I take pride in having featured 90% (or 45 out of 50 to be exact) of the Bb. Pilipinas 2013 Official Candidates prior to their announcement last Thursday night. But still, five of them escaped my prying eyes and I am now posting about four of the still-unfamiliar qualifiers.

Take for example 5’6″ Gabrielle Runnstrom. This 19-going-20 half-Swede was a candidate of Miss Resorts World Manila 2012. She lost that competition to Alexandra Salmeron, but it did not discourage her from joining yet another beauty contest, and of a large scale at that. She screened at Gateway together with the other Kagandahang Flores entries. I’m not sure if she is an official part of the group, but she may have been ‘adopted’ just the same.

5’8″ Leona Santicruz, on the other hand, was a provincial pageant winner. Back in 2010, she was crowned Bb. Aurora when she was still 18 and a student of International Relations (major in Diplomacy) at the Lyceum of the Philippines. Now this girl could be one of them independents. I know of no affiliations with any of the beauty camps. Hence, making it to the Top 50 should already be considered a major achievement for this come-from-behind applicant.

And then there is girl-from-the-north Anna Carmina “Carmih” Antonio who reigned as Bb. Isabela 2009. In her Multiply blog, she described herself as follows, “_im fun to be with, can mingle with other people easily,I’m so into sports and now, cooking!=) I love to drive(always) and drink(sometimes). Love to work out.”

Lastly, we have Christine Paula Love Bernasor from Leyte. She was 1st Runner-Up and Best in Swimsuit of Binibining Ormoc 2009, plus a finalist of Miss Cebu 2010. Last year, she took part in Miss Scuba Philippines (won by Janicel Lubina) where she landed in the Top 5 and was crowned as Miss Marine Tourism 2012.

So there. Now you know something about Gabrielle, Leona, Carmih and Paula. Do you think they have what it takes to make an impact in this year’s edition? 😉