Another feat for the pageant veteran.
On Friday, November 21, the 74th Miss Universe pageant took place at the Impact Challenger Hall in Bangkok, Thailand.
The Philippines sent its national titleholder, Ahtisa Manalo, as the country’s representative in the competition that started with a total of 120 contestants from all over the world.
The 28-year-old, along with the entire nation, was kept waiting when the country was not called in the first set of delegates that made it to the Top 30. However, that did not last long as she eventually made the cut and strut down the runway during the swimsuit portion.
As the Top 12 was revealed, the Philippines once again showed up in the cards, enabling her to wear her silver Val Taguba gown.
With her stellar performance in the earlier rounds of the competition, Ahtisa once again made it to the next cut, which was the final five that also included Thailand, Mexico, Venezuela, and Cote d’Ivoire.
The ladies answered two sets of questions for the question-and-answer rounds, with the first one being their individual queries coming from the judges themselves, while the other was the general final question for all of them.
For her first one, she got quizzed by Minnie Baloyi, who asked: “As a global ambassador (citizen), what will your contribution be to humanity?”
Recalling her life living in poverty, Manalo replied, “I want to be a hope of people. I come from a very poor background, I started pageants at 10 years old to put myself through school and to lift my family out of poverty.”
“And if there’s anything I want to show the universe I’m here right now. I’m standing as Miss Universe, because I was able to get myself out of any situation, because I was hardworking, I was persistent, and I fight for what I want,” she added.
Meanwhile, the final question was as follows: “If you win the title if Miss Universe tonight, how will you use your platform to empower young girls?”
“I work with an organization called Alon Academy where we work with young people to provide them opportunities to make them realize that it doesn’t matter what your life circumstances is, it doesn’t define where you will go,” she answered.
Ahtisa continued, “And I want to continue working with Alon Academy in a platform like Miss Universe to pursue making sure that people from low-income backgrounds are given the same opportunities like everyone else.”
In the end, the Filipina bet was named third runner-up, which is the best placement of a Filipina contestant at the Miss Universe since the Top 5 finish of Bea Luigi Gomez in 2021.
Meanwhile, Olivia Yacé (Cote d’Ivoire) was hailed as the fourth runner-up, Stephany Abasali (Venezuela) went home as second runner-up, and host country’s (Thailand) Praveenar Singh ended as the first runner-up.
The 25-year-old Mexican representative Fátima Bosch was eventually declared winner, succeeding Miss Universe 2024 Victoria Kjaer Theilvig.