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Queenrich Rehman beams after being crowned Miss World Philippines 2012 late Sunday night at the Manila Hotel. PHOTO BY RENE DILAN

The 24-year-old lass from Las Pinas City was a complete package of beauty, brains and talent as she bested 24 other candidates throughout the competition.

Rehman nearly dominated the competition as she walked away with most of the special awards including Best in Swimwear, Miss Photogenic, Miss Pantene, Miss World Traveler, and Miss Philippines Prudential. She also won the Miss Talent award after showcasing her unique beatboxing skills. On the pageant night itself, she received the Brains and Beauty Award for her response during the question and answer portion.

The Moroccan-Filipina student from Assumption College will now be the country’s representative to the 2012 Miss World competition on August 18 in Inner Mongolia, China. She also received a P1 million cash prize and a Hyundai car.

Completing the winners circle are First Princess Mary Anne Ross Misa, second Princess Vanessa Claudine Ammann, third Princess April Love Jordan, and fourth Princess Brenna Cassandra Gamboa.

Tweet-in questions
Filipinos have always been critical of the kind of questions asked during beauty pageants, and to make them part of the competition, the organizers of Miss World Philippines decided to “crowd source” the questions using the power of social networking site Twitter.

Each of the Top 5 finalists had to answer one of the questions submitted using the hashtag #AskMsWorldPh on Twitter.

Rehman was asked: “As an ambassador of the Philippines, what are the best features of your country that you can project to the world?”

Her winning answer was: “I believe that wherever you will go here in the Philippines, it’s not the islands that make us special but the Filipinos’ warm hospitality…the smiles on their faces, and (how they will) treat foreigners (with) love and respect. I believe that the Philippines is a country that we can be proud of.”

Second Placer Mary Anne Misa’s question was “Have you ever been bullied? What can you advice people who are often bullied?”

To which she answered: “Yes, I’ve been bullied back in my childhood days. And it just motivated me to prove to those people that they are wrong because I think if you have the dignity in yourself and the strong will that you can do things (that) people don’t think that you can, I think that’s what’s going to make you successful in life.”

Amman was asked if she could travel back in time, what lesson of today would she tell the Filipinos in the past and why?

She replied; “If I had the opportunity to tell the people of the past about the future today, I would tell them how proud I am that they kept their virtues and their respect for their families and that even in this time, that is something that we treasure. And that’s why I wouldn’t change a thing because I appreciate the heritage where I come from and I’m very, very proud of the Filipinos of today.”

April Jordan was asked about the social media and whether it has made our society better or worse.

She answered: “I believe that the social media has made our society better. It made us united easily. I believe that social media is a good influence to everyone and it is easier. It makes us more united and I believe that now, having social media, is one of the tools for us to be successful and for our country to be successful because we have news easily and we can all be united.”

Finally, Gamboa’s question was; “If you could choose one value that Filipinos should be proud of, what is it and why?”

She replied “One valuable lesson when I first came to the Philippines is that Filipinos are very proud of who they are. That is one thing that I’m proud of. I am a Filipino. I am proud. Our family is always together.”

Pageant veterans
Experience, once again, played a key role in the Miss World competition, as four of the top five have already participated in previous national or international beauty pageants.

Rehman made it to the top 15 semi-final round of Binibining Pilipinas 2011; Misa was a top 10 finalist of Binibining Pilipinas 2010; Gamboa was among the Top 10 of Miss Philippines Earth 2011, and a runner up at the World Super Model 2011 competition.

Jordan had the most experience, winning the Miss International Beauty and Model Festival 2009, placing in the Top 10 of Binibining Pilipinas 2009, winning second runner up of Mutya ng Pilipinas 2006, a semi-finalist of Miss Philippines Earth 2006; and Miss Tourism Queen 2006.

This marks only the second year since Cory Quirino’s GQ Global Quest Inc. was awarded the franchise of the Miss World Organization.

The pageant’s first winner, Gwendolyn Ruias, won First Princess or first runner-up in the 2011 Miss World pageant held in London.