PowerH: The Crown Isn't the Problem. The Culture Is?
While the sashed candidates and their parents for Miss World NIR and Miss World Bacolod continue to be publicly attacked, mocked, and discredited, one question remains. Where is the Lin Ay sang Negros Queen? Where is the mentor JV?
If you claim to mold future queens, then leadership should not end when the pageant does. A real queen leads not only in victory, but also in disappointment. A real mentor doesn't just teach stage presence. A real mentor teaches humility, respect, sportsmanship, and accountability.
The Lin-ay Sang Negros winner had every right to feel disappointed. Nobody is questioning that. But disappointment does not automatically translate into entitlement to another title or sash. Pageants are governed by their own organizations and franchise holders. They have the authority to determine who will represent them, based on their own criteria, rules, and discretion. Unless there is evidence that those rules were violated, no candidate or camp can simply assume that a sash was theirs by right.
That is exactly why the silence is disappointing.
While supporters continue attacking the women who were officially chosen to represent Miss World NIR and Miss Bacolod, there has been no public call from the queen or her camp for respect, no reminder that the organizers made the decision, and no message asking supporters to stop tearing other candidates down.
Whether intended or not, that silence allows people to keep believing that something was "stolen," instead of reminding everyone that the organization made the final choice.
And then I remember something else. I remember the Lin-ay Sang Silay issue. Back then, everyone insisted that the candidate should be judged as her own woman, not by the controversies surrounding her father "stealing" public funds alongside his public mates. They sensationalized the narrative that she was carving her own path, while ignoring the questions surrounding how that path was paved in the first place.
It creates the impression that as long as there's something to gain like money and fame, principles become negotiable for JV.
What values are actually being taught inside that studio?
Those younger kids from the camp at the mall. They weren't on a pageant stage, yet they carried themselves as if they were, heads held high, giving the impression that other children should move aside for them. That was my personal observation, and it made me wonder where confidence ends and superiority begins.
Is winning being emphasized more than grace? Is being crowned becoming more important than respecting the decisions of the organization? Is having a family member accused or found to have done something illegal, stealing from the people, simply brushed aside because you're "your own woman" with a different advocacy as a queen? Are children being taught that a title elevates them above others, or that true queens earn respect through character?
If a studio claims to produce queens, then it should produce character first. Crowns, sashes, and titles come second. Because the true measure of a mentor isn't how many crowns won by her products. It's whether the people they train knows the true essence of humility, does know how to win with grace, does not condone family members with illegal acts, isn't raised by nepotism and can lose with dignity, and respect decisions even when those decisions don't go their way.