MANILA, Philippines – Mutya ng Pilipinas Asia-Pacific International Leren Mae Magnaye Bautista was crowned 2015/16 Miss Tourism Queen of the Year International by outgoing queen Warangkanag Wutthayakorn of Thailand on Dec. 31 in Malaysia, beating 56 other contestants worldwide.
Leren Mae, 22, of Barangay Anos, Los Baños, Laguna, also bagged two special awards after she was named one of the Top 5, Best in Catwalk and Miss KL Sogo Trendsetter during the preliminaries. Chico Estiva of San Pablo City designed Leren Mae’s national costume, a terno made of bamboo shavings.
Leren Mae’s court (photo, from left) was composed of Misses Iceland (Miss Tourism Cosmopolitan International), Uganda (Miss Tourism Metropolitan International), Lithuania (Miss Global International) and India (Dream Girl of the Year International).
Completing the Top 12 were Misses Belarus, Bolivia, China, Malaysia, Portugal, Dominican Republic and Mongolia.
A Marketing Management graduate of San Juan de Letran College-Calamba, Leren Mae was 2014 Bb. Laguna. Trained by Aces & Queens (A&Q) of Jonas Antonio Gaffud, she joins the ranks of her A&Q Batch 2015 sisters who all gave honor to our country, namely, 2015 Miss Universe Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, 2015 Miss Globe Ann Lorraine Colis, 2015 Miss Intercontinental first runner-up Christi Lynn McGarry and 2015 Miss World Top 10 semi-finalist and Multimedia Challenge winner Hillarie Parungao.
Formerly known as the Queen of the Year International, the pageant honors exceptional women who gracefully uphold the epitome of beauty, poise, good moral character and personality and gather to compete for the title to promote unity and tourism. The first-ever winner was crowned in 1993. — Celso de Guzman Caparas