Text and photos by ALANAH TORRALBA
REY Cortez, a longtime beauty pageant fan, works as an entertainer in Japan.
He flew back to the Philippines to attend the homecoming parade of Miss Universe 2015 Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach.
The 48-year-old, still a child when the Philippines won its last Miss Universe title in 1973, came with his friend Epong Gonzales, 65 years old.
They were among the thousands who flocked the streets around the Araneta Center in Cubao Monday and waited for hours just to get a glimpse of Wurtzbach.
The event felt like a joyous procession of sorts.
Everyone was excited, with mobile phones in hand ready to capture the face of the woman who clinched for the Philippines its third Miss Universe title after a 42-year drought.
The sidewalks around Araneta Center started to swell with crowds at around 5 p.m., but it wasn’t until hours later that the parade would officially start.
Now and then, screams would begin in a section of a crowd, and would get everyone excited, but Wurtzbach still was nowhere to be seen.
Everyone seemed not bothered by the long wait, though, and entertained themselves with typical Filipino humor throughout.
Melai Mijares and Donna Dalanon Sytangco came wearing crowns and sashes marked Colombia and Philippines, in reference to the controversial crowning moment of the pageant.
Host Steve Harvey mistakenly read the name of Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez as the winner of the competition but then had to apologize and announce that Miss Philippines was the actual winner.
Another attendee, Peabo Orilla, also came wearing a Miss Universe sash.
He says he started watching the pageant back in 1994 as a child. It was the year when the Philippines was the host country, with Sushmita Sen of India winning the crown.
“It was also the time when I realized that I was gay,” Orilla says with a chuckle.
The Miss Universe Organization, which continues to enjoy support from various LGBT communities, has committed to supporting Wurtzbach’s chosen advocacies.
Among them is HIV awareness, with particular focus on the Philippines, which has an alarming health crisis on its hands as new infections continue to rise.
The LGBT community and sex workers are especially vulnerable in this predominantly Catholic country, where getting tested for sexually transmitted diseases carries a stigma.
Wurtzbach has committed to publicly getting an HIV test in New York in an effort to encourage more people to submit themselves to tests for STDs.
Ten minutes before 8 p.m., when it was already dark, the crowd that had been waiting for hours roared in excitement as the motorcade was finally in sight.
Fans turned wild, waving their phones and asking Wurtzbach to turn to their side so that they can get a better look.
In unison, they cried her name.
It was all “Pia! Pia! Pia!” mixed with ecstatic screaming fits until the motorcade ended at the Araneta Coliseum, the complex that houses the Binibining Pilipinas Charities, which represents the Philippines in the Miss Universe franchise.
Cortez said he could not imagine missing the historic homecoming.
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