A Beauty Contest-Turned-Mini "Miting de Abanse"

Nice Makeup, right?

My mom was asked to judge in a pageant in a barangay where she and dad used to teach. Since I am here on vacation, I went with them.

It was about 3 kilometers from town, or so mom says. The road was awful. Some parts were cemented but the most of it was bare and there were no street lights you'd have to rely on your vehicle's lights. My dad says that it improved over the years. Compared to before, the road is more bearable now. I was gone for 7 years and what happened CANNOT be called an improvement.

The call time was 7pm and it was around 7:30pm when we got there. The event was going to be held at the barangay plaza. There were bleachers in front, plastic tables scattered around costing PhP200.00, disco lights in the middle of the place and a stage in front which was barely decorated. They used those silver paper plates as decorations and some pink curtains. The DJ was playing "Always"by Erasure released in the early 90s, plus songs in the era. It reminded me of the time when it was the town fiesta and "peryas" were all over. I would always play the "color game" where you place your bets in one (or more) of the 6 colors. There are 3 cubes which sides are colored differently and if the faces of the cubes comes up with the color you placed your bet on, you win the same amount you bet. You can say that I was addicted with the game back then that I would stay until the wee hours of the morning playing. One night, I lost my bicycle there and my mom and dad made me look thoughout town for it. I never found the bike.

It was around 10pm when the pageant finally started. Of course there was the Lupang Hinirang, prayer and opening remarks. The host was this gay guy who was my mom's student before. To be fair to him, he was good except when he says the word captain (which believe me, there were a lot) which he mispronounced as "cup-ten". Other than that he was fairly good. I am sorry to say but I kinda lowered my expectations as soon as I heard what the DJ was playing that's why it was relief to hear the host.

There were 5 candidates from different elementary batches. The pageant was Miss Alumni 2010. The youngest, I think was 18 and the oldest was 25. They competed for the special awards, minor awards and major awards. I placed my bet on contestant No.2. She's this petite girl with a really curly black hair and a beautiful little face (or at least that's how I saw hear from where I was seated). The competition was comprised of the talent show, Q&A, short shorts, casual wear and evening gown.

As expected, there were a lot of politicians around. From the Vice Mayor to the SK Chairman. Each had something to say. The guest speaker was this UP graduate who was saying about stopping corruption and helping fellow Odionganons. It was all good and inspiring if only not for his banners/posters all over the place. It sounded like a miting-de-abanse. There were also other barangay captains who gave off their speeches, both short and boring.

It was around midnight when we got home and I was really tired.