Frontrunners emerge from competitive Miss Philippines Earth batch

MANILA, Philippines — The Miss Philippines Earth pageant may have gathered only 29 delegates for this year’s competition, but the haul appears to have been focused on quality over quantity. The previous editions had around 30 to 40 delegates, with the exception of the virtual contest in 2021 where 66 contenders participated. This year may have a relatively smaller group, but it is no way a let-down, because fans are seeing more excitement in the 2023 pageant courtesy of the highly competitive batch of beauties.

And two delegates have emerged as the followers’ top favorites, familiar faces from the provinces who have graced the stage of different competitions before — Yllana Marie Aduana from Siniloan in Laguna, and Kerri Reilly from Mangatarem in Pangasinan.

This is Aduana’s second attempt at the Miss Philippines Earth crown. The virtual competition in 2021 was her first foray in the national pageant arena, yet she was able to earn a runner-up spot. She later bagged the Miss FIT (face, intelligence, town) crown, then went on to the 2022 Binibining Pilipinas pageant where she finished in the Top 12 and was also proclaimed as “Face of Binibini” (Miss Photogenic).

Reilly may not have taken part in an actual beauty pageant before, but her competition experience lists the most recent Century Superbods contest where she finished in the Top 8. Pageant veterans Christelle Abello and Michelle Arceo finished first and second, respectively, in the female division.

“I feel like all of us here are trying their best, and is here for a reason. And me and Yllana are doing our part,” Reilly told the Inquirer at the sidelines of their visit to Queen’s Wellness and Beauty Center in Quezon City on April 2.

Aduana agreed, and said, “we’re all doing our best and it’s really overwhelming, but in a good way. It actually just motivates us to do good, and empower one another, empower my eco sisters.”

And even though fans are pitting them against each other, and several other contenders who also have a great chance of scoring crowns, Aduana shared, “it’s actually a very fun environment that we’re in right now, because everyone’s super supportive, everyone’s super kind, very sweet. I cannot ask for more.”

The two expressed gratitude to the people who have brought them to where they are now. “I just want to say thank you for supporting everyone. Thank you very much for supporting me. To the Pangasinan people, thank you so, so, so much. I wouldn’t be here without you,” Reilly said.

For her part, Aduana thanked her fans, followers, family, manager, and financiers “who have been supporting me since day 1.” She also thanked the “Pamahalaang Lokal ng (local government of) Siniloan, and also to the entire Laguna province.”

The 2023 Miss Philippines Earth pageant will crown its queens later this month. The top winner will represent the country in the 2023 Miss Earth pageant in Vietnam later this year. Last year’s representative Jenny Ramp finished in the Top 20 of the international competition. EDV

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