Maxine Medina, Kylie Verzosa, Nicole Cordoves, Nichole Manalo, Apriel Smith, Maria Gigante and Angelique de Leon make up my Scintillating Seven from the Press Presentation (Photo credit: Joy Arguil)
No matter what the addition is, my hunch is that there will be seven (7) winners come April 17. Be it 5 titles + 2 runners-up or 6 titles + a sole runner-up, the sum will always be 7. Not unless the decision is to still add a 2nd Runner-Up with already 6 titles and a 1st Runner-Up on board. The chances of that happening are not very bright at this point, however.
And so, this justifies what I have decided to call the “Scintillating Seven”, or for the purpose of this post, the ladies who topped the swimsuit presentation in my opinion. They are the ones who looked the most sparkling, aside from individual stylings that were relatively more spot-on. Someone whispered to my ear that four of them exude expensive auras. But I do not want to mull over that angle because it could be interpreted the wrong way.
Truthfully, both Binibini 29 Maxine Medina and Binibini 31 Kylie Verzosa are breathing down each other’s neck for the top spot. I simply gave the slight edge to the former because she was just a bit more in her elements yesterday afternoon. Kylie’s consistent winning aura never gets lost on my scoresheet, but Maxine’s over-all performance exceeded my expectations. And that is progression in my books.
Next in line are the two ladies with only the letter ‘H’ differentiating their first names – Binibini 11 Nicole Cordoves and Binibini 28 Nichole Manalo. They were also marked stand-outs who can never be denied their placements in the high tiers based on commanding presentations. And this leads me to the contender who is completing my first quintet for now – Binibini 22 Apriel Smith. This half African-American, half-Pinay from Cebu always manages to put in a strong stamp of approval in my assessment. She has a wholesome-flirty vibe all over, with a delightful way of showing it.
Meanwhile, Binibini 36 Maria Gigante and Binibini 7 Angelique de Leon complete my list for now. While their positions are the closest to being pursued by the next-in-line, they still deserve to be recognized as the better scorers, not by a wide margin but enough to make the cut.
Numbers for your consideration now, dear readers. Nichole is 26. Maxine and Angelique are 25. Kylie is 24. Nicole is 23. Apriel and Maria are both 20. You do the math, dear readers.
Watch out for the next group on my list. I call them “Stepping-Up Six”.😉
