2009 Binibining Pilipinas Parade of Beauties

The Binibining Pilipinas Parade is one of the most awaited MCP events. When we heard rumors that the parade would be cancelled this year, many members were heartbroken and disappointed. But to my surprise and delight I received a call last Feb 20 Friday at about 11:30am that the parade is pushing through for Sunday March 01. With very little time to call for volunteers, I committed to them that we will come up with the 27 Miatas for the 24 lovely candidates and the three reigning 2008 title holders.

Although we only need 27 cars, I had requested our club for extra volunteers to act as back up. Thirty three members signed up, with KEITH Sundiang , MARTIN Pison, JOJI Santos, ROMY David , and myself volunteering to give way to the new members or first timers, in case we ended up with more cars than ladies.

It's really a good thing that we had a long list of volunteers. A few members texted me that they had to back out at the last minute. On the day of the parade, KEITH called that he was already on his way, but he had to turn around to change his car. His Miata started to give him problems along the way.

Assembly time was called for 3pm but our members came much earlier than that. This gave us some time to have coffee and halo-halo at CAFE BOLA and also to meet the new members MIKE O'Pallick and ALLAN Bautista. Both MIKE and ALLAN immediately filled up their membership forms and paid their dues after they came in their brand new bright red MIATA MX-5s. The attractive new JINBA ITTAI t-shirts were available for all members to buy and wear for the occasion.

COLLINS Yap had a brilliant idea to print the pictures of all the 27 candidates for MCP members to make their choices before the parade started. He also prepared special BB Pilipinas/Miata Club ID passes.

By about 3:20pm we were called to stand by our cars. We started to get nervous as we only had 25 cars and were still short of two more. WINSTON and TRISTAN followed soon after. Then ROLLY Lim was the last to come in at past 4pm and it was only then that we were able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Finally at about 4:20pm, the big bus loaded with the candidates arrived and our Miatas were called to line up with the last year's winners leading the parade. One by one, the ladies alighted from the bus to board their individual Miatas. Each one driven by fine gentlemen of the MCP.

This year the Parade of Beauties had a few innovations. The last year's winners no longer rode a float, and instead rode on Miatas. The parade route added a drive along EDSA to turn into AURORA BLVD. This turned out to be uncomfortable for the ladies as we navigated between the bus lanes along EDSA and AURORA BLVD. Each candidate/Miata Member had a uniformed security assigned. These dedicated men took care of crowd control. And for the first time, confetti were thrown onto the candidates....we weren't too happy with this because the tiny pieces of paper settled into the tight crevices of our prized Miatas!!

As we traversed the cheering crowds, a light drizzle started to shower on us. We knew this could happen but the organizers already provided us with umbrellas for the candidates. A few MCP members brought their own giant golf umbrellas which were much better in protecting the ladies... and our cars from the rain. Luckily, it wasn't much rain and it wasn't enough to spoil the day.

As we finished the parade, we unloaded our candidates one at a time amidst the huge crowd, with all the media covering the event.

After the parade, we parked our cars in the exclusive space reserved for us. Then we walked to GATEWAY MALL to witness the talent competition. It was set in the center of the GATEWAY mall. We had exclusive reserved seats just behind the judges, and only a few feet away from the stage. We felt extra special as the last yearfs winners sat among us.

The talent contest is optional for the candidates. Some ladies showed off their singing talents while one played the piano, and some others performed special dance numbers.

The contest ended past 8pm and by then, I knew that everyone was quite hungry and were ready to eat. The show ended and we walked to the buffet dinner prepared by CAFE ADRIATICO exclusively set for the Miata club and the candidates. We decided to eat ahead and not wait for the ladies. This way, the tables were cleaned by the time the got there, and we would be done eating and be free to mingle and continue take more pictures as well. It is customary for our MCP photographers to take pictures of the food we eat in every club event. It is no surprise that none was taken this time.

After the ladies had eaten, we took the opportunity to ask them to autograph and sign their pictures for us to keep us souvenirs. Before the night was over, our club had a chance to have a group picture with all the candidates. And by 9:30pm, we had to call it a night.

BB Pilipinas International 2008 Patricia Fernandez / COLLIN S Yap
BB Pilipinas World 2008 Danielle Castano / ROLLY LIM
BB Pilipinas Universe 2008 Jennifer Barrientos/ NOMER Tigue

1. VEN Rojas/ Ms Vanessa Balajadia Johnson
2. CHITO Santiago/ Ms Carisheila May Bundang Kuijpers
3. DANNY Sadian / Ms Rich Asuncion
4. WINSTON Llamas / Ms Gizelle Jamin Renes Rivamonte
5. JOJI Santos / Ms Diana Buquid Arevalo
6. CLARENCE Dizon/ Ms Maria Paula Bianca Clamor Paz
7. MIKE O'Pallick/ Ms Mary Jane delos Santos dela Cruz
8. RENAN Acosta/ Ms Cheryl Villegas Oliveros
9. JR Tanpinco/ Ms April Love Antonio Jordan
10. DODO Macapagal/ Ms Priscilla Mae Barredo Navidad
11. PIERCE Mendoza/ Ms Regina Brosas Hahn
12. MARLON Mercado/ Ms. Jaysel Morelos Arrozal
13. REGGIE Mendiola/ Ms Sandra Inez Surravilla Seifert
14. JOREL Calixto/ Keann Alonzo Mallari
15. EDSEL Frondoso/ Ms Pamela Bianca Ramos Manalo
16. MARTIN Pison/ Ms Mary Tiffany Jones
17. CHITO Frondoso/ Ms Marie Ann Bonquin Umali
18. GINO Reyes/ Ms Marie Loraine Domingo de Guzman
19. JOEY Almeda/ Ms Stephanie Rose Basubas Senires
20. ALLAN Bautista/ Melody Adelhied Manuel Gersbach
21. SEAN Paler/ Ms Hazel Sutch
22. JOEY Bernardez/ Ms Priscilla Mae Sy Honorio
23. EDRICH Santos/ Ms Barbara dela Rosa Salvador
24. DING Bernabe/ Ms Abigail Lesley Grivas Cruz

Also present were ROWEN Untivero - the one and only original Mr Bininibing Pilipinas, with his son MARQ

The Miata Camera Club members .. KEITH Sundiang, RICCI Jimenez, TRISTAN Calixto, and WINNIE Paler who covered the entire event with their excellent photography

OTEP de Leon was seen at the Talent Contest and WINSTON's brother WILSON LLAMAS was around to cheer for MCP and the candidates

The following candidates were crowned Binibining Pilipinas 2009 winners:

BB Pilipinas INTERNATIONAL - MELODY GERSHBACK - #15 - rode in ALLAN Bautista's new red MIATA MX5
BB Pilipinas UNIVERSE - PAMELA BIANCA MANALO - #15 - rode in EDSEL Frondoso"s Montego Blue Miata
BB Pilipinas WORLD - MARIE ANN UMALI # 17 - rode in CHITO Frondoso's classic red Miata

Big congratulations to the lovely winners of the 2009 Binibining Pilipinas Pageant and to the lucky Miata Club members who drove for them. A big thanks to all the participants who volunteered their time and Miatas to make the Parade of Beauties possible. And thanks also to the Miata Camera club photographers for capturing the event on pictures.

Chito Frondoso

March 1, 2009

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