00:04Okay, Bea, as in the many contests in the past,
00:07hindi lamang sa Miss Universe Philippines,
00:11pero lalo ng Miss Universe Philippines,
00:13ang daming controversies.
00:14Ang daming controversies.
00:15Umpisahan natin ang mga pinag-uusapan.
00:18Una, of course, you know, some of your detractors
00:20are questioning your citizenship, residency.
00:24Ano ba ang kwento?
00:25So I've actually been a Filipino citizen ever since I was born.
00:30One of the first things my mom did when I was born
00:32was register my birth with the Philippine Embassy in the U.S.
00:37And under RA 9225,
00:40if you are a Filipino citizen born to a Filipino mother or father,
00:45as long as they register your birth, your citizenship is reacquired.
00:49And then once I moved here to the Philippines,
00:51that's when I started the very long process
00:54of obtaining your passport.
00:56I've always had my dual citizenship documentation,
00:59but you need that passport to open a bank account,
01:03to access things like your national ID.
01:05So that's a kwento there.
01:08So gaano ka nakatagal dito sa Pilipinas, sa mamalagi?
01:10At nag-uupa, sabi mo nga, doon sa iyong bahay na tuwang-tuwa po si Bea,
01:14dahil when she was winning the special awards, meron na akong pang upa.
01:18Okay, so how long have you been staying here?
01:19I've been staying here for a year and a half,
01:22but I've been visiting the Philippines ever since naong bata ako.
01:27I have a permanent residence in San Juan La Union
01:31because that's where my grandparents live.
01:33They moved here after I was born.
01:35So every two, three years, whenever we could afford it,
01:38we would visit them here.
01:40And that's why I really felt like I was lucky to grow up in two homes,
01:44both here and in the United States.
01:46Okay, I hear you.
01:47And your mom and your lola, I think, were in the pageant watching you.
01:52That was heartwarming.
01:54Okay, pero sinasabi nila,
01:56kung ika yung Pilipina,
01:57bakit ka nag-represent ng United States of America in Miss Earth 2024?
02:04In all honesty, it's because my mom signed me up for that pageant without telling me.
02:10So ang mama ang nag-sign up. Okay.
02:12I was in the middle of getting my degree, my undergrad in history,
02:16and I was so focused on law school applications and pursuing my academic career
02:22that when my mom signed me up for Miss Earth USA, I was like,
02:26this is not my thing, I'm not going to try very hard, I won't win the pageant,
02:30and then one day if I feel called to pageantry, I'll join again in the Philippines
02:35kasi that's really where my heart is.
02:37Okay, so in other words,
02:37pinagbigyan mo ang nanay dahil ko siyang sumali ka sa Miss Earth
02:40and you did it for mama.
02:41Kasi repeat
02:44Now,
03:11and
03:11its
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