Miss International 2005 Precious Lara Quigaman
Photo credit: Boyet Blas of Mabuhay Beauties
Gionna Cabrera
All posts tagged Gionna Cabrera
The Bb. Pilipinas 2020 titleholders – Joanna Penalosa, Nina Alagao and Katherine Annwen de Guzman
Not a bad time for Miss World and Miss International, for sure. But For Miss Universe, it certainly was. Never was there a decade in the entire MU history that the Philippines neither placed nor grabbed a runner-up position. Name the decade, we have cited representatives – the 50s, the 60s, the 70s, the 80s and the 90s. For the uninitiated, Blesilda Ocampo was the first Miss Philippines who advanced to the semifinals when she made the Top 16 during the 1954 edition.
As for the years 2000-2009, the Philippines was clearly wiped out and remained in the background (or backstage) after the first cuts were made – from Nina Ricci Alagao in Cyprus all the way to Bianca Manalo in the Bahamas (insert Zorayda Andam, Karen Agustin, Carla Balingit, Maricar Balagtas, Gionna Cabrera, Lia Andrea Ramos, Theresa Licaros and Jennifer Barrientos in between). Let us now watch the Bb. Pilipinas 2000 edition which many pageant enthusiasts claim as the year that started the dark years of the country in our all-time favorite beauty pageant.
Recognize this Beauty Queen? You should. It’s Bb. Pilipinas Universe 2005 Gionna Cabrera who just celebrated her birthday in Krabi.
You will remember her as the country’s representative to Miss Universe 2005 (watch video below) the last time Thailand hosted before this year’s much-anticipated edition in Bangkok come December.
Bb. Pilipinas Universe 2005 Gionna Cabrera in action during Miss Universe 2005
Gionna winning Miss Photogenic that year
The 2005 edition of Miss Universe was personally worth remembering. Firstly, it was held in my favorite city, Bangkok. Secondly, it had in strong contention one of my all-time favorite Miss Puerto Rico winners, Cynthia Olavarria. And thirdly, I had high hopes that Miss Philippines Gionna Cabrera would end the five-year (2000-2004) losing streak of the country and make it to the semifinals at the very least.
Well, it still wasn’t meant to be at that time. The semifinal placement for our bet, that is. She did not come home empty-handed, though. After getting the Best Style Award, she was able to pull a Miss Photogenic win during the live broadcast of the finals at the Impact Arena.
One of Gionna's latest photos used during the Women of Distinction exchibit by Katha Awardee Ann Ong (Photo credit: Philip Dizon)
Gionna was a favorite by most everyone. But I guess her cumulative scores were not high enough to make the first cut.
As for the results, I was rooting for Miss Puerto Rico (who, in my opinion, has one of the most elegant evening gown walks in modern MU history) till the very end. Kinda broken-hearted that she was nosed out by Canada’s Natalie Glebova for the title.
Click above to go straight to MercatorTV.
Mercator Artist and Model Management, Inc. is to fashion, entertainment and beauty pageants as MercatorTV is to virtual and visual appreciation of the outstanding talents that the company has to offer. The new website takes things two steps forward by proudly putting together the past and present achievements that define how far its services have evolved as the ‘go-to’ specialists in the highly competitive sectors they have flourished in.
Mercator Artists
Celebrity-models? or Model-Celebrities? How do you categorize thee? Consider the names Venus Raj, Shamcey Supsup, Mikael Daez, JC Tiuseco, Benjamin Alves, Daniel Matsunaga, Fabio Ide, Akihiro Sato, Benjo Leoncio, Lemuelle Pelayo, Ervic Vijandre, Kerbie Zamora and more. You see and hear them on the boob tube or the big screen. And if that’s not enough, the company makes playing field of the country’s three big networks – ABS-CBN, GMA-7 and TV5. They have representative personalities in each station which only goes to show that the seed of trust has already been planted in its’ talents. In the film industry, Regal Entertainment signed up quite a number of them to star in both commercial & indie movies. Most notable are Venus Raj in “Pridyider” which opened this week, Benjamin Alves in the recently-released “Guni Guni” plus JC Tiuseco/Fabio Ide in the soon-to-open “Ride to Love” and Mikael Daez in last year’s “Temptation Island” remake.
