CEBU, Philippines — With this year’s Miss Grand International finals happening October 25 in Myanmar, Eva Patalinjug will start the ball rolling as the first among her fellow 2018 Binibini queens to go off on her international pageant mission.
A lot is riding on the shoulders of the Cebuana beauty queen, what with her predecessor and fellow Cebuana Elizabeth Clenci placing second runner-up last year in Vietnam, and Nicole Cordoves placing first runner-up in 2016 in Las Vegas.
But Eva will not let the pressure get to her.
“This time, I’m not only representing Cebu but the Philippines, and I want to make the country proud. I want to make my family and those who believed in me from the very beginning proud. I don’t want to let anyone down,” Eva tells The Freeman.
Eva considers being Cebuana one of the merits that got her a crown.
“Apart from being Cebuana, my strongest suit is my determination. I never give up, I’m very competitive when it comes to the things that I want. If I want something, I’m never afraid to get it,” the registered nurse says.
“Cebu has a lot of girls who come out strong in competitions, and with that streak, parang, a Cebuana who goes into a competition really does her best, and has something to prove because they don’t want to let Cebu down.”
With six months to prepare before another date with destiny, Eva admits she doesn’t have a lot of time in her hands.
“I’ll make the most out of the time left for preparation. My mindset is that, I am going to win Miss Grand International,” Eva asserts.
The 24-year-old is no stranger to the limelight. As a child, she was always encouraged to excel in all sorts of fields, so for a beauty queen along the ranks of Eva, the challenge now is to step up and raise the bar even higher.
“The tricky part when preparing for a competition? It’s raising your standard,” she says. “Bb. Pilipinas is already very difficult. I consider winning in Bb. Pilipinas as one of my biggest achievements. If you’ve already prepared hard enough for it, then competing internationally shouldn’t be that stressful. But still, you have to be careful because you’re representing the whole country, not just your hometown.”
Eva reveals that when she joined Bb. Pilipinas, her eyes, just like everyone else’s, were set on the Miss Universe Philippines crown. But by the end of coronation night, Eva prayed that God would grant her the crown meant for her.
Miss Grand International is a pageant for peace. It advocates to end all forms of violence: inside the home, and between nations. It believes that all wars must be eliminated to achieve happiness for the sake of the next generations, as well as the world’s quality of living. With that, Eva, an HIV-AIDS awareness advocate who champions against violence towards women and children, is confident that she knows what her next competition stands for and looks for.
“They want to find a woman of substance who can make a difference, someone who can be an ambassador of peace not only for their country but also the world,” Eva muses.
As someone who recently faced the brunt of criticism for her Q&A answer, Eva definitely knows a thing or two about peace.
Aware of all the bashing she’s received even before Bb. Pilipinas, Eva admits that she’s an emotional and sensitive person, which can get in the way of someone as public as a beauty queen. When all the hate escalated after being accused of plagiarism and even piracy for having a seemingly similar statement with a copy from Mega Magazine’s Independence Day movement, Eva learned not to let comments get under her skin and to never fight fire with fire.
In fact, it had taken days for Eva to finally address the issue. Eva reasons that she would have credited Mega Magazine for the quote if she had not run out of time. During the question and answer round, Eva did toe the time limit.
“I know that what people think and see aren’t what matters, but I still get hurt because I don’t want to disappoint anyone,” Eva begins of her self-proclaimed weakness which led to sleepless nights and bouts of doubt.
“But I realized that you can’t please everybody. You just have to continue working hard and being yourself. As for my detractors, of course I respect their opinion but I still stand by every word that I said [during the Q&A]. I just have to be better, and encourage everyone to spread the love and positivity, stop the hate because it is hurtful. And we’re all Filipinos so let’s just support each other.”
Out of four Cebuanas, Eva was the only one to clinch a crown. However, she’s proud and happy for her fellow Kagandahang Flores beauties Ena Velasco and Muriel Orais, as well as Aces and Queens bet Wynonah Buot.
Eva couldn’t stress enough how friendly they were with each other. During the coronation night, she says all the contestants had been teary-eyed. Apart from the nerves, they were excited for each other after finding friends among their competitors in their more than two months of spending time together.
“It was a commencement of all the sacrifice and the hard work. Win or lose, we were excited for the new queens. We were a beautiful, intelligent, diverse batch, and we all had stories to tell. I learned to just really enjoy every second of the experience. It’s only once in a lifetime and you really learn a lot from it through the activities, the memories and the friends. When I speak with my co-candidates, I learn a lot from them. You just have to enjoy everything. Live life to the fullest as they say,” Eva says.
Eva never really expected to become a beauty queen. Her mother, Atty. Liza Marie Soroño, was the one who encouraged her to do well in almost everything, be it singing, dancing, ballet, taekwondo and her academics.
“My family inspires me to keep pushing harder. They keep me grounded. Especially my mom. In everything I do, she has always been my inspiration. I call her my lucky charm,” Eva gushes.
Another thing that Eva values a lot is her independence. Not in the sense of being able to do whatever she wants, but independence when it comes to being able to stand on her own.
The year 2014 had been a whirlwind for Eva: she had just become a registered nurse, and she won the Mutya ng Pilipinas Asia Pacific International crown. But she was going through a rough time with her family’s separation. Around the same time, Eva also decided to move to Manila to see if she could find her breakthrough.
“The biggest risk I took was becoming independent when I went to Manila after I won Mutya. There were mixed emotions then. Without my parents there, I became independent. Hindi lang ako pa raket-raket, I also had a stable job to support myself. I learned a lot of things. Being independent is a big deal for me. We’ve been nurtured to become that, and it’s one of my biggest achievements. Even though my parents weren’t there, I used the values and the principles they taught me. It’s a nice feeling to know that I was able to make it on my own. Na hindi ako nagpabaya,” she explains.
Just because Eva calls out for people to be more understanding of her, Eva also knows that she has to give her all. Although she can’t help but be sensitive, Eva is slowly working her way at overcoming and rising above negative comments.
“As a beauty queen, you have to make a difference, and to always put your best foot forward. I kind of got used to it already, because of the values my parents taught me. It’s not easy, but it’s also not that difficult. I want to make a difference, and I want people to look up to me. Which is why I want to constantly better myself because I want people to follow my footsteps, to make a change, and even do greater than me,” she says.
The aspiring lawyer encourages everyone to do what they love, live life to the fullest, and work hard because success and happiness will follow, without a shadow of doubt.
“You should never give up on your dreams. Continue to strive to make it happen, regardless of what path you choose to take. It was my path to become a Binibining Pilipinas winner. It may not be the same for others. If you want to make a difference, you don’t really need a crown. You just need to have the heart and the passion to serve other people.”