The Women Behind Pageants: Stella Marquez Araneta

"In every man's success or failure is a woman", as the saying goes. This holds true in a pageant. Oh, not necessarily the pageant's contestants but the director of the pageant. In the next few weeks, this site will be featuring some of the most powerful women behind a pageant; be it local or international. To kick off the series, let's take a look at the woman behind the national pageant in the Philippines -- Stella Marquez Araneta of the Binibining Pilipinas pageant.

Stella Marquez Zawadski Araneta or commonly referred to as Madame Stella Marquez Araneta was born on June 17, 1937 in Tomaco Narino, Colombia. She won the national title of Miss Colombia in 1959 and represented her country to the Miss Universe 1960 pageant in Miami Beach, Florida. She placed as semi-finalist (Top 15. The crown was garnered by the hometown-candidate Linda Bemment of USA.

 Inspired by her semi-final placement in the Miss Universe 1960, she was handpicked to represent Colombia in the maiden-edition of the Miss International pageant in Long Beach California, a pageant which she won. She bested 51 other ladies from different countries including Iona Pinto of India as First Runner Up. It should be noted that Iona Pinto's became the highest placement that India had in the Miss International pageant.

Her exposure as Miss International paved the way for her to meet Filipino businessman Jorge Araneta. They eventually got married and settled in the Philippines. In 1964, she organized Binibining Pilipinas which sends out the winner to Miss Universe. The first winner was Myrna Panlilio. In that same year, Gemma Cruz (Miss Philippines 1963) won the Miss International title, the first internation crown for the Philipines. The next year, Binibining Pilipinas officially acquired the Miss International franchise from the City of Manila.

Madame Stella has been the director/owner of the Binibining Pilipinas Charities Inc., for more than fifty years. Whilst marred with a lot of controversy, she produced eight major titles for the Philippines; 3 Miss Universes and 5 Miss Internationals. She also produced several crowns from minor pageants including Miss Supranational by Mutya Johanna Datul, Miss Globe by Lorraine Ann Colis among others.

2015 Beauty Pageant Season Begins

Whilst Philippines was once a beauty pageant powerhouse back in the 70's, it was hardly noticed in comparison to other powerhouse countries like USA, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and India in the early 21st century. But right after Venus Raj's breakthrough comeback in the 2010 Miss Universe in Las Vegas, the way was paved for the Philippines to be once again noticed as a force to reckon with in any international pageant - big or small.

This year's international pageant season begins with Binibining Pilipinas Charities Inc (BPCI) acquisition of national franchise of Miss Globe and Miss Grand International. Miss Globe, an Albanian based pageant which has been existing since 1973 while Miss Grand International, a Bangkok, Thailand based pageant is on its third year.

Below are some of the international pageants that Philippines is sending its contestants and tentative dates of the pageant.

Representative: Ann Lorraine Colis
Pageant:  Miss Globe 2015
Date: October 8, 2015
Venue: Rose Theatre, Toronto, Canada

Ann won the Binibining Pilipinas - Tourism title on March 15, 2015 but was handpicked to represent the country when BPCI subsequently acquired the franchise for Miss Globe.

Representative: Parul Shah
Pageant:  Miss Grand International 2015
Date: October 26, 2015
Venue: Indoor Stadium, Huamark, Bangkok, Thailand
Philippines' Best Performance: 3rd Runner Up (Analie Forbes, 2013)

Parul was Bb. Pilipinas Tourism 2014 but was not able to compete in the Miss Tourism International as the pageant was not held last year. She was handpicked to represent the country when BPCI subsequently acquired the franchise for Miss Grand International.

Representative: Toni Alyessa Hipolito
Pageant: Miss Globe International  2015
Date: TBA
Venue: Brussels, Belgium
Philippines' Best Performance: Winner (Maricar Balagtas, 2001)

Toni joined Binibining Pilipinas twice: 10 semi-finalist in 2010 and in 2015 which she didn't place. A month after, she was chosen to wear the sash for the Philippines in this year's edition of Miss Globe pageant.

Representative: Janicel Lubina
Pageant: Miss International 2015
Date: November 5, 2015
Venue: Shinigawa Prince Hotel, Tokyo, Japan
Philippines' Best Performance: Winner (1964, 1970, 1979, 2005, 2013)

Prior to joining Bb Pilipinas 2015, Janicel joined Miss World Philippines 2013 and placed as 1st Runner Up to the eventual Miss World 2013 winner Megan Lynn Young.

Representative: Rogelie Catacutan
Pageant: Miss Supranational 2015
Date: December 5, 2015
Venue: Sports Hall Krynica-Zdroj, Poland
Philippines' Best Performance: Winner (Mutya Johanna Datul, 2013)

Prior to being crowned Bb. Pilipinas Supranational 2015, Rogelie was Miss Cebu 2010  3rd Runner-Up, Reyna ng Aliwan 2011 winner, and one of the 12 semi-finalists in the Miss World Philippines 2011 pageant.

Representative: Angelia Gabrena Ong
Pageant: Miss Earth 2015
Date: December 5, 2015
Venue: Marx Halle Vienna, Austria
Philippines' Best Performance: Winner (2008, 2014)

Angelia has big shoes to fill as Jamie Herell, the reigning Miss Earth is also from the Philippines. Also, it's the second time the pageant will be held outside of the Philippines taking her away the home-crowd advantage.

Representative: Christy Lynn Mcgarry
Pageant: Miss Intercontinental 2015
Date: December 18, 2015
Venue: Grand Ballroom, Maritim Congress Hotel, Magdelburg, Germany
Philippines' Best Performance: 2nd Runner-up (Kris Tiffany Janson, 2014)

Win or lose, Christy Lynn will surely make a record in the pageant for being the only contestant to have joined the pageant twice. In 2010, she replaced Muya ng Pilipinas Intercontinental 2010 Karla Jenina Lizardo Jenina Lizardo and eventually placed in the Top 15 and was named Continental Queen of Asia and the Pacific.

Representative: TBD
Pageant: Miss World 2015
Date: December 19, 2015
Venue: Crowne of Beauty Theater, Sanya, China
Philippines' Best Performance: Winner (Megan Young, 2013)

Valerie is yet to relinquish her crown to the next representative. As of writing, the preliminary activities for Miss World Philippines are ongoing with October 18, 2015 as the coronation night.

Representative: Janela Joy Cuaton
Pageant: Miss Tourisn International 2015
Date: December 31, 2015
Venue: Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
Philippines' Best Performance: Back-to-back win (2012 and 2013)

Janela will continue Philiippines' 3 year Top 5 placement streak (two titles and a runner up) in this year's pageant to be held in Vietnam instead of the usual Kuala Lumpur.

Representative: Pia Wurtzbach
Pageant: Miss Universe 2015
Date: TBA
Venue: Las Vegas, USA
Philippines' Best Performance: Winner (1969, 1973)

With the new MUO ownership and management, Pia will try to get hold of the elusive third Miss Universe crown for the Philippines.



The past three years, Philippine representatives have been winning crowns for the country. Hopefully, one of the crowns at stake for the above-mentioned pageants could be brought back home by these ladies. Good luck and more power to the Filipina beauty!