00:05You know, you have the crown. I don't want to spoil it, but since this is a conversation, we want
00:11to get to know you better, some approve, the judges approve of you winning the crown, and many, many, many
00:18people are very happy that you did win the contest.
00:21But there are people who say, for example, during the Q&A, you talked about the Q&A, and I'll
00:26be very honest, I mean, most of the girls, it's not easy to do Q&A in beauty pageants.
00:32I mean, I have trained beauty queens, and it's not easy. And most of you girls didn't answer, actually, the
00:39question. You would realize that after.
00:41And when you answer the question, you know, people started to say, the words used were performative, opportunist, I mean,
00:53you know, crazy words.
00:54For me, what I was saying is that the Philippines is worth representing because I've done work to represent the
01:04Philippines and for the Philippines my whole life.
01:06Even in the U.S., I joined the Asian Student Union. I was joining protests of Stop Asian Hate because
01:14I wanted to live up to the legacy of my Lola and my mom and all they sacrificed.
01:21And I get a lot of criticisms that I'm an opportunist or I'm performative, but throughout this whole journey, I've
01:32just been trying to be enough for myself and enough for younger Bea.
01:36Who was proud to be Filipina and felt rejected by both Americans and both Filipinos at home.
01:43Why are you very emotional there?
01:45I'm a very emotional person. My zodiac sign is Leo.
01:49Oh, okay. Especially about this one. You seem to be very, very sensitive about this.
01:54Because I've fought so hard to carve out a place where I feel like I belong.
02:00And that's why winning the crown was so emotional. I've worked so hard to pick the Philippines as my home.
02:07And by winning this crown, I feel like the Philippines has finally picked me.
02:12Okay.
02:13It's not a problem. It's not a problem. It's not a problem.
02:15But there are other issues.
02:18For example, if you were to answer the question right now, would you do it differently?
02:23I would draw more upon the work that I've already been doing for the Filipino people.
02:28People really expound upon that last statement that I promised to be a public servant for the Filipino people.
02:34A lot of people question that. Because how would you do that?
02:36How would you fulfill that promise of being a servant for all?
02:40Para sa akin, for me, promise is said, our promise is delivered.
02:45And I've outlined what I would want to do to help our OFW workers, to help our trans brothers and
02:50sisters, and to protect the environment.
02:52You can see me working on my hands and knees to protect our beloved pawikan, marine biodiversity here in the
02:59Philippines.
03:00Being out on the streets marching for more fairness and transparency to make sure we know where our taxpayer money
03:07is going.
03:18We'll see you next time.
03:55We'll see you next time.
04:11We'll see you next time.
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