Lin-ay sang Negros.
Many people assumed she would automatically become Negros’ representative to Miss World Philippines.
Many Negrenses and Bacolod residents still vividly remember what Panaad sa Negros executive director Charina Magallanes-Tan repeatedly announced during various Lin-ay events and again on coronation night on April 17 — that whoever won the Lin-ay sang Negros crown would become the province’s official Miss World Philippines candidate.
As a result, many netizens concluded that Jamaicah had been unfairly set aside.
NO FRANCHISE, NO CANDIDATE
But let’s set the record straight. Miss World Philippines operates under a franchise system. Every contestant must be selected by the official franchise holder she will represent.
So what happened?
The MWP-NIR franchise selected Gadingan, while the MWP-Bacolod franchise chose Wuthrich.
What about the reigning Lin-ay sang Negros?
The answer is simple: there is still no Miss World Philippines franchise for Negros Occidental.
NO AUTOMATIC ASSUMPTION
So who should be held accountable for the misunderstanding? Since the controversy erupted, Tan has remained silent.
Unfortunately, the truth is that there is no such thing as an automatic qualification for Miss World Philippines. Everything depends on the franchise.
Neither Tan nor the Provincial Capitol holds an MWP franchise.
To this day, no one knows what prompted the announcement that the Lin-ay sang Negros winner would automatically become the province’s Miss World Philippines representative.
AFTER DISCERNMENT, PRAYERS
After three days of intense online controversy, Jamaicah finally broke her silence through Facebook on Tuesday, July 7. She was at the Provincial Capitol when she made the announcement.
She revealed that, after much discernment and prayer, she had decided not to compete in Miss World Philippines. Instead, she will compete in another national beauty pageant.
The public cannot be faulted for reacting strongly. Many Negrenses had genuinely hoped to see Jamaicah compete in Miss World Philippines. That is simply undeniable.
MORAL OF THE STORY
This was an unnecessary controversy that could have been avoided had the facts been communicated clearly from the very beginning.
As a result, innocent beauty queens became collateral damage. They were unfairly criticized and embarrassed, friendships were strained, and reputations were placed under scrutiny.
Even now, the controversy continues to rage on Facebook. Some people simply refuse to let it go, and that is far from healthy.
Lesson from this brouhaha: Never make a public announcement about something that has yet to be finalized.
As the late Norman Vincent Peale wisely said: “Promises are like crying babies in a theater; they should be carried out at once.”/ PN
