By Stella A. Estremera, (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
DAVAO CITY -- A Dabawenya wowed the crowd, earned the judges' approval, and romped off with the coveted Binibining Pilipinas-Universe 2006 crown in the Binibining Pilipinas pageant, midnight Saturday. Lia Andrea "Lian" Aquino Ramos, a BS Psychology graduate of the University of the Philippines-Diliman and alumnae of Ateneo de Davao University, bested 24 other candidates.
She is the first Bb. Pilipinas top plum winner from Davao City. Ramos was an early favorite, grabbing the two special prizes -- Miss Photogenic and Best in Swimsuit -- in the first part of the pageant. She went on to get the special prizes for Philippine Airlines (PAL) and the candidate with the "Most Beautiful Hair." She breezed through the question and answer portion, during which she was asked by Belgium Ambassador to the Philippines Gregoire Vankadis what country she would want to live in aside from the Philippines and she chose France. "I'm a self-confessed Franco-phile and I'm very much fascinated with their culture, with their language," she said.
She capped her short spiel with "C'est la vie!" the French phrase meaning, "It is the life." Her French phrase was no put on too, as she speaks French as well, having studied the language in Alliance Francaise de Manille, a French school in Makati. "I'm really so glad. But, actually, it is not sinking in yet. I'm still trying to talk to my mom in the States," Ramos said Sunday morning, admitting she was busy all morning answering text messages and phone calls. Her family is now in the US and it's a double celebration of sorts because her mother also has just passed the state board exam for nursing in California, USA. Her mother, Sally, was the former school nurse of ADDU. Her dad, Ferdinand Ramos, was a former bank executive and popular golf enthusiast and once had a golf sports column in erstwhile Ang Peryodiko Dabaw (the predecessor of Sun.Star Davao). Before the pageant, she was already a standout. There were rumors that said she is a US resident and only claimed to be from Davao. She readily dispelled this rumor when she said that she has been working in Manila for the past two years.
She works with The Asia Foundation as an assistant program officer for the foundation's law program. There, she assists two lawyers who tackle programs for judicial reforms, jail decongestion, mediation, and does research on access to justice where she gets to work with jail managers as well as non-government organizations. The Asia Foundation is a non-profit, non-government organization that supports programs in Asia that help improve governance and law, economic reform and development, women's empowerment, and international relations. She said her work in jails was among those asked of her during the pre-pageant interviews. Her aunt Tita Tagle-Aquino, who was cheering her all the time, said her exposure left a good impression on the judges making her stand out among the 24 other candidates. "Law is an option for me. But I'm more interested to do foreign service. I dream of joining the diplomatic corps," she said.
In the meantime, she added, she has to work hard for the upcoming Miss Universe pageant in May. "They (Bb. Pilipinas Foundation) are focusing on me because the Miss Universe pageant is much nearer compared to the two other pageants, the Miss International and Miss World," she said. She added that she may be brought to Colombia for further training but this is not sure yet. Asked about Davao, she said the city holds a lot of fond memories and she cannot help missing it. "I love going to the beach. I'm just a sun baby and just going to Samal with friends and family was really fun for me. I love seafood, that's what I miss most here, that is why I eat all the crabs, shrimps, panga that I can get my hands on whenever I'm there," she added. But because of work, she has not visited Davao as frequently as she would have wanted to. "I get to visit Davao because of my work. But the last time I was there for a short vacation was in November last year. So, it has been quite sometime that I haven't visited Davao," she said.
Tagle-Aquino, who acted as Ramos's guardian because her family is already in the US, said her niece has been wooed to join the Bb. Pilipinas for sometime now, but it was only last January when she finally gave in to the prodding. "In the past three years, she was really being eyed already to join the pageant because her sideline is modeling," Tagle-Aquino said. She does modeling jobs whenever she needs extra money for school. Ramos just arrived home from a vacation with her family in the US when her agent pestered her to join the Bb. Pilipinas search, her aunt said. Ramos confirmed that the invitation to join the pageant came as early as 2001. Asked why she didn't accept the invitation to join the search earlier on, she said, "I didn't feel that I was ready then. I felt that I was still very raw." "But for some reason, when the invitation was made again, some inner voice told me that I was ready for this now," she added. Her "discoverer," she said, is the same person as the one who discovered Gionnah Cabrera, the 2005 Bb. Pilipinas-Universe. Her childhood friend April Evangelista says Ramos always excelled in their class, although they were just regular teens who loved going to malls and watching movies. April admitted she and two other friends were glued to the television Saturday night as they cheered on their friend. She said that while they were schoolmates since elementary, it was only in first year high school that their "barkada" was formed.
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