MUPH officers Voltaire Tayag (third from left) and Jonas Gaffud (third from right) share a laugh with Miss Universe Philippines titleholders (from left) Gazini Ganados, Rabiya Mateo, Celeste Cortesi, Chelsea Manalo, Lia Ramos, and Beatrice Luigi Gomez./VOLTAIRE TAYAG
After celebrating his birthday with reigning and recent titleholders under the Miss Universe Philippines and The Miss Philippines brands, national pageant official Voltaire Tayag assembled another group of queens at his place.
The executive vice president of the Miss Universe Philippines Organization (MUPH) pulled off a mini-reunion of Filipino women who represented the Philippines on the Miss Universe stage at his extended birthday celebration last month at his Makati City residence.
Seven former Miss Universe Philippines titleholders attended the event — Chelsea Manalo (2024), Celeste Cortesi (2022), Beatrice Gomez (2021), Rabiya Mateo (2020), Gazini Ganados (2019), Ariella Arida (2013), and Lia Andrea Ramos (2006)
Arida is currently the national director for training and development of MUPH, while Ramos is the organization’s head of women empowerment and advocacy.
Miss Universe Philippines titleholders (from left) Bea Gomez, Chelsea Manalo, Gazini Ganados, Celeste Cortesi, Rabiya Mateo, and Lia Ramos/VOLTAIRE TAYAG
MUPH officers (seated, fom left) Ariella Arida, Jonas Gaffud, Voltaire Tayag (standing, from left) Lia Ramos, and Mario Garcia, with queens (seated, from right) Chelsea Manalo, Gazini Ganados, Rabiya Mateo, and (standing) Bea Gomez/VOLTAIRE TAYAG
“It originally was supposed to be for my birthday, unfortunately, because of the scheduling conflicts, it kept getting pushed. But we finally found a date when everybody was available,” Tayag told INQUIRER Entertainment in an online interview from his personal trip in Portugal.
“It was also going to be a great way for everybody to wish Ahtisa [Manalo], an intimate gathering for her as well, and to catch up with everybody. Miss Universe Philippines is really much more than just them finishing their reigns,” he continued.
Manalo is the reigning titleholder who is set to compete in the 74th edition of the Miss Universe pageant in Thailand in November. She and another group of queens attended an earlier party at Tayag’s place.
She was also supposed to join the more recent gathering, along with 2023 winner Michelle Marquez Dee, but prior commitments prevented them from coming.
“You know, we have established all these relationships, and I know that they will continue for the rest of our lives, because it is a family, and we always look out for them. You know, everybody has ups and downs, and regardless of that, we are always there for each other,” Tayag shared.
The ladies also played billiards that evening. But aside from sharing meals with one another, the queens spent most of the evening talking with each other and the MUPH officers.
They were only able to add a session of video games in between all the chatter, but all the storytelling took up too much time that they were not able to enjoy karaoke, something that was initially planned for the evening, Tayag said.
“That night was so much fun, it was so funny. And lots of stories that I can’t share, I wish I could. But it was really about everybody, about what was going on in their personal lives and what their plans were about the future, and also reminiscing about what happened in their pageants and Miss Universe,” he said.
“There was a lot of joking around. It was all around good fun, because anybody and everybody who was there, you know, their heart was in a good place,” Tayag continued.
He said he opted to invite the ladies at his place because he wanted to foster a more relaxed atmoshere, in a safe space. “They didn’t have to look out for who’s taking photos of them or videos, that they could just let their hair down and just be themselves and not be on guard,” he explained. /edv
