Sisterhood spirit alive in first-ever Miss World Philippines

It's just like "one big pajama party."

That's how Miss World Philippines country director Cory Quirino describes the beauty tilt's 25 finalists, who are vying to become the first Filipina to be crowned the Miss World Philippines.

“The girls are bonding beautifully. The sisterhood spirit is very much alive. There's already talk of reunions,” Quirino said. “At the same time, the girls' competitiveness and drive comes out when the situation calls for it. After all, this is a competition.”

The first ever Filipina is to be crowned Miss World Philippines on September 18 at the PICC. [Not to be confused with Binibining Pilipinas-World. CQ Global, the company Quirino created to manage the Miss World Philppines pageant, took over the job of finding the country's representative in the acclaimed global pageant this year.]

[READ: "First-ever Miss World Philippines for the most beautifully bewitching Filipina"]

Quirino has a vision for the Miss World Philppines pageant, not just for 2011 but for the years to come.

“As an entrepreneur, I don't want just a good pageant. I want it to be the grandest of them all,” she said. “It's a learning process and what we learned from organizing this year's event, we will take next year to make that one so much better.”

Quirino also knows that all eyes are on her and CQ Global Quest and its co-presentors such as real estate giant SMDC.

“Julia Morley, the chairman of Miss World Ltd, was in the country last January to turn over the license to us. She had very high expectations of this pageant. I don't want to just meet those expectations, I want to surpass them,” Quirino said.

Quirino said she was “deeply complimented and inspired” when Morley said she was the right woman for the job. At the same time, she knows it's a huge challenge for her.

“I took on the challenge of launching this maiden pageant not just professionally but personally. I was involved from the screening, to the searching, to the staging; every single department of the project,” she said.

Ultimately, she said, it isn't just about a beauty pageant. Their goal is to see the Miss World Philippines representative wave the Philippine flag proudly on the world stage for all to see and admire.

She said: “We want everyone who sees her to be enchanted enough by her beauty to want to visit the Philippines. This way, we create a concrete contribution to our country's tourism and economy at large.”

*** Read the full article and see the rest of the 8-page special feature for the Miss World Philippines on the Philippine Daily Inquirer TODAY, September 16 (Friday). Enjoy! :) ***