Mr. and Ms. Marketing World 2004:
Text and photos by MERLINA R. HERNANDO
As the lights fade out to splintering rays of fuchsia, lime and gold, almost everybody flocked the stage to blend with the remnants of what was left in the recently concluded Mr. and Ms. Marketing World 2004 spearheaded by Polytechnic University of the Philippines' Junior Marketing Executives (JME), a 10-time awardee of the Ten Outstanding Marketing Students of the Philippines (TOMAS), Ten Outstanding Student Marketing Association of the Philippines (TOSMA), an affiliate of the Philippine Marketing Association (PMA) and Association of Marketing Educators (AME).
With the theme “Seven years of pageantry excellence,” the prestigious event held at the Claro M. Recto Hall once again took the university by storm. Being one of the most anticipated events in the entire campus, the pageant gathered the best, the brightest, the most talented and the most beautiful students taking up Marketing course. “This event basically is about a contest of beauty and brains,” enthuses Enrique Bucacao, this year's project head and overall chairman.
Still according to him, the preparations including the concept, the screening of the candidates and the setting up of everything needed in the pageant lasted for three months. “Although we have had some major technical problems, I could say that this year's pageant is one of the best we have had so far,” he explains.
THE BARE ESSENTIALS
“This is an annual event based on the tradition of putting up a good quality of beauty pageants. Although in nature it's so amateur, we are aiming for excellence every year,” utters Jess Soriano, the director while wiping the sweat on his eyebrow after the show.
Being involved in the pageant for several years now, Jess reveals he, together with the creative director Rosendo Gamurot and other members of the organization have been working so hard to come up with new concepts and ideas so that they could incorporate them for the pageants to come. “We are also doing the best that we can so that all Marketing students could enjoy every pageant they are going to participate and witness,” he enthuses.
Still according to Jess, “One of the most difficult things that we've gone through is arranging the schedule of the students.” Since January is the month of examinations specifically for midterm, the students are trying their best to juggle their time between academics and extra-curricular activities. This is one of the reasons why almost 50 percent of the candidates came from lower years. “Despite that situation, I'm glad that the candidates were able to adjust their schedules to attend the rehearsal and training schedules,” he gushes.
THE JUDGMENT DAY
After all the tedious preparations, the most awaited day for the candidates and the students has finally arrived. A total of 20 stunning Marketing students, male and female from all year levels showed off what they've got to have a fair chance of winning the most coveted crown.
The pageant kicked off with a dance salvo with the candidates wearing amazon-inspired tops and jeans. The audience upon seeing their bets on stage roared in amazement. The first major award which is the 'Best in Casual Wear' was given to Chardie Mendoza and Carla Marie Manalo, both third year students.
After the explanation of the criteria for judging in the preliminary and final rounds by host Laurence Rafael Galindez, with co-hosts JC Mańego, and Carmencita Lascano, the candidates heated up the stage wearing only trunks and two-piece bikinis draped with white, frothy saris. Freshman Dioscoro Relente III and Sophomore Maricris Reyes emerged as victors in the 'Best in Swimwear' category. It was followed by the candidates' invasion of the catwalk with their corporate attires where Maricris got her second award with freshman Don-don Badocdoc for 'Best in Corporate Wear'.
The audience was once again captivated when the candidates sashayed on the stage wearing their stylish formal attires provided by designer Aryel Dulay. The elegance of senior Cromwell Albarico and the statuesque of junior Divine Kristine Rivero's made them win in the 'Best in Formal Wear' category.
An acoustic intermission number was given by Norman Crisostomo to cool down the tension building up inside the hall due to the upcoming revelation of the top six finalists.
The candidates' intelligence and views regarding current issues were assessed when they were asked to expound on the timely phrases written on the pieces of paper from the fish bowl. Wearing Dulay's creations, Maricris Reyes, senior Rizza Zerrudo and Divine Kristine Rivero were given the chance to take hold of the Ms. Marketing World title while Chardie Mendoza, Cromwell Albarico and Don-don Badocdoc were left to vie for the Mr. Marketing World title.
Before the battle for the final positions started, ‘Mr. and Ms. Charity’ were awarded to Cromwell and Maricris for generating the biggest income through ticket sale. This will be given to the organization's chosen institution which is the ‘Missionaries of Charity’ in Tondo Manila.
Finally, after weeks of mixed emotions, Chardie Mendoza and Maricris Reyes were crowned as ‘Mr. and Ms. Marketing World 2004’. Cromwell Albarico and Divine Kristine Rivero were declared as 1st runner-ups while Don-don Badocdoc and Rizza Zerudo belted out the 2nd runner-up tilts.
After all those long, tiring and sleepless of preparation, Mr. Marketing World shares, “I think my being confident is one of the things that made me win. Aside from that, I never ceased praying.” While the newly crowned Ms. Marketing World reveals, “I will try my best to live up to the title I've won because it's a very big responsibility to be a role model for my fellow students.”
Some of the major awards include, 'Mr. and Ms. Photogenic' bagged by Cromwell and Donna Rose, 'Best in Talent' won by Junior Darwin Paulo Reyes with his “Otso-otso” dance and Divine Rivero singing her version of Stevie Wonder's “Overjoyed”, the 'Surfer's Choice' (through www. jme.20m.com) was given to Cromwell and senior Marites Roldan, 'Best Physique' was given to Cyrel Panadero and Rizza Zerrudo. The winsome smiles of third year student Bjorn Asuncion and freshman Carolyn Logrońo declared them as 'Mr. and Ms. Congeniality' while the fresh faces of Chardie and junior students Edralyn Ledesma bagged the 'Face of the Year' award.
THE OVERWHELMED CROWD
'Jam-packed' would be the best word to describe the venue of the event because students swarmed the sixth floor of the university's main building just to catch a glimpse of nymphs and angels that fell from heaven.
An hour before the program even started, the students loomed the entrance hoping to get the best seats inside the hall. Due to the unexpected number of audience, there wasn't enough space for everybody. Some of them resorted to stand and some even sat on the floor just to see their bets and classmates strut their stuff on stage. After enduring almost four hours of watching the show, everybody cannot take off the pasted smiles on their faces because they have just witnessed the existence of creatures who are perfect epitomes of the combination of the words beauty and intelligence.
