The Philippines has crowned its 2023 representative for the eco-focused Miss Earth, one of the major global beauty pageants.
Yllana Marie Aduana, 24, a medical technology graduate, beat 27 other competitors to win Miss Philippines Earth 2023 at a glitzy ceremony in Toledo, Cebu on Saturday night. She was crowned by the outgoing title holder Jenny Ramp.
Representing Laguna province, Aduana, who competed at the same pageant in 2021 and made it to the Top 10, was a crowd favourite from the start.
At the competition, where candidates are required to tout their eco-credentials, she spoke about her non-profit, Edukasyon for Every Juan, which aims to help in the fight against climate change and to educate people on climate reality.
Aduana wore a dress made out of 5,000 safety pins by fashion designer Ken Batino for the final round.
"As a woman and as an Earth warrior, I have the duty to be as nurturing, compassionate, loving and hope providing as our mother earth," she posted on Instagram. "Like a safety pin, we hold critical things together. And as women, we hold the earth together."
During the final question-and-answer round posed to the Top five, Aduana was asked: "What do you think people in the future would say about your generation?"
"I would definitely say that our generation, although misconstrued as very ardent, I would have to say that we use our voices for a reason and that is to always speak up for the things that we know are right and for the things that we know we deserve," she said.
"That is why we are very ardent about it. That is why I’m also conducting colloquiums on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and their interconnectedness to nature in hopes to precipitate people’s eco-consciousness because our future is the linebackers and the pioneers of environmental amelioration, and we should always take advantage of it at all costs."
Rounding off the Top 5 were "elemental queens" Athena Auxillo of Toledo City, who was named Miss Philippines Air; Sha'uri Livori of Fil-Com Melbourne, Australia was Miss Philippines Water; Jemimah Joy Zabala of Puerto Princesa City was Miss Philippines Fire and Kerri Reilly of Mangatarem, Pangasinan, was Miss Philippines Ecotourism.
Besides her 2021 stint at Miss Philippines Earth, Aduana also participated in Binibining Pilipinas 2022, where she made it to the Top 12. The national contest selects the Philippines representatives to the Miss World, Miss Universe and Miss International contests.
She will now prepare for the Miss Earth 2023 competition, to be held in Vietnam later this year, a date for which has not been announced.
The current Miss Earth is Mina Sue Choi of South Korea who was crowned last year in Manila.
Scroll through the gallery below for more pictures from the Miss Earth 2022 competition
