Final Round placements?

 Our MUPh 2026 Top 7 picks

By Earl D.C. Bracamonte

In every pageant competition, whether local, national, or international, the People’s Choice awardee is a game changer.

Usually, she takes the place of the lowest ranked qualifier or she limits the number of those who will qualify. For example in a field of ten qualifiers, only nine will be considered because she owns the tenth spot, automatically.

Thus, in this day and age, funding is no longer something an entrant thinks she must be prepared with – it has now become something very essential.

And the most that her (and your) money can buy are votes. Votes that can land her a placement; and, in the case of MUPh’s Pina Beauty poll, an automatic Top 7 placement at that!

Think about that for a moment. It’s a beauty pageant and not a money contest. Yet, somebody prepared with monetary resources, coupled with that of her sponsors and supporters, can purchase her way to a title.

Be that, as it may, I’ll begin commenting about the seventh spot and its automatic placer.

The last Pina Beauty poll showed Adela Mae Marshall (Muntinlupa) topping the poll, followed by Nicole Borromeo (Cebu Province) and then Nicole Cruz (Sarangani).

But if you’ve been observing that leaderboard since the canvassing started, the top spots belonged to either Jayka Noelle Munsayac (San Jose, Negros Oriental), Charieze Lianne Cacayorin (Ilocos Norte), Alicia Chelsea Buendia (Rizal), Jensel Mansala Caña (Cavite), and Lynere Montero Yodong (Mountain Province).

Assuming these consistent poll players have already thrown the towel (or not), since they’ve already qualified in the Top 20 via the Maya app, then it’s a buying fight between Muntinlupa and Cebu Province, or someone whose coffers could afford to buy the Miss Universe franchise.

I leave the seventh spot to the Fates and to whom the poll favors. I guess these consistent leaderboard placers will not throw caution to the wind on this fight.

This leaves me with six more names who will end up in the final round.

I’ll list them in alphabetical order.

- Roxie Bayens (Baguio)

- Apriel Smith (Cebu City)

- Nicole Borrome (Cebu Province)

- Bea Millan Windorski (La Union)

- Justine Felizarta (Manila), and

- Bella Ysmael (Taguig)

And completing the Top 10 would include the delegates from Pampanga (Allyson Hetland), Adela Mae Marshall (Muntinlupa) and maybe Marian dela Cruz Arellano (Tarlac).

Surprise Top15 placements may come from Erika Jean Cadayday (Camiguin) or Clarissa Westram (Cotabato), or perhaps a vengeful return of Ashley Subijano Montenegro (Luisiana, Laguna) via the Wild Card poll as Best in Swimsuit on the Maya app.

But this list is as good as yours. After all, the organization may have someone totally different, in mind, from our choices. It’s them who knows the rules of the game, and the chances of our rep in the Puerto Rico finals.

Catch the exciting Miss Universe Philippines 2026 coronation night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena on May 2. Stay tuned!