MAKATI CITY, Philippines—The Philippine-based Miss Asia Pacific International pageant announced that it will donate its advertising budget this year to support frontliners around the world amid the global COVID-19 pandemic.
“As an international organization, we would like to show our appreciation and support to all frontliners around the world,” the organization said in a Facebook post on April 7.
The Miss Asia Pacific International pageant, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2018, is the longest-running international beauty contest in the region. It was established as the “Miss Asia Quest” in the Philippines in 1968.
“No matter where you are, there’s a frontliner bravely fighting this pandemic for us,” the organization added.
For the first tranche of the drive, the organization is set to donate to the Lung Center of the Philippines and the Philippine Heart Center in the Philippines, the Cruz Roja Española in Spain, and the Croce Rossa Italiana in Italy.
The organization likewise encouraged the public to directly donate to the aforementioned institutions “in the Philippines and countries severely hit by this pandemic.”
The links for donations to the institutions are as follows:
· Lung Center of the Philippines: https://lcp.gov.ph/
· Philippine Heart Center: https://www.phc.gov.ph/
· Cruz Roja Española: https://bit.ly/cruz-roja-es
· Croce Rossa Italiana: https://bit.ly/Rossa-Italiana
“This pandemic goes beyond our borders so we have to face it together,” said reigning queen Caiyenne Huisman from Spain, who was in the country last month before the government imposed an enchanced community quarantine to help arrest the rate of infection.
“We thank all the brave frontliners around the world fighting the virus head-on. We hope we can extend help in our own little way to them through this donation drive,” she told the Inquirer in an online interview.
Jacqueline Tan-Sianz, the pageant’s president, told the Inquirer in an interview via Facebook Messenger that, “with the times being so difficult nowadays for some, we can only do our best in this situation.”
The pageant’s corporate public relations and marketing manager, Eldrin Veloso, said the organization plans to expand the drive to more beneficiaries in other countries.
“As of the moment, there are no specifics yet because we are in the middle of contacting possible partners for the drive,” he told the Inquirer.
The global COVID-19 pandemic has likewise affected the staging of this year’s edition of the global tilt.
Tan-Sainz said, “We are planning to hold the Miss Asia Pacific International much later this year, and we are shortening the number of days for this season so that portions of our budget can go to donations to organizations.”