Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach met with President Rodrigo Duterte to talk about plans of the Philippines hosting the next pageant. (Photo : Getty Images/Thearon W. Henderson)
Reigning Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach paid Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte a courtesy visit at Malacanang Palace earlier this week. Wurtzbach was with Miss Universe executives to discuss with Duterte the possibility of holding the next pageant in the country.
Accompanying Pia were her manager, Esther Swan, as well as Miss Universe President Paula Shugart and Miss Universe Vice President for Marketing and Business Development Shawn McClain, according to The Rappler. Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Wanda Teo and DOT Undersecretary Kat de Castro were also present at the meeting.
Teo said in a statement that Duterte has already "approved in principle" the Miss Universe organization's proposal to hold the next pageant in the Philippines and that he has agreed that sponsoring it would be a tourism marketing coup, with Wurtzbach at the helm. Teo noted that Wurtzbach, who represented the country in last year's pageant and won the crown, will be coming back to talk more about the details of the proposal.
Teo revealed that commercial sponsors have already made offers and that the private sector has pledged to shoulder the production costs for the pageant, emphasizing that hosting the event would entail no expense on the government's part. She also pointed out that sponsoring the event, along with planning and sourcing funds, is the Tourism Department's current focus. She said they are "ready to seize the moment."
Teo is positive that once Wurtzbach makes the announcement that the Philippines is hosting Miss Universe this year, people from other parts of the globe will start looking at the map and look the country up.
Wurtzbach also said in the same DOT statement that it is her personal dream to see the pageant held in the country. The last time the Philippines hosted Miss Universe was in 1994, with Miss India Sushmita Sen winning the crown. Before that was in 1974, when the Philippines' Margie Moran relinquished her crown to Miss Spain, Amparo Munoz.
According to a press release from the President's office, Duterte and Wurtzbach also talked about their similarities, with both being from Mindanao, which is one of the country's three main island groups. Wurtzbach described Duterte and herself as the "First Mindanaon President" and the "First Mindanaon Miss Universe."
See how Wurtzbach and Duterte's first meeting went in this news clip below:
