Who are the top 5 favorite Misses Asia?

Nineteen beauties are competing for the plum at the 32nd Asia-Pacific Quest to be held tonight (starting at 9 o’clock) at the NBC Tent at The Fort, Makati City. The Philippine candidate is Darlene Carbungco, a Kapampangan (girlfriend of Pampanga Gov. Lito Lapid’s actor-son Mark Lapid).

The Miss Asia title has been won four times by the Philippines (Carines Zaragoza in 1982, Bong Dimayacyac in 1983, Lorna Legaspi in 1989 and Michelle Aldana in 1993). Will Darlene score a fifth victory for the country? Let’s wait and see – and keep our fingers crossed.

Next to the Philippines, India and Australia tie for No. 2 as the countries with the most number of winners, three each; followed by Costa Rica, Israel, Thailand, Turkey and Korea at No. 3 with two winners each.

Like the other beauty contests, the Miss Asia-Pacific Quest is a rich source of showbiz material. Some of the title-holders who eventually became movie stars include India’s Zeenat Ahman (1970) who is now a respected actress in her country, India’s Tara Anne Fonseca (1973) who did a movie with former President Joseph "Erap" Estrada, Papua New Guinea’s Eva Arni who also starred with Erap in a movie, Bong Dimayacyac (who did a sitcom) and Michelle Aldana (now based in Germany with her German husband).

Meanwhile, Funfare-friendly Miguelito Herrera of Kapitan Pepe, Nueva Ecija, conducted an informal survey among beauty-contest enthusiasts on who the Top 5 Favorite Misses Asia are and he came up with the following results:

1. Lorna Legaspi (Philippines), 25 votes – She won the title in Hong Kong over 29 other aspirants. She’s a dentist who briefly did modeling stints before she got married to the son of former Manila Mayor Mel Lopez.

2. Tara Anne Fonseca (India, 1973), 22 votes – She competed with 15 other candidates, the second Indian beauty to win the title (after Zeenat Ahman in 1970). This Bombay native did a movie in the Philippines before pursuing an acting career in her own country.

3. Tali Ben-Harush (Israel, 1992), 20 votes – A native of Tel-Aviv, she was a crowd favorite among the batch. She was 21 when she won the title.

4. Wong Kyung Suh (Korea, 1969), 12 votes – After she won, the moon-faced beauty was swamped with movie offers, all of which she politely turned down, although she did some fashion modelling in Manila before she settled down in her country after her reign.

5. Eva Arni (Papua New Guinea, 1975), 9 votes – She competed but lost in the Miss Universe and Queen of the Pacific contests before she won the Miss Asia title, the first Black to do so. Before relinquishing her crown, Eva did two movies in the Philippines.

Others who figured in the informal survey were Carines Zaragoza (Philippines, 1982) and Flora Basa (Guam, 1971) with seven votes each, Kisha Alvarado (Costa Rica, 1998) with five votes, Melek Gurkan (Turkey, 1984) and Voralat Suwanalat (Thailand, 1997) with three votes each.

(Note: Like his survey on the Top 5 Favorite Misses International also published in Funfare, reader Herrera’s Miss Asia favorites survey is informal, done on his own initiative and not with the knowledge of the organizers of the Miss Asia-Pacific Quest.)

No Viagra for Eddie G.

Until now, like the treasure of Gen. Yamashita (subject of a forthcoming Regal flick directed by Chito Roño), the age of Eddie Garcia is being merrily debated upon, being guessed at in movie presscons, with Eddie himself obviously enjoying the great curiosity over his numbers of years on Planet Earth.

Funfare surmises that Eddie must be 80 (or in his very late ’70s) because when I interviewed him in 1984, Eddie said he was 64.

Anyway, 80 or 18, what counts is not how old Eddie is but how young he looks and he feels. If matter doesn’t age, who cares about how old a person is?

Until now, Eddie still takes 19 kinds of vitamins. His secret of health is moderation in everything. He gets enough sleep, eats the right food, has stopped smoking ages ago and doesn’t abuse himself.

No wonder he has lasted this long (more than 50 years in showbiz), so secure in his "throne" that he doesn’t quibble about billing, although he does "complain" why his name is billed in such big, bold letters in his latest movie, FLT Films’ Kapitan Ambo (directed by Joven M. Tan), while those of his co-stars (newcomer Long Mejia, Klaudia Koronel and Isabel Granada among them) are billed 100 percent smaller.

Proof of Eddie, the Original Manoy (Bicol word for Kuya), being at the prime of his manhood is the gallery of leading ladies cast with him. "They’re getting younger and younger all the time," smiled Eddie.

At the presscon for Kapitan Ambo, somebody dared to ask Eddie if, at his age, he feels the need for Viagra.

Breaking into his characteristic wide smile, Eddie said, "No. I don’t need it. I have a simple rule: Kapag ayaw ni Manoy, huwag pilitin. Kusang tatayo si Manoy kapag gusto niyang mapansin."

That’s what Eddie has in common with Dolphy who insisted that he, too, doesn’t need Viagra – yet.

"My Viagra," said Dolphy, "is Zsa Zsa Padilla."

Who could be Eddie’s Viagra?