“I feel survivor’s guilt” — Z Saldua, Palestinian-Filipina beauty queen | The Howie Severino Podcast
- 7 months ago
Zahra Bianca “Z” Saldua was second runner-up in the Miss World Philippines pageant in 2013 and living a beauty queen's life with hosting gigs and product sponsorships.
But after the war in Israel erupted on October 7, she suspended her commercial endorsements and devoted herself to the Palestinian cause. The child of an OFW and a Palestinian woman who met in Kuwait, Z is the product of two diasporas who said she joined beauty pageants to have a larger platform for what she cared about.
She's endured online hate for her views and suffers from what she says is "survivor's guilt" by living a safe, comfortable life in the Philippines, while the people she identifies with are being bombed. She explains to Howie Severino that her mission is to provide a human face to a misunderstood cause and explain the roots of a conflict that go back to 1948.
But after the war in Israel erupted on October 7, she suspended her commercial endorsements and devoted herself to the Palestinian cause. The child of an OFW and a Palestinian woman who met in Kuwait, Z is the product of two diasporas who said she joined beauty pageants to have a larger platform for what she cared about.
She's endured online hate for her views and suffers from what she says is "survivor's guilt" by living a safe, comfortable life in the Philippines, while the people she identifies with are being bombed. She explains to Howie Severino that her mission is to provide a human face to a misunderstood cause and explain the roots of a conflict that go back to 1948.