Venus Raj: Her Major, Major Success in Miss Universe 2010

Everyone's talking about Ms. Venus Raj and her controversial "major, major" answer in the Miss Universe 2010 Q&A. In fact, Yahoo has even run a "major, major" feature video for Ms. Raj and how she almost made it to the crown, had she not "blew" it on the Q&A portion. Truly, this year's Miss Universe 4th runner up has stirred a lot of buzz in the entertainment and social world that it seems people have talked about her more than the actual winner, Jimena Navarette of Mexico. In a beauty-pageant savvy country like the Philippines, this is nothing new. We are a country thirsty for an icon or source of pride and inspiration, and beauty queens like Venus, with her runner up finish, are considered heroes of our time, just like athletes like Manny Paquiao are in our hearts. As P-Noy has put it, her achievement in the recent Miss Universe pageant served as a ray of sunlight in a rather cloudy Philippine image in the international community especially after the tragic bus hostage drama in Luneta.

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I felt a sense of loss personally that Venus didn't get the crown when she was "almost there". She was obviously a crowd favorite, not just by Filipinos but by spectators from around the world. If she's not, then the Miss U venue wouldn't have been shaken by overwhelming cheers and applauses when her name was called as the last Top 15 semi-finalist. Also, I heard Donald Trump made a post-pageant personal annotation that he was actually rooting either for Ms. Mexico or Venus. I see a business and political undertone on this statement. Ms Mexico because, obviously, Trump and the MU Organization have an unexplainable bias in favor of Latinas. And Ms. Philippines, most likely because of Venus inspiring "cinderella-like" story; had she won, it's easy for Trump and his company to market the new Miss Universe, capitalizing on Ms. Raj's rise from poverty to fame and her unique struggles in the province where she practiced catwalk in rice paddies. Trump could have marketed Venus and her Ms. U success along the over-rated theme "dreams do come true" or something like this. This would have been truly memorable.

Then again, this is just "could-have-been" scenario. Venus went home not as new Miss Universe 2010 but as 4th-runner up. Still, she brought pride and honor to her country who really needed it.

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I guess the Q&A portion was played unfairly this time. Why were there different questions when these questions have obviously varying degrees of difficulty? The MU Organization should have stuck to the last year's format of one question for all contestants. In that way, the competition was made apple-to-apple, the stage was levelled and the decision on who deserves the crown will be based solely on how well each contestant answered the (same) question. Sadly, the question asked to Ms. Philippines turned out to be the most difficult, because, as one expert commented, it was a 'psychological' question. They said even US Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama couldn't give a "winning" answer themselves.

Ms. Raj answer was actually "safe" and she answered the question with obvious glow and relative confidence. I just thought what she actually meant wasn't well articulated in her answer. If I were asked of the question, I could have said:

"To be honest, I cannot think of any mistake, let alone any major mistake, in my 22 years right now, because the overwhelming love and support of my family and countrymen have simply made them fade away. There's nothing to correct even if I were given the chance to go back in time because these mistakes, whatever they are, have taught me important lessons in life that have made me a better and stronger person that I am right now, who is ready to take on the world and the universe not just for myself but for my country and people as well. To everyone who supported me, thank you for bringing me here."

Something to this effect. But there's bias in here already since I had more time to think about the answer. I couldn't imagine how Venus felt at that time. She could have been caught off guard by Mr. Baldwin's question.

In the meantime, I look forward to another Venus Raj on the rise. I just hope it wouldn't take us another decade to produce another Miss Universe winner.

What has been P-Noy's accomplishments in the first two months of his presidency?
That seems to be a big question to ask. I rather leave the answer to people who professionally take politics as their cup of tea. But I guess I have freedom as an ordinary citizen, having cast his vote in the recent national elections, to comment on at least some aspects of his leadership.

At Infosys, we were required to undergo rigid language training with Berlitz, to ensure we can really converse well in English and hence be effective on the job. In one of the assessments, I was asked by the Berlitz consultant something like: If you were to vote somebody for President (it was the height of the May 10 elections), what do you think are the qualities that person should have to merit your vote and why? Being measured for spontaneity, diction, grammar and linguistic range, I answered as honestly and wittingly as I could that the person should possess an unbendable character and exceptional leadership skills, such that he or she could make the most prudent decisions on urgent and challenging issues of national significance on his or her own, amidst pressure and hostile conditions, while sharing the governance with the people. That is the only way I see the candidate could truly lead the country forward. Of course, my actual answer was five sentences longer but these were pretty much the gist of what I said.

