After the Bb. Pilipinas 2013 Press Presentation yesterday, I must admit that I can see things more clearly now. Inspite of the distracting swimsuits the ladies wore, the stand-outs are starting to pull ahead even more, with a couple of pleasant surprises who simply validated my earlier gut-feel about them.

Here now are the dozen damsels I really liked. I divided them into two groups of six – the top and the lower tier.

My Top Tier of 6 (Photo credit: OPMB Worldwide)

Top Tier:

Charmaine – a definite front-runner; she has improved much from the announcement of O.C.s last month; I would love to see her with a more sharpened play of moves and turns. That shouldn’t be hard to work on between now and next month.

Cassandra – she knows how to play the game without carrying it to the hilt; there is a good mix of elan and sophistication in her moves and projection.

Pia – she learns easily; instead of stepping out with a bun on top of her head, she just let her hair flow nicely while exuding an aura of tempered sensuality.

Hannah Ruth – she is definitely growing on me; I used to dismiss her as just one of the rest. She treated the Press Presentation like her coming-out-party of sorts.

Bea – she constantly displays what she acquired from modeling and international pageant participation that lifts her from the majority; her style is fluid but still measured.

Merry Joyce – she has started losing her inherent shyness and using a towering height to her advantage; there is now a palpable confidence in presenting herself – less of the cutesy smile, more of the defined personal style. Elaine Kay Moll 2.0 anyone?

My 2nd tier of 6 (Photo credit: OPMB Worldwide)

Lower Tier:

Anna – she could’ve easily entered my Top Tier had she presented a more toned body and a tighter derriere; at any rate, she has sufficient time (if she so wishes) to correct whatever she still seems to be falling short of.

Parul – she with the infectious smile knows how to work it out onstage without registering excesses; definitely standing out even before she makes that one last pose, she only needs to be more conscious of her best angles in order to maximize the total look she uniquely possesses.

Mariel – she knows that the press is on the lookout for her (partly because of the interest in her celebrity lineage), and she offered just what everyone is expecting – a shiny, shimmery, smiley display of her assets and other intangible attributes.

Theresa – she is most relaxed showing off her well-maintained figure to the public; and while not the most curvaceous in the batch, she plays on her aces without the need to bluff her way around.

Mutya – definitely one of the sweetest, if not the sweetest, faces in the competition; her glow is unmissable and her styling – while safely traipsing around practiced steps – is the stuff pageant competitors are made of.

Ria – she deserves to be several notches higher in my tier assignments, but she clearly had better days (like during the announcement of O.C.s) before coming out to the press yesterday; still, I have solid faith in her ability to reinvent her total look.

I must add that the twelve ladies above are not my predictions in any way. They just happen to be the ones who presented better than 38 other contenders in my opinion. 😉