Gloria & Margie on the Miss U experience

Definitely, Gloria Diaz and Margie Moran, the country’s first two Misses Universe (in 1969 and 1973, respectively), will share maybe not all but a good part of the limelight with reigning Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach during the varied activities leading to the grand coronation night on Jan. 30 at the MOA Arena.

“After all, they are part of history,” said Narvacan Councilor Chavit Singson who moved heaven and earth to have the pageant held here (for the third time), mobilizing the private sector so that the government would not spend a single cent. “The pageant will not be complete without them. The pageant is a project of all Filipinos so everybody should help make it a success. Millions of people around the world are watching the pageant on TV and it’s the best time to showcase what the country has to offer, tourism-wise.”

Gloria and Margie were at an exclusive press conference at the Makati Business Club organized by Chavit and George Sison. Also present was Tourism Sec. Wanda Teo, herself a beauty queen who competed in the 1972 Bb. Pilipinas pageant won by Armi Barbra Crespo (Universe) and Yogi Dominguez (International) with, among others, Jennifer Peña, Elizabeth Oropesa and Janet Bordon (“My roommate,” recalled Wanda) as the other aspirants.

The 88 contestants have started arriving, all set for the various activities designed to play up the country’s tourist attractions in Ilocos, Boracay, Cebu, Davao and more, with the first major competition (swimsuit) slated on Tuesday, Jan. 17, in Cebu coinciding with the Sinulog Festival venerating the Sto. Niño, itself a major attraction famous around the world just like the Black Nazarene Procession attended by over a million.

“Gloria and Margie are invited to all the activities,” assured Wanda.

Asked what their roles would be, Gloria and Margie said they didn’t know yet.

“But whatever it would be,” she added, “we would be there.”

“Yes,” joked Gloria, “saling-pusa.”

The event will surely bring back fond memories to Gloria and Margie (she opened the 1974 Miss Universe held at the Folk Arts Theater where she relinquished her crown to Spain’s Amparo Muñoz who died a few years ago). That was what the few invited journalists at the lunch presscon were curious about.

Do they still have the gowns they wore when they won?

Gloria (who won in Miami, Florida): “It was designed by Pitoy Moreno. It’s in the museum.”

Margie (in Athens, Greece): “Mine was by Auggie Cordero. I think it’s also in the museum.”

Like the other winners, Gloria and Margie were given replicas of the crown as souvenirs. Gloria has kept hers but Margie lost hers in transit from Athens to the Philippines.

“I lost my trophy at the San Francisco airport because it was in my excess luggage,” said Gloria. “I didn’t have $600 to pay for it.” (Trivia: Gloria’s daughter Isabelle Daza, now Mrs. Adrien Semblat, dusted off Gloria’s crown and wore it to a costume party with friends. Deemed a possible winner, Isabelle has turned down requests to join a beauty contest, saying, One in the family is enough.”)

Have they retained their winning figures?

“Secret na ‘yon!” Margie begged off, laughing.

“As they say,” replied Gloria, “beauty is from within.”

“It’s been a long time,” followed up Margie. “I am already a grandma and so is Gloria. Can you imagine that the girls (in this Miss U pageant) are already our daughters and granddaughters!”

They may not have kept their Miss U figures but, Margie assured, “We are still proportional.”

Countered Gloria: “Not as before but even then we were not perfect.”

Being still figure/health-conscious, they follow a balanced diet and do regular workouts.

Margie: “I have stopped doing strenuous exercises and lifting heavy weights. What I do is low-impact exercises such as ballet and stretching.”

Gloria: “I still do strenuous exercises. I play tennis for two to three hours, I lift weights, I bike…I try to do everything.”

They recalled the moment they won as if it happened only yesterday and the 12-month reign that followed. Gloria succeeded Brazil’s Martha Vasconcellos and Margie came after Australia’s Kerry Anne Wells.

Gloria: “It was surreal. I had just turned 18. You realized that everything was about you. Events would not start until Miss Universe arrived. Doors were opened for you, and so did all kinds of opportunities.”

Margie: “I was kind of reluctant to join a beauty contest. I was 18 when somebody asked me to, and my parents put their foot down, ‘No way!’ When I was 19, my dad had a surgery and he recuperated at a friend’s farm in Davao with my mom watching over him. I was asked to join the Bb. and my grandmother, herself a carnival queen and crazy about pageants, said, ‘Yes!’ I had already won when my parents learned about it.”

The pageant on Jan. 30 will start at 8 a.m. (to coincide with the New York Time, 8 p.m. Jan. 29). During Margie’s time, the pageant held at the Atticus Theater which was part of the Parthenon, began at 2 a.m. (which was also around 8 p.m. NY Time).

“So we had to be acclimatized,” said Margie. “We conditioned ourselves to sleep the whole day since all the activities were scheduled at night.”

For 12 months, Gloria had a big room all to herself at a posh hotel and so did Margie (at St. Regis in New York; while Pia has hers at the Trump Tower right across Central Park, also in New York).

Since she won in Las Vegas in December 2015, Pia has been very active on social media, up-to-date with the men she has been dating (the latest being racer Fil-Swiss Marlon Stockinger).

How was it during their time? Did Margie and Gloria have a love life (or even a semblance of it)?

Margie: “None! I remember meeting Salvador Dali who invited me to watch Tony Bennett’s concert. Bennett was very young then.” (Trivia: Bennett has just turned 90.)

Gloria: “Are you kidding? Before I became Miss Universe, I never crossed the street alone. No, I didn’t have a lovelife but, come to think of it, I should have run for gold, hahahaha!!! I lived in a nice hotel for free but I had a chaperon who slept on another bed in the room. At that age, your hormones are raging but…That was my period of awakening.

What felt somewhat painful was another moment of awakening — the night they relinquished their crowns.

Gloria (to Puerto Rico’s Marisol Malaret): “The photographers were scrambling all over the stage to take a shot of the new Miss Universe, all most stepping on my feet and I almost fell off the stage. Suddenly, there was no more limousine to take me to my hotel. I was given 48 hours to vacate my room. You wake up the next morning and tell yourself, ‘Hay, tapos na!’ At the end of the day, you just have to come down to earth. It was a good thing that my family was there. It’s important that you have your family with you.”

Margie: “Yes, you go back to reality; you go back to being normal again.”

With the crowns off their heads, Margie went to Boston University and then resumed her studies at Maryknoll, working at J. Romero (advertising) after graduating and is now involved with Ballet Philippines. Gloria ventured into showbiz and metamorphosed into an award-winning actress.

And what’s the best post-Miss Universe lesson that they have learned?

Gloria: “Try to be as normal as possible and be somebody who would mean something to other people. Hopefully, you do something that your children will be proud of…don’t do anything that will embarrass your children.”

Margie: “Continue to educate yourself.”

Any pieces of advice to Maxine Medina, the bet to (hoping against hope!) to win the country’s fourth Miss Universe crown?

Margie: “Don’t be pressured. Just enjoy the experience. Have fun!”

Gloria: “During our time, I never thought of winning or losing. I just enjoy every moment of it. But now, patayan na talaga. Don’t think of it as the end and the beginning of everything. Just have fun.”

(Trivia: During the 1994 Miss Universe pageant in Manila, it was Gloria who predicted that India’s Sushmita Sen would win the crown.)

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