Sinulog Queen peddles `siakoy’ to support grandma

TACLOBAN CITY — In this beauty pageant-crazy country where queens would usually end up either marrying the handsomest and richest bachelor in town or joining showbusiness after their reign, a reigning beauty queen, surprisingly, chose a less glamorous path.

A photo of current Sinulog Queen Monika Afable went viral online where she is shown peddling snacks in her community sans the makeup and designer gowns.

The photo uploaded by her relative, Sisa Balan, showed Afable selling “siakoy,” an elongated donut-like snack, in her neighborhood in Ando Island off Borongan City.

Described as a “Humble Queen,” by Pageanthology-101 Philippines, a website that features past and present beauty queens here and abroad, the 18-year old Afable, represented Borongan City when she bested 10 other candidates to bag the crown as Sinulog Festival Queen 2020 last 17 January in Cebu City.

She is a senior high school student at Eastern Samar National Comprehensive High School (ESNCH).

Her feat won her a cash prize of P150,000 and P280,000 worth of franchise package of a milk tea brand along with three other minor awards.

According to Balan, the young beauty queen also cooks viands that she also sells around her community to help her family, especially her grandmother whom she personally takes care of.

The post earned mostly praises from netizens, with many tagging her as an ideal girl whose values are worth emulating.