Will another Mutya land in showbiz?

Curtain-raisers:

• Somebody who looked like John Estrada was seen fighting with somebody who looked like Vanessa del Bianco at the parking lot of Rockwell last Tuesday night. What could they have been fighting about? The guy who looked like John slammed the door of his expensive car and half-ran toward the entrance, with the girl who looked like Vanessa half-running after him. Oh, well, I guess the guy who looked like John and the girl who looked like Vanessa patched things up before the night was over...somewhere else!

• In contrast, somebody who looked like Julius Babao was lovey-dovey with somebody who looked like Tintin Bersola in the same parking lot that same night. The Funfare DPA couldn’t tell if the guy who looked like Julius and the girl who looked like Tintin were going to the same affair with the guy who looked like John and the girl who looked like Vanessa.

• Reader Aleta Gehrke e-mailed the following tidbit to Funfare: Melanie Marquez was chosen The Most Beautiful Miss International from the start of the contest in 1960 to the present. I got this info from globalbeauties.com. We Filipinos should be proud of Melanie, shouldn’t we? (Note: Yes, we should – we are!)

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We have hardly recovered from the excitement generated by the 2002 Miss Universe Pageant held in Puerto Rico last May 30 (with Miss Russia Oxana Fedorova emerging as winner) and here comes yet another beauty contest, this time the 2002 Mutya ng Pilipinas search slated tomorrow, (June 8), telecast live starting at 9 p.m. by GMA 7, its main sponsor.

Like the other (local) beauty contests, the Mutya is a rich source of showbiz stars. Mutya title-holders who have ventured into showbiz include Rio Diaz, Rosemarie de Vera, Marilou Sadiua, Bong Dimayacyac, Alice Crisostomo and her daughter Mutya (named after the contest which her mom joined in 1970), Michelle Aldana, Lorraine Schuck (now organizer of the two-year-old Miss Philippines/Miss Earth contests) and Emma Yuhico.

Last week, the 24 finalists in this year’s search, winnowed down from more than 600 applicants from all over the country, were presented to the press at the poolside of the Sulo Hotel which is the official residence of the Mutya (Sulo Hotel boss Leandro "Biboy" Enriquez is among the prime-movers of the long-running Mutya contest).

As usual, Funfare’s "beauty experts" Francis Calubaquib, Joey Cezare, Gery Yumping and Felix Manuel were there to pick out the seven "most likely" to bag the title – and to land in showbiz, namely:

• Jacquelyn Mitchell (No. 5), 18, 5’6", 35-25-36

• Gracielle Banzon (No. 9), 22, 5’6", 33-24-35

• Meriam Santiago (No. 14), 19, 5’9", 35-25-36

• Rozelle Quiambao (No. 17), 20, 5’9", 35-24-36

• Kate Dejesa (No. 16), 19, 5’8.5", 34-23.5-35.5

• Carliz Selma (No. 21), 18, 5’7", 34-24.5-35

• Miriam Chui (No. 24), 20, 5’5.5", 34-24-34

The Mutya winner will represent the Philippines in the 2002 Asia-Pacific Quest to be held in Manila later this year. Four Filipinas have won the title so far: Maria del Carmen Ines Zaragoza in 1982, Gloria "Bong" Dimayacyac in 1983, Lorna Legaspi in 1989 and Michelle Aldana in 1993.

The four runners-up will compete abroad in the searches for Queen of the Year, Miss Tourism International, Miss International Intercontinental and Queen of Clubs International.