Two Filipina beauties will make beauty pageant history by competing in the Miss Universe contest in Mexico city on May 28.
The two are Anna Theresa Licaros, 22, the Binibining Pilipinas who will represent the Philippines and Kirby Ann Basken, 21, the Mutya ng Pilipinas, who will represent Norway. Kirby, born in Oslo to a Norwegian father and Filipino mother, was recently crowned Miss Norway of 2007.
Lecaros, 22, is currently a law student at the University of the Philippines. She was also the first Broadcast Communication student to graduate Suma Cum Laude from the College of Mass Communication in UP Diliman.
Basken, 21, was born in Oslo to a Norwegian father and a Filipino mother. She was crowned Frken Norge-Universe on Monday.
She first joined the annual search for
Miss Norway in January 2006, and finished first
runner-up. In June of that year, she flew to her mother’s native land to
represent Europe’s Filipino community in the Mutya ng
Pilipinas pageant, and bagged the title.
The Miss Asia Pacific Quest Inc. (MAPQI),
owner of the Mutya ng Pilipinas pageant, subsequently sent her to represent the
Philippines in the Miss Intercontinental pageant in
the Bahamas, where she emerged among the top 12
contenders.
On hearing the news of Basken’s
coronation at the Fr¸ken Norge pageant, MAPQI director and
founder Leandro Enriquez said: “We are elated. We are proud that she is a Mutya
ng Pilipinas winner; it only proves that Mutya ng Pilipinas deserves
international recognition."
Enriquez also said the MAPQI would not
strip Basken of her local title despite her new crown.
When she was still in the Philippines, Basken worked as a model and appeared
on various TV commercials (like Bingo, Johnson’s Baby Cologne and KFC) and TV
shows (like ABC 5’s Teka Muna with Joey de Leon). Right now, she’s taking a
qualifying year so that she could enter university and major in Psychology and
the Social Sciences. Her dream is to work with children and teenagers with
psycho-sociological adjustment problems. During her spare time, she likes to
write. She’s written several articles for the website Youth for Youth and for
the radio station P4’s Guru. She’s also hosted a radio program “Tinig Pinoy”
for teenagers in Norway. Kirby enjoys dancing, climbing and
spending time with her friends.
Miss Licaros has been described as a
woman of substance" who is both a summa cum laude and a law student.
Licaros joined 19 other students (two each from the top universities of each
ASEAN nation) who were pitted against each other on the theme ASEAN in the 21st
Century.
In 2005, Theresa was named one of the Ten
Outstanding Students of the Philippines in 2003.
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