Another chance

 From aged out to "ageless", will these queens still compete anew?

By Earl D.C. Bracamonte

Before the age restriction was eliminated by the Miss Universe Organization - and take effect in 2024 - a lot of highly qualified aspirants lost their dreams because of ageing out from the qualification rules. From 28, as the age ceiling of the past, today, all women are no longer hindered by the age requirement.

With this new development, we harken back to years in the past where Filipina aspirants were forced to end their pageant journeys because of age. Let's revisit some of them and see if this second chance will now fulfill their lifelong dreams.

The first lady that comes to mind is newlywed and young mother Vickie Rushton. Hers was a particularly painful case because her ageing out was not of her doing but caused by external factors. Her last foray with the Binibining Pilipinas tilt was even cut short by postponements due to the global pandemic.

Another lady who aged out of the race, albeit for another pageant title, was Aya Abesamis. Should she pursue the same path as her mom, Desiree Verdadero, once again - who knows? - she could end up in the Top 5 like her mom did.

With the Miss Universe Organization allowing young mothers and married women to join the pageant, a lot of pageant aficionados would agree that Steffi Aberasturi and Alaiza Malinao should give their pageant dreams one more try.

Another Filipina we think should continue her pageant journey is Ma. Katrina Dimaranan. With the age hindrance out of the way, the dusky beauty could make it to the very top this time around.

Then there's Samantha Bernardo who was robbed of her moment in Thailand. Rumors has it that the Palaweña has her sights on the Supranational crown as it was, til then, the only pageant system that raised the eligibility to 32. But with this new update from MUO, perhaps Sam may reconsider her Supra bid and make it one for the Universe instead.

While it is true that any woman of any age can join the Miss Universe pageant, we still need to remember that only one woman wins their respective national pageants. There will only be one national delegate or representative. And unless all the delegates are women of age, the lineup of candidates will, more or less, come from the same age bracket.

The rules to the game may have 'changed' but the responsibilities of the crowned winner has remained the same. She still has to travel extensively within her reign - something that a young mother may not be willing to do. Or, may be like the case of Miss Universe 2002 Oxana Fedorova, who got dethroned because she didn't want to give up her legal studies. The winner has to be up and about all the time - night and day for 365 days - and always dressed up to the nines. Believe me when I say that a lot of women don't wanna do that on a daily basis.

And most importantly, she has to be the consummate spokesperson for the organization. She has to be quick-witted and equally charming to convince patrons and sponsors to thrown in their money to fund the MUO programs and charity work. One meeting of this magnitude can drain any person of his/her energies. Now, imagine doing it for at least once for fifty two weeks.

So you see, these new rules are mere 'changes' for the organization to become relevant to the times. And these new rules will stay in place until such time that a lot of people realize how things in the last seven decades were better; that things will revert to the way they were. As the universal rule always applies, in that, everything will have a revision to its natural order.