Who will be the first Miss GT?

CEBU, Philippines - Homegrown beauty products company GT Cosmetics Manufacturing, Inc. is sponsoring, for the first time, the Miss Cebu 2014 pageant slated on January 15 at the Pacific Grand Ballroom of the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel.

To formalize its support, GT Cosmetics inked a sponsorship agreement with the Miss Cebu 2014 organizers last January 4 at the inner roof deck of Harold’s Hotel. The memorandum of agreement signing was graced by the beauty company’s founder and chief operating officer Engr. Leonora B. Salvane with Miss Cebu 2014 chair Jaja Chiongbian-Rama and vice chairman (fashion designer) Philip Rodriguez.

“It is a great privilege for GT Cosmetics to be part of Miss Cebu this year,” Salvane said. “We have been sponsoring campus tilts and previously, on the barangay level, and now we have moved up to becoming part of this prestigious event here. We’re looking forward to GT’s permanent partnership with the Miss Cebu pageant.”

The brand executive, likewise, turned over a check worth P100,000 (corresponding to a gold sponsorship packet) to Rama and Rodriguez.

Rama, for her part, said that Miss Cebu draws new sponsorships every year and that the GT Cosmetics gold sponsorship is a “very welcome development.”

Also during the event, the new packaging of its soap products after the sealing of the MOA was launched.

“Our products are proudly Cebuano. These are quality products that we Cebuanos can be proud of. And what a better way of showing this than supporting and be identified with Miss Cebu,” Salvane said.

A “Miss GT” will also be chosen among the 12 finalists. The selection process mechanics have been posted on www.gtcosmetics.org.ph. Fifty-percent of the results will be based on an online voting while the other half will be based on the choice of a GT team.

The winner of the title will automatically become brand ambassador and will receive a cash prize and a year-long supply of cosmetic products. Currently, the brand endorser is ABS-CBN Cebu’s Phoebe Kaye Fernandez, also a former Miss Cebu candidate.

The prestigious Miss Cebu pageant is on its 30th year of crowning Cebuana beauties. The semifinalists were present at the sponsorship signing for their pictorial session featuring the latest product packaging of GT that distinguishes the soap variants sold locally from those distributed in the US.

GT products are already positioned in key stores like Seafood City and Island Pacific in the states of Connecticut, California, Virginia, and Florida. It will be invading Canada soon. (FREEMAN)