REIGNING Miss Universe Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach praised yesterday President Rodrigo Duterte saying that the Filipinos “chose the right person to be our president.”
“I think we chose the right person to be our president,” said Wurtzbach, during a live Facebook chat with her fans at an undisclosed venue in Manila.
Asked how she found President Duterte, Wurtzbach said: “He is very nice. Mabait s’ya, sobrang bait n’ya. He is very humble and he’s very approachable;
“As soon as he walks into the room, he has this commanding presence that you can approach him and talk to him;
“Not intimidating at all. He’s firm and strong but he is also the type of person who would listen. I think we chose the right person to be our president,” said Wurtzbach.
Now on her seventh month as Miss Universe, the Filipino-German beauty queen said that she will go back to New York where she is based during her entire reign. But she said that she will return to Manila in August for more shoots.
Last July 18, Wurtzbach met Duterte in Malacañang to discuss the possibility of staging the Miss Universe beauty pageant here.
“I’m here in Manila because I just did a courtesy call with our newly elected President Mr. Rodrigo Duterte and we talked about the staging of the pageant here,” she said.
After the meeting last Monday, the beauty queen said: “Everything looks good and we’re trying to polish some things and were almost there!”
“Hopefully, everything goes smoothly for our dreams of having the pageant here. Of course, everything could still change but I’m being very optimistic about it and I really hope it will push through. That’s what I want personally,” Wurtzbach said.
The international beauty queen said that she is very excited for the possible staging of the prestigious beauty pageant here.
“I’m sure everybody is excited. It’s gonna be a great way to promote tourism and showcase the islands, different locations, tourist destinations, here in the Philippines,” she said.
No date has been set for the possible staging of the 2016 Miss Universe pageant.
“Some say it’s January, some say it’s May. I still don’t know. It’s important for the girls to know the date so that they can prepare. But we’ll let you know as soon as we find out,” Wurtzbach said.
In the 64 years of the contest, the Miss Universe beauty pageant was held twice in the Philippines – in 1974 and 1994.
Aside from Wurtzbach, the two other Miss Universe from the Philippines are Gloria Diaz (1969) and Margie Moran (1973).