The flag-bearers of Mercator Artists (Top row L-R): Venus Raj, Mikael Daez, Shamcey Supsup, Benjamin Alves, JC Tiuseco.; (Bottom row L-R): Daniel Matsunaga, Lemuelle Pelayo, Fabio ide, Hideo Muraoka and Benjo Leoncio.
Mercator Models
The catwalk and glossy pages of fashion magazines reign supreme here. Be it for high-profile fashion spreads, mainstream TV commercials or well-placed print advertisements, Mercator provides the best possible models to fill in the project. What sets them apart is the fact that crossing over to show business or beauty pageants has become a continuous option for individuals initially molded as photographic subjects and/or skilled ramp gliders.
The familiar faces of Mercator Models: (Top row, L-R) Rocky Salumbides, Vince Canizares, Carlo Sawit, Jovic Sael, Benj Bolivar; (Bottom row L-R) Jasmine Meierhofer, Darlene Anderson, Tina Marasigan, Chrizenda Cecilio and Nicolette Henson.
Aces & Queens
I must admit. Aces & Queens is my personal favorite among the three branches of MercatorTV. I’m a pageant blogger, after all. Truthfully, this is where the people at Mercator pour their labor of love. Plucking raw and unpolished ladies and turning them into gems of world-class beauty standards is not the easiest thing to do. But train hard they continue in the efforts of coming up with Filipinas who can make us proud in the international stage of competition. As a result, their track record for more than one decade now is nothing short of enviable – eight (8) Miss Universe representatives, four (4) Miss World delegates and two (2) Miss International entries.
Ten of Aces & Queen’s prides (Top row L-R) Venus Raj, Shamcey Supsup, Queenie Rehman, Lia Andrea Ramos, Marie-Ann Umali; (Bottom row L-R) Jennifer Barrientos, Theresa Licaros, Gionna Cabrera, Elaine Kay Moll and Janine Tugonon.
Things can only get better from this point for Mercator. Aside from becoming more aggressive in building its pool of talents, Mercator Artist and Model Management, Inc. is ready to diversify their interests in the years to come.
Come check out the new website of MercatorTV!
See, read and watch what the fuss is all about. 🙂
To be able to field one, two or three Official Candidates to the annual Bb. Pilipinas search is already an achievement in itself. But to secure twelve (12) slots is certainly a major boost to Aces & Queens – the Jonas Gaffud-led beauty camp responsible for Shamcey Supsup, Venus Raj, Jennifer Barrientos, Gionna Cabrera, the late Melody Gersbach and more. They truly outdid themselves this year by cornering more than 1/3 of the total count – three more and they would’ve gone for half of the 30.
I can safely state that at least one (or two) of them will land a crown come April 15 finals night. As to who, my lips are still tightly sealed because it would obviously be too premature to give out predictions at this point when there are still two months to go before the winners are announced.
Anyways, without further ado, let me present to you Aces & Queens’ “Dazzling Dozen” for Bb. Pilipinas 2012…..
Mary Jean Lastimosa
Janine Tugonon
Roxane Joy Jesalva
Elaine Kay Moll
Katrina Jayne Dimaranan
Ma. Alicia Elena Ariosa
Giselle Angelica Munoz
Jaine Hidalgo
Maxine Medina
Marie Virginia Peter
Gina Joy Howell
Chloe Zanardi
Many thanks to the fab Jory Rivera of OPMB Worldwide for all the images above.
P.S. And may I ask a bit of indulgence from you, dear readers? These photos were taken during the long waiting stretch of final deliberations last Saturday night. So please go ‘a tad’ gentle on the comments for this blog feature. 😉
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