It’s official: PH to host Miss U

THE Philippines will host the Miss Universe pageant in January 2017, the Department of Tourism (DOT) announced yesterday.

"I would like to inform everybody that the Miss Universe beauty pageant will be on January 30, 2017 here in the

Philippines," said Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo in a press briefing.

"We have a President that comes from Mindanao and our Miss Universe is from Mindanao so I think it is the best time for us to do Miss Universe in the Philippines," she added.

Duterte hails from Davao while reigning Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach hails from Cagayan De Oro.

Teo said that the private sector will fund the $11 million needed to mount the 65th edition of the most prestigious beauty pageant.

"The government is not going to spend any single centavo. It will be the private sector who will shoulder all the expenses," she said.

Teo said that ancillary Miss Universe events will possibly be held the country's top tourist destinations in Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Boracay, Cebu, Palawan and Vigan.

Tourism Undersecretary for Media Affairs Kat De Castro, meanwhile, said that the President never gave "no" for an answer when the idea of hosting the pageant was first proposed.

"There was never a 'no' from the President. His major concern was spending. But when we assure him that there will be no funding from the government, he said okay. We don't know when the news report came that he didn’t like it," De Castro said.

She further said that the DOT was initially privy on the details of officially hosting the pageant since it was waiting for the administrative order to be signed by the President.

However, the Tourism Secretary later sought Malacanang's permission to finally announce the date to clarify that it will indeed push through.

De Castro said that the DOT has also gotten in touch with the Miss Universe Organization Vice President for Business Development and Marketing Shawn McClain to clarify the misunderstanding.

Teo earlier said that the country's hosting of the Miss Universe pageant would give a big boost to businesses and livelihood of millions of Filipinos.

She added that she expects the tourism industry to “gain tremendously” from it.

The Philippines has hosted the pageant twice, in 1974 and 1994.

The clamor for the country to host Miss Universe came even before reigning Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach bagged the title in Las Vegas in December last year.

Wurtzbach recently visited the country to personally talk to President Rodrigo Duterte on the possibility of staging the pageant in the Philippines. (Sunnex/With PNA)