on lian ramos

based in new york's empire state building, the filipino reporter is the only filipino-american weekly newspaper listed in the "working press of the nation". to date, it is the only ethnic newspaper belonging to the new york press club as regular member. it was founded on 2 july 1972 by veteran filipino journalist libertito pelayo.

edmund silvestre, the paper's news editor, was my seatmate in college. he asked me to write an article enticing filipinos and filipino-americans to support lia andrea ("lian") ramos, the current miss philippines. edmund provided the "make-over" angle in my article.

by sheer coincidence, lian was a blockmate of my former students at the university of the philippines (u.p.). born and raised in davao city, she was discovered at u.p. diliman by geographer/stylist jonas gaffud, philippine house of representatives officer roentgen ("nad") bronce and businessman fidelio ("boyet") blas. gaffud and bronce were student leaders in u.p. during the mid-1990s. blas is the youngest son of film mogul emilia blas. mrs. blas operated lea productions. lea produced quality filipino films (e.g. lino brocka's santiago, stardoom, tubog sa ginto, ano ang kulay ng mukha ng diyos?) from the 1960s till the 1980s. along with arnold orosa, gaffud, bronce and blas are the movers behind the hugely-popular mabuhay beauties website.

jonas and nad had been convincing lian to join bb. pilipinas since 2001. but lian had too many organizational commitments as a student leader. most importantly, she wanted to finish her political science degree. and when she finally did, she began working as a visa officer for the royal norwegian embassy in manila. soon after, she became assistant program officer for asia foundation. at asia foundation, lian embarked on numerous projects with the supreme court of the philippines involving sustained information technology (i.t.) learning and skills enhancement among court judges nationwide.

another friend, zorayda ("zora") andam, now works with angara, abello, concecpcion, regala and cruz (accra) law offices. she completed her law degree at u.p. and passed the bar exams immediately after she completed her reign as bb. pilipinas universe 2001. recently, she figured prominently as part of the all-woman prosecution panel in the high-profile subic rape case involving six united states servicemen. arguing that celebrities like zora can use their high visibility to work on certain advocacies, jonas and nad finally convinced lian to join this year's bb. pilipinas.

lian arrived yesterday at the wilshire grand hotel in los angeles to compete as philippine representative to the 2006 miss universe pageant. pageants are a big thing in the philippines, thailand, korea and in many latin american countries. very few people would remember that two australians won titles 34 years ago. in 1972, perth's kerry ann wells became miss universe while sydney's belinda green was crowned miss world. pageants lost their popularity in australia until jennifer hawkins (current host of channel 7's the great outdoors) became miss universe in 2004.

i have attached below an early draft of the article edmund will be publishing for the filipino reporter's print edition (year 34, no. 30 / july 7-13, 2006, p.1). friends have remarked that i have been writing too many serious narratives lately. for this week, i have decided to write something light and easy. i wouldn't mind doing this occasionally for friends like edmund, lian, jonas, nad and boyet.

lian ramos' make-over shots in bogota

lian ramos gets a warm welcome from miss universe organization representative william prendiz de jurado

(5 july 2006)

lian ramos gets a handshake from mabuhaybeauties.com los angeles correspondent alvin paris

(5 july 2006)

lian ramos arrives at wilshire grand hotel in los angeles for the 2006 miss universe pageant

(5 july 2006)

lian ramos' latest swimsuit shot

lian prepares for her photo shoots at wilshire grand hotel

(6 july 2006)

lian's photo for the 2006 miss universe official program

(6 july 2006)

lian's official miss universe 2006 swimsuit photo by fadil berisha

(6 july 2006)

lian with miss indonesia nadine chandrawinata and miss universe 2005 natalie glebova of canada during the cocktail party at tadashi's pasadena mansion

( 8 july 2006)

lian meets donald trump at the residence of japanese designer shoji tadashi in pasadena

(8 july 2006)

celebrity basketball at staples centre

(9 july 2006)

lian at the ritz carlton afternoon tea party for make-a-wish foundation

(9 july 2006)

lian at "young hollywood" sunset party with martine jonassen (norway), priscilla perales (mexico), alessandra mezquita (panama), elizabeth gray (new zealand), francys sudnicka (poland) and zuleyka rivera (puerto rico)

(10 july 2006)

lian at the miss universe 2006 welcome dinner at wilshire grand hotel with lauriane gilieron (switzerland), ekaterine buadze (georgia) and sanita kublina (latvia)

(11 july 2006)

lian's official miss universe 2006 headshot taken between filming and rehearsals

(11 july 2006)

lian at universal studios with charm onwarin osathanond (thailand), natialie ackermann (germany), lauriane gillieron (switzerland) and fatimih davila (uruguay)

(12 july 2006)

lian during the miss universe 2006 delegates swimsuit tableau photo shoot at the trump national golf course in rancho palos verdes, california

(12 july 2006)

lian during the thai dinner hosted by singha beer by alvin paris

(13 july 2006)

lian during the 2006 miss universe charity auction at oakmont country club by robert ryan

(14 july 2006)

lian with fatimih davila (uruguay) and rocco ragazzo

(14 july 2006)

lian ramos during the charity auction night by rocco ragazzo

(14 july 2006)

lian during the mikimoto-sponsored event at south coast plaza mall by alvin paris

(15 july 2006)

lian with fiorella vinas (peru) and francys sudnicla (poland); the mikimoto event was hosted by filipino-american cher calvin of nbc's ktla morning news

(15 july 2006)

lian, with fabriella quesada (costa rica), katty lopez (ecuador), magali romitelli (argentina), priscila perales (mexico), melissa ann tan (malaysia), carol cheong yim foon (singapore) and charm onwarin osathanond (thailand), listening to a mariachi band at la huasteca in lynwood,california

(16 july 2006)

lian at key club on sunset strip, west hollywood with betina faurbye (denmark), fatimih davila (uruguay), nadine chandrawinata (indonesia), sif aradottir (iceland), martine jonassen (norway), judita hrubyováczech (slovak republic), renata langmannová(czech republic), ying hui gao (china) and angela asara (ghana)

(17 july 2006)

lian during the 2006 miss universe preliminary fitness (swimsuit) competition at l.a.'s shrine auditorium by sam mircovich for reuters

(18 july 2006)

lian during the 2006 miss universe preliminary style (evening gown) competition at l.a.'s shrine auditorium

(18 july 2006)

lian in her controversial manton de manila-inspired "national costume" by colombian designer alfredo barraza during the 2006 miss universe presentation show at l.a.'s shrine auditorium; lian looks graceful here but she was gliding along the stage with an 8" bakya (philippine clogs) underneath

(18 july 2006)

lia andrea ramos receives the 2006 photogenic prize

(23 july 2006)