MANILA, Philippines – Three candidates in this year’s Bb. Pilipinas beauty pageant have been disqualified after alleged nude photos of the girls circulated on the Internet recently.
This brought to 37 the number of official candidates to the 2011 Bb. Pilipinas beauty contest which sends representatives to the Miss Universe and Miss International pageants.
The latest to be disqualified is Roxanne Cabanero of Davao after nude photos of her were posted in a porn site. She has resigned from the pageant. Cabanero has denied that she was the woman in the photo. She has also asked the assistance of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to identify the blogger who posted the photo.
Earlier, Grendel Alvarado and Jenilyn Olivar were also disqualified from the contest following naked photo shots for the Breast Cancer Awareness campaign, the website YouSayToo reported recently.
It was reported that both contestants joined the “Philippines’ Next Top Model,” the local version of “America’s Next Top Model,” in which the two candidates made it to the Top 3. In the final selection process, the three girls, including Alvarado and Olivar, were asked to pose topless for breast awareness campaign. It was also learned that the two candidates posed in skin-tone underwear in the photo shoot, which the Bb. Pilipinas Charities Inc. (BPCI) found obscene. Reports also said that Alvarado has an existing model contract which is against the BPCI rules.
It would be recalled that in 2009, another Bb. Pilipinas candidate Sandra Seifert was disqualified after she posed in a men’s magazine. Seifert later became Miss Earth Philippines. In issuing a statement, the BPCI has stressed that the contest is governed by strict rules and policies.
“For several decades, Binibining Pilipinas has been the most prestigious pageant in the land, producing a distinguished line of beauty queens that have been a source of national pride. It is inevitable then that many Filipinas would desire to be part of the competition and would go to great lengths to qualify. However, Bb. Pilipinas is governed by stringent rules and policies that are acceptable internationally. We strive to be very thorough in our screening, but when violations or misrepresentations unravel, albeit deliberate or not, we call the candidates’ attention to the matter. The ladies were subsequently removed from the official roster. We hope that all speculations regarding this incident will cease BPCI is not inclined to delve into the issue any further in order to preserve the integrity of the pageant and the reputations of all concerned parties.”
The 2011 Bb. Pilipinas beauty pageant will be held at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City on April 10, 2011. Courtesy ABS-CBN News
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Tue Mar 08, 2011 3:25 pm
