At the Novotel Manila Araneta Center Monet Ballroom earlier, the Official Sendoff for Bb. Pilipinas 2018 Queens Eva Patalinjug and Michele Gumabao was held with invited members of the media. The two lovelies’ spotlight event was graced with the presence of their “sisters” Catriona Gray, Ahtisa Manalo, Jehza Huelar and Karen Gallman who gave words of encouragement and endearment to the first duo in their group to start with their respective pageant missions abroad.
Both Eva and Michele will be departing for Yangon, Myanmar (host city & country for Miss Grand International 2018) and Tirana, Albania (host city and country for The Miss Globe 2018) by the end of September, respectively.
Our warm wishes of good luck to the two of you. Do the Philippines proud!
Above are the official headshots of the fifty (50) Miss Asia Pacific International 2018 Official Candidates as photographed by Gelbert Aplal.
#Brazil Gabriela Palma
#Peru Karen Isabel Rojas
At the Forbes Ballroom of Conrad Hotel Manila earlier, the Press Presentation of Miss Asia Pacific International 2018 was held in front of invited members of the media. As Pageant President Jacqueline Tan-Sainz stated, this is the 50th edition of the Asia/Asia-Pacific brand that makes this year’s edition extra meaningful. And what could be more apt than to assemble an exact number of fifty (50) Official Candidates coming from different parts of the world. 
There are many beautiful delegates in this batch. Aside from the Philippines, Germany and Brazil, worth mentioning are the entries of Venezuela, Costa Rica, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Peru and Mongolia.
During yesterday afternoon’s Meet-and-Greet with Miss World Philippines 2018 Official Candidate Alyssa Muhlach Alvarez, she was a tireless bundle of energy who hopped from one guest to another and answered questions like a pro. I was actually impressed with her readiness with replies on an assortment of topics ranging from her advocacy to being single-handedly raised by her actress-mother to current events and even quick queries about her preparations for the competition. She is definitely not bothered by having strong fellow candidates like Katarina Rodriguez, Maureen Montagne and Kim de Guzman to compete with. And being the unofficial flag bearer of KF camp motivates her even more to do well.
I remember asking Alyssa who among her KF sisters she will bring to the Top 4 if she gets the biggest crown. She did not hesitate to name Chanel Morales, Jerelleen Rodriguez and Paulina Labayo. She is quick to clarify, though, that the biggest challenge is to step up to her own expectations. And regardless of who the other winners will be, she is ready and able to become a good ambassador for the MWPO brand itself.
It doesn’t usually happen to a national beauty pageant winner to be given just twelve hours or so to prepare for her international mission. 
A fresh young ingenue from Sultan Kudarat was crowned Mutya ng Pilipinas Asia Pacific International and will now head straight tomorrow to officially represent the Philippines in Miss Asia-Pacific International 2018 which will have its Press Presentation on Tuesday afternoon. Sharifa Akeel got her wish of getting the top title amd is game enough to forego the post-coronation rest. She will have her photoshoot in the daytime and get herself acquainted with the almost 50 other international delegates. 
I always say it time and again that making Final Predictions for the results of a national beauty pageant cannot be compared to looking through a crystal ball and seeing the faces of the eventual winners vividly flashing after continuous rubbing of the same. Spending fleeting moments of quality time with them is no guarantee of accuracy in making forecasts either. It would be safe to state that I picked up on small hints here and there from different aspects of the competition and gathered all the pertinent impressions/realizations along the way that cumulatively gave me the confidence of sharing my choices.
My Top 8 are:
