Janina San Miguel
abs-cbnNEWS.com
Miss World 1993 Second Princess Ruffa Gutierrez had quite a mouthful of advice and encouragement for Janina San Miguel, the Bb. Pilipinas-World winner who sparked an outrage after she won.
San Miguel, who seemed to cave in to the pressure during the question-and-answer portion of the pageant, had a verbal breakdown and started speaking in atrocious English. This turn of events is still being discussed over the Internet, most savagely over YouTube, where her gaffes are viewed repeatedly, sometimes with sympathy but mostly as an object of ridicule.
San Miguel won the Bb. Pilipinas-World title and is set to represent the country in the coming Miss World beauty pageant.
In reaction to the outrage against the Bb. Pilipinas judges and San Miguel, Gutierrez proved herself a Miss Congeniality to the end. Speaking with ABS-CBN's Mario Dumaual, she explained why it's important for a beauty queen to show competence in her speech and thought processes.
"I believe that a beauty pageant should be judged not only for the beauty but for the brains. Kasi you're representing your country in an international competition. You're gonna be with different delegates from different countries so you have to represent the Philippines in the best way you possibly can.
So that's not just your... physical beauty and also the way you speak, the way you carry yourself. I mean, pangit naman sabihin ang mga Pilipinang, you know, hindi marunong sumagot, 'di ba? Hindi marunong mag-English. To think na 98 percent of our population ay nag-i-English," she said.
The former Miss World winner then added that San Miguel should not get discouraged by all the ridicule coming her way, and instead gather the strength and will to better herself.
"Binibining Pilipinas World has seven months. So dapat gamitin niya yung seven months na 'yon para i-challenge yung sarili niya. Mag-aral siya, mag-aral siya ng speech lessons; mag-aral siya how to have confidence, how to carry herself, at ipakita niya sa mga taong nagri-ridicule sa kanya, 'Aba, kaya ko 'to. Magsa-shine ako sa Miss World at gagalingan ko the next time," she said.
(She should use the seven months interim between now and the Miss World pageant to take speech lessons and learn to have more confidence and prove all her critics wrong.)
"But always remember, beauty with a purpose and beauty with brains," was Gutierrez final piece of advice.
Quotable queen
Still, another former beauty queen, 1979 Miss International Melanie Marquez could not help but offer her own advice to San Miguel. San Miguel has been compared to Marquez, who also has difficulty speaking correct English.
Marquez's own brand of mangled English has, in fact, become her trademark. So much so that she has authored a book, titled "Don't Judge Me, I'm Not A Book".
The book collects her most famous and hilarious malapropisms. Here's a sampling of those quotes:
"My brother is not a girl; he’s a gentleman."
"Don’t judge my brother; he’s not a book."
"I won’t stoop down to my level."
"I don’t eat meat. I’m not a carnival."
And of course, who could forget the message she gave to former husband Derek Dee at a showbiz talk show? She looked straight at the camera, and told her husband on national television:
“And to you, Mrs. Dee, I have two words for you: Ang labo mo!â€
Now that San Miguel has captured the limelight because of her English, Marquez made this comment, which, unfortunately, is in Filipino:
"May karapatan siyang magkamali sa Ingles kung maganda siya (She has the right to make mistakes in English if she's beautiful)." With a report from Mario Dumaual
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