It will be the finals of Miss Universe 2008. The country has produced two title holders namely: Gloria Diaz in 1969 and Margie Moran in 1973. The last staging of the pageant when the country had a placement was in 1999 when Miriam Quiambao finished first runner - up. After that year up to the most recent staging in 2007, the country's representatives failed to advance to the semi - finals.
Filipinos not only the pageant fans long for the country's name to be announced during the announcement of the semifinalists or top three finalists. It has been nine long years of drought. Ridiculous as it my sound but it is true. I could still remember the time when Miriam Quiambao won. I was in a basketball court and when we knew Miss Philippines made it to the top three, we rushed to the nearest house with TV and set aside the game which we already started. You know what I mean.
For this year's pageant, representing the country is Jennifer Barrientos She is a 22-year-old Tourism graduate of the University of Santo Tomas (UST). She hails from San Mateo, Rizal. She stands at 5′ 8″ and had previously worked as a Welcome Ambassador for the Star World Hotel in Macau after earning her BS Tourism degree from UST.
During the preliminaries, she did well in the swimsuit and evening gown segments. That's what I heard. All we could hope for is for the preliminary judges to like her presentation both in swimsuit and evening gown for her to make to as a semifinalist and eventually land a spot in the top three and hopefully bring home the crown. Of course prayers also count.
