Tag Archives: Miss Universe Series

Catriona Gray under the lens of Raymond Saldaña

The Miss Universe competition proper is looming around and it’s going to be an all or nothing journey for Philippines’ bet Catriona Gray as she aims to win the fourth Miss Universe crown for the country, merely three years after Pia Wurtzbach controversial crowning in Las Vegas.

In her recent guesting in The Bottom Line with Boy Abunda, Gray stated that she never considered failure in terms of actually winning the crown.

I never consider failure. Why? Because I feel that if you have that in your vision, it will distract you, it will withdraw your energy from you. And I need 100%, 120% of my energy to go towards winning.

In a stunning showcase of her gift of gab, Catriona answered questions relevant to the country and issues its facing today and she answered them oh-so-eloquently, whilst getting tips from the Talk Show king Abunda himself.

Here are some of the questions asked by the panel.

What’s her take on the recent passage of the Mental Health Act:
I think it’s a great step forward because I believe that there’s more awareness now than there ever was before. And it’s something usually that wasn’t talked about because we thought it was a weak will or weak sense of character. Maybe they’re just going through something bad or we made up all these excuses to color over what was the truth behind it. But now that we have something that can be put in place, the proper education can finds its way to the hands of people that need it. And the stigma can start to break apart.

Why is she mum about her political views:
I like to take it as if it’s the time and place. I am not going to be a public figure that just spouses an opinion without being considerate of both sides and validating both sides because at the end of the day, I wear a Philippines sash and the Philippines is made up of millions of Filipinos with different points of view and different political standpoints. So I never want to polarize that.

The truth why she decided to apply as an independent candidate during the Binibining Pilipinas when she was initially under Aces & Queens back when she competed for Miss World Philippines and subsequently won: (Would you rather be the one who hides the truth, or tells a lie)
I would rather be the one who hides the truth because I believe no matter what, the truth will always come out. And I always believe that staying true to myself which is what I did in being an independent candidate, I just wanted to create my own team. Instead of focusing on multiple girls, I got undecided focus from a team of people that I chose myself. So I was allowed to be creative in that space and surround myself with a core team and it’s one of the best decisions I made

And the question that made Boy Abunda jump off his seat! It was really funny, tbh.
How would you convince a feminist that beauty pageant are still relevant?
I believe the aim of feminism isn’t to bring women down for what they choose to express themselves as or what they choose to pursue. I think and I believe that the whole aim of feminism is to support women in whatever they choose to do as long as it’s considerate and respectful to someone else.

With the caliber of how she answered these hard-hitting questions, it is very hard to lower our expectations for Catriona who is heading to Thailand next month as one of the pageant’s frontrunners.

Will the world, the universe rather finally align for Catriona?