Looking back, I couldn't help but smile at such response. Truly, it was a conditional answer to a conditional question. And as I know conditionals, you could
pull out any answer out of thin air, they could be as ideal as you wish, and yet are still valid. As expected, the real condition we have now is far from ideal. Noynoy Aquino is now president of the republic. Asking myself the same question again, does P-Noy have unbendable character (which I basically just meant integrity)? Yes, considering his low profile and transparent lifestyle. No wonder he got 85% public trust rating which is by far, as per Pulse Asia, the highest in local history given to any president. I even admired him for showing his first pay check worth something like P65K, a far cry from the salaries of the executives in the multinational company I work in. But does he have exceptional leadership qualities? That's a different story. As Boy Abunda puts it, it's debatable.

Lately, I just couldn't ignore his perceived "weakness" coming alive - his inability to mete out judgment on significant national issues on his own. Critics have been recently calling P-Noy's sisters as the "four witches". It's a known fact that the president consults his sisters prior to making any judgements or appointments. It is said that the sisters were “too fussy” in selecting the applicants, such that only those “whom they knew personally” would get appointed. Is that the reason why many of those belonging to what is called "Hyatt 10" have made a political come back under the Aquino administration? Because these folks are "personal acquaintances"? Conversely, is that also the reason director Nilo got axed from PAG-ASA? Because the sisters didn't know the man "personally"?

To be fair, I'm sure the sisters weren't the only people the President primarily consults on political affairs. May be for Nilo's case, he consulted other men or experts on the issue serving him, perhaps the DOE secretary or some congressmen. Whether it's Nilo's case or any other case, these groups obviously have interests to protect and so the President should have wisdom on his own to make the necessary and ultimate decision on the matter. I however was particularly dismayed about his eventual decision to terminate Nilo. According to DOE's press release, Nilo was axed because he lacked 2 days of CESO. But according to Nilo, he was terminated because somebody painted a bad picture of him to the president, whispering that he be removed from his post for political reasons - he's a political "threat" or something.

The latter can be considered a mere speculation. Besides, any executive is said to serve at the president's pleasure. In other words, if the President no longer wants Nilo in his administration, he could by all means lay him off anytime. But P-Noy should have moved away from making arbitrary decisions and followed an acceptable process to verify at the very least the veracity of such accusation against Nilo. Yes, I agree to the Palace's thrust to fill in the bureaucracy with only qualified individuals - meaning CESO passers. But, doesn't the President know the "exemption to the rule" concept? As released in the news, we only have three remaining experts in PAG-ASA. Now that one has been terminated from office, who else could we count on to provide weather forecast to the public considering that we are located along the typhoon belt? He could have given Nilo chance to complete his CESO or provided him a "grace period" or put him on a "probationary" period. Okay, it is not the first time that PAG-ASA provided an inaccurate weather forecast in the past decade but is axing its head a solution? Besides, that poor performance couldn't be blamed solely to one man - in fact, it's the government's lapse. We couldn't procure the most cutting edge weather forecasting technology due to perennial budget constraints and so these scientists have no choice but to make do on whatever equipment and personal technical expertise they have. What's annoying is that the President seems to have listened to the "whispers" of the powers that be, capitalizing on his outrage over the latest blunder committed by PAG-ASA under Nilo's leadership.

Yes, being President is a daunting task. You couldn't help but listen to differing views, contradicting advices and clashing interests. But I guess I see my brother's point now when he expressed his fear that Noynoy Aquino lacks the ability to critically decide matters on his own, to do the "balancing act" so to speak amidst differing political pressures, so he could stay true to his mandate to uphold the interest of the majority and his commitment to defend the poor.

Last Thursday, the Palace announced with finality that August 23rd will not be a holiday. Many working citizens were hoping it would be declared a holiday so they could have at least a day off from work, since it is the President's father's death anniversary that the nation will supposedly commemorate anyway. But they were disappointed. Is this because the President listened to the dictates of Makati Business Club? Because declaring special holidays would harm businesses? After all, his Department of Tourism secretary is once the President of such powerful organization of the elite.

Again, whether P-Noy has really that ability to "stand on his own feet", to make sound, fair, and inspiring decisions in his six years in office is a test of time. In the meantime, I don't want to raise my expectations.