Sunday Specials: Pasalamat Festival Queen 2015 Winners

A fit and bright young lady of Filipino-Ghanaian descent was crowned Pasalamat Festival Queen 2015 during the finals of the beauty pageant held at the Town Plaza of La Carlota City in Negros Occidental last night. In a contest where the top winner was decided upon only during the final interview where the Top 3 were asked the same question, Halimatu Yushawu stood her ground and nailed her answer with such confidence and grace. 1st Runner-Up Lyzabeth Dilag was a nice come-from-behind placer who consistently got good scores from the judges with her quick wit as well. In fact, the two were separated only by a small 0.20 of a point after all the marks were tallied.

2nd Runner-Up Mae Lourine Mercado was actually the heavy favorite to win. But somewhere along the final question, she must have succumbed to nerves and dished out an answer that trailed the other two in terms of clarity and delivery.

In the end, the five judges – Miss Philippines Earth 2007 Jeanne Harn, actor Philip Salvador, American-Mexican commercial model Garrett Zebley, La Union businesswoman Catherine Franco and your blogger – gave their one end nod to the candidate who gave the best reply in the end. And Halimatu Yushawu brought home the win.

The long but entertaining programme was hosted by well-loved showbiz sweethearts Tom Rodriguez and Carla Abellana, with performances coming from singers Gerald Santos and Darren Ong, stand-up comic and belter Donita Nose, plus the crowd-drawing loveteam of teen idols James Reid and Nadine Lustre.

Allow me to thank Tita Kitchie Benedicto-Paulino, Rep. Jeffrey Ferrer and his wife La Carlota Mayor Juliet Ferrer, Tita Marie Gozun and the Headwriting team Jojo Nones & Ryan Benitez for the opportunity to sit as one of the judges and also for the warm hospitality of the people of La Carlota and the personnel at Planta Hotel and Residences. :-)