The half Filipino, Binibining Pilipinas title holder, Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, is representing the Philippines in the annual Miss Universe Pageant this year. Her journey to the Miss Universe pageant competition has not been smooth due to criticism from franchise holder, Donald Trump. Donald Trump owns the Miss Universe organization and announced in the beginning of summer to disqualify Miss Philippines, along with Miss Japan from competing in Miss Universe 2015, who both happen to be bi-racial. The reason for Trumps decision to disqualify Miss Philippines and Miss Japan was because of their ethnic background.

Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach is half Filipino and Half German. Pia was born in Germany but was raised in Cagayan de Oro city, Philippines and is fluent in Tagalog. Miss Japan Ariana Miyamoto, is half Japanese and half African-American. Ariana has lived in Japan her entire life, and is fluent in Japanese.

A factor that Trump used in favour of his decision to disqualify both Asian nations from competing, is the representation of beauty in every country. Donald Trump said, “the goal of Miss Universe is to choose a world beauty that represents her country to the fullest extent. Having a half and half candidate  from any participating country is not in keeping with the Miss Universe ideals.”

In western society, we prize individuals of mix descent because they generally carry the beautiful, exotic, yet “traditional” western features all at once. Many criticized Trump’s decision for being unreasonable and racist. Maybe Miss Philippines and Miss Japan are given an unfair advantage?

Trump’s point of choosing world beauty that represents ones country to the fullest extent, is understandable in some cases. If this rule is to be in affect in every nation, Miss Universe USA would have to be a pure Native American, and not of European, African or Asian descent. It makes sense to disqualify someone for example, who is a Caucasian American representing the Philippines with no historic or sentimental connection with the country and its people. In my opinion, because Miss Philippines and Miss Japan both grew up in their native country, and speