PH wins Miss Asia Pacific Int'l 2018

Muslim Filipina beauty SHarifa Areef Mohammad Omar Akeel wins the 50th Miss Asia Pacific International which was held last night, October 5, at the New Performing Arts Theater of Resorts World Manila.

The runners-up of the 21-year-old beauty queen are Gabriela Palma of Brazil (1st), Melania Gonzales of Costa Rica (2nd), Misheelt Narmandakh of Mongolia (3rd), and Mariani Angarita of Venezuala (4th).

Akeel only had a limited time to prepare for the pageant because it was only on September 16 that she was hailed the official representative of the Philippines when she won as the Mutya ng Pilipinas-Asia Pacific.

Akeel is the 5th Filipina to win the title.

Past winners are Carines Zaragoza (1982), Gloria “Bong” Dimayacyac (1983), Lorna Legaspi (1989), at Michelle Aldana (1993).

“What do you think is the biggest issue of diversity that the world is facing today and how do you think you can play a part to resolve it?” was the question for Akeel. And she responded with: “One of the biggest issue in our country is cyberbullying. We have to accept the fact that all of us were born with strength and weaknesses and with that, we have our own imperfections. Let’s appreciate one uniqueness and relevance and, as a millennial, I believe the millennial policy of compassion, idealism, striving for uniqueness and authenticity because you are a beautiful creation of God no matter who you are and wherever you are in the world. Beauty is indeed diverse and it is visible to all of us.” /