Eleni Tsingas, Naomie White, Gabrielle O’Neill, Emily James, Krista Ortega, Darlly Viaje, Jazel Alarca, Tiffany Kemper and Samantha Luceriano are this year's official finalists of the elite beauty pageant held annually in Sydney.
Before the competition heats up as the grand coronation night draws nearer, SBS Filipino sat with eight of the nine finalists in a fun, light and ideal-filled conversation.
Finalists for Miss Philippines-Australia and Miss Charity Queen 2018 Source: Facebook page of Miss Philippines-Australia
Q: Why did you join the competition?
Emily James: It has been one of my dreams since I was a kid. I can remember coming with my mum and relatives towards the Fiesta Kultura, watching my friend participate in Miss Philippines-Australia and Miss Charity Queen, watching their confidence grow and the charity work in the Philippines had really inspired me; as a child they were my role models so I want to do the same – challenge myself and join.
Eleni Tsingas: Growing up I’ve never embraced my Filipino heritage as much as I should have and as much as my mum wanted me to, I was a lot closer to my father growing up. Now I’m 22 years of age, and after turning 17 onwards, I embraced it a lot more (Filipino culture). I did join this competition a few years ago but I didn’t pursue it; I wasn’t in the right frame of mind, right head space so I felt like now when I’m at that point in my life where I can do it, and I can learn and explore about my culture in many ways and get to know a lot of people and have fun, why not do it?
Jazel Alarca: My long term goal in life is to become a doctor and I saw this pageant as a platform, as an opportunity to reach my goals early in life because my main goal in life is to help others and those who are less fortunate.
Naomie White: It was the start of last year, I wanted to do something different so I did travel to the Philippines, try to pursue modelling but someone recommended pageantry. It was really scary at first but I ended up putting my job on hold for three months and actually pursuing pageantry.
Q: Are you keen to pursue a career in the Philippines to become an actress?
All: Yes
Finalists for Miss Philippines-Australia and Miss Charity Queen 2018 with Kymberlee Street Source: Facebook page of Miss Philippines-Australia
Q: What would you [still] like to pass on to the next generation if you would be unlucky to be crowned [in the competition]?
Tiffany Kemper: For not even winning the crown, just to let everyone know you don’t always have to be number one; just like even showing love, helping others, that’s good enough. Every little thing counts.
Jazel Alarca: I believe that winning this crown, winning the title of Miss Philippines-Australia and Charity Queen is just a bonus because I feel there’s more of a deeper underlying factor why we’re all here. We all have our ‘why,’ why we join, and it goes way beyond winning the title, it goes way beyond I want to be titled Miss Philippines-Australia because I believe that the platform we can use here is just an extra stepping stone towards our overall aim which is to help others less fortunate and of course give back to the community.
Krista Ortega: Joining this pageant, it is like a big opportunity for us to grow as a person, as an individual and as a role model. I think for me, because I’m an educator, it is my duty to educate the younger children and it will always be my passion to educate the younger children and it will always be my passion to educate and to nurture children in the future generation and even if I win or not win a title in this pageant, it would still be a privilege for me to enjoy this pageantry journey with these beautiful women and all the things that I have learned, I will treasure it as a life’s lesson.
This year is the 30th anniversary of the prestigious Miss Philippines-Australia. It will be held this 28th of September at Tivoli Showroom, Rooty Hill RSL.
