65th Miss U tilt to be held in PH

65th Miss U tilt to be held in PH

By JAY PATAO

Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Wanda Corazon Tulfo-Teo has announced in a press conference in Makati yesterday that the 65th Miss Universe Pageant finals will be held in the Philippines on January 30, 2017.
"I would like to inform everybody that the Miss Universe pageant will be on January 30, 2017 in the Philippines," said Teo. "The government is not going to spend any single centavo. It will be the private sector who would shoulder the expenses," Teo said before members of media at the press conference.
DOT Undersecretary for Public Affairs Kat de Castro said in the same press conference that her department got in touch with Shawn McClain, the vice president for business development and marketing of the Miss Universe Organization (MUO), to iron out issues.
"They got in touch with me this morning. McClain was shocked when an article came out saying that President Duterte doesn’t want it (Miss Universe) to happen here, because everyone was already on board,” De Castro said.

The apparent misinformation stemmed from a statement by President Duterte last Wednesday that “I would not spend government funds on hosting the Miss Universe pageant” – leading some to believe that the plans to hold the pageant in the country would not push through.
Teo said that the DOT was initially waiting for an administrative order before making the announcement “but because of the (misleading) news release, I said we should come out and announce.” Teo added that the administrative order will be signed before the end of the month.
Teo said she assured the President that the government will not shoulder any expenses, which will amount to $11 million (about Php 520 million).
Teo declined to divulge who the sponsors are but confirmed that tycoon Henry Sy and Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada (chief of Tiger Resort) are among them.
The 23rd Miss Universe Pageant was held for the first time in the Philippines on July 21, 1974 at the Folk Arts Theater where Miss Universe 1973 Margie Moran crowned her successor Amparo Muñoz of Spain. Twenty years later, the 43rd pageant was held at the PICC on May 20, 1994 where Puerto Rico’s Dayanara Torres crowned India’s Sushmita Sen. Although reigning Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach will crown her successor on January 30, 2017, the winner will still be officially known as Miss Universe 2016.
The host delegate will be Miss Universe-Philippines 2016 Maxine Medina