Mr. Campus Face 2007 courts controversy

March 17 was a date to remember among pageant aficionados in Cebu specifically those belonging to the third sex, as it was then that the Mr. Campus Face Cebu Finals 2007 took center stage at the MCWD Auditorium. Twenty-six hunky students from various universities in the metropolis vied for the title, with the top 3 earning the right to represent Cebu in the national finals in the capital come June.

The selection started at about 8PM and it finished almost midnight already. Gosh, that was the longest pageant I have watched in Cebu and disorganized at that. Imagine: there was an assigned host, RCTV’s Monica Yncierto (she can speak well but she lacked rapport with the audience, as all she cared was just talk and talk), but the over-all Manila-based director RC Perez would just climb up the stage and grab the microphone from her to deliver his piece and reveal the result.

There were technical lapses as well like the lighting, but the worse thing was in the tabulation. Gosh, it took them so long to compute the final results and there was even a "mistake" since two candidates supposedly tied, prompting the announcement of the Top 16, instead of the original Top 15 semi-finalists.

That was a lapse in itself as it was a diversion from the original set-up as far as the selection of semi-finalists was concerned. Honestly, I don’t think it is difficult to break a tie in pageants because there are a lot of factors to consider; each candidate is recognizable in bearing and wit that judges should only discuss who they want to be left out. I wonder did the judges sign the supposed list of the Top 16? Honestly for me, Cebuanos did not deserve that kind of show; it was a far cry from the grandeur and allure of prestigious pageants this side of the planet like Miss Cebu or Miss Mandaue. Beauty contests in towns are even better as far as staging was concerned.

Anyhow, after hours of watching six packs and killer smiles, the final results were revealed. While some parties have questioned the results because this and that candidate was supposedly more deserving than the winners, I have nothing against the Final 3 at all.

While Mr. Campus Face 2007 Edgar Rey Mesa Jugadora of Chameleon Models is not that handsome, he was my favorite in the Q&A portion and even in the casual interviews with the host. First runner-up Gregi Echavez was among my top five favorites along with controversial second runner-up Ryan Pantaleon of Ozar Models. Ryan, however, is now under fire because he was the one who supposedly tied with another candidate and is the reason why it was made Top 16 instead of Top 15. He was a crowd favorite so naturally when he was not among those called at first to join the semi-finalists circle, people booed and protested. In the Q&A portion, he faltered and this is the subject of the two e-mails I got last Thursday that questioned his inclusion in the Top 3. I’m reprinting here in full one of the e-mails sent by a certain Ines Veneracion (for sure the name is fictitious, but it seems that the sender was privy to the computation of scores). Read on:

"This is [regarding] the pageant ‘MR. CAMPUS FACE PHILIPPPINES 2007’ that happened last Saturday night, March 17, 2007. The results were questionable knowing that most of the contestants that won where among the ones who got the lowest scores. And what’s with having three judges when they can’t even respect the judges’ decision? ‘LUTO ANG SHOW!’ that was what most people were talking about when they announced the top 16 candidates, knowing that it was only top 15… And what’s with candidate no. 6 (Ryan Pantaleon) being on the top 16? He was not even close enough to be in the top 15. ‘Because my father is a man and i am a man and we are the men’ is just an example of the few lines he said during the final Q&A. We all know how charming and good-looking candidate no. 6 is. But knowing this competition is about beauty and brain (sic) I can even rank him as the lowest. People already knew that the show was somehow ‘LUTO’ the moment they announced that candidate no.6 was to be in the top 15 and said that there were minor problems in the scores. I am not against the Top 3 winners, because they all are good looking. Somehow it is unfair to the top 3 original winners. Rumors point out a certain Designer to be the root of all the changes in the TOP 3 contestants. Events and More should have taken charge. How can they explain this matter?"

Reactions

Upon receiving this email, I immediately asked a colleague in the person of Marigold Lebumfacil to call certain parties for reactions and she got Ryan’s manager, Danny Booc and RC himself, on the line right away. Here’s what the over-all director said in response to the issue at hand.

"Pabayaan nyo na lang sila, talagang in every show may ganyang mga issues talaga. Walang lutu-an sa show, ang lahat ng desisyon ay nanggaling sa tatlong judges and besides hindi nila kilala ang lahat ng mga candidates, kaya medyo natagalan sa pag-declare ng Top 3, kasi as organizers ini-refer muna namin ang resulta sa three judges at nang may reaksyon galing sa kanila, ini-request ko na magkaroon ng recomputation.

"Ang main issue talaga doon, suppossedly talagang Top 16, pero ang nasabi ng host ay Top 15 lang, at nang may reaksyon pa rin sa mga judges na nagtie pala si Odias (Ivin Jericho, candidate #14) at si Ryan Pantaleon, kaya sinama na si Ryan sa Top 16, kasi unfair naman sa kanya, diba?" RC said.

He even insinuated that he knew who was responsible for the email, but did not elaborate. "Kung kami talaga ang nagdedecide sa mga desisyon, di na sana kami gumawa ng show. Good Luck na lang sa kanila."

Danny, meanwhile, corroborated RC’s point by saying, "Wala gyu’y lutuan nga nahitabo sa maong show, naa gyud to sa tabulation ang sayop, well in fact, very clear nga even ang mga candidates they want Ryan to win as Mr. Campus Face 2007.

"Ryan can speak well, he was even adjudged as Mr. Press Favorite and even judges favorite, pero dihang wala siya maapil sa top 15, na-shock ang mga judges maong ni-question sila sa resulta ug usa pa nagwalk-out ang mga tawo dihang wala malakip si Ryan, as we saw in the show, crowd favorite pod siya," he countered.

As to the failure of Ryan to nail the Q&A, Danny relayed what the former told him when he himself asked the same question. "Gi-inamaw na lang to nako og tubag sir oy, kay wala nako ganahi ug dili nako ganahan makadaug."

Ryan also told me right at the backstage after the pageant that he quickly lost interest, drive and focus when he was initially not called to be part of the Top 15.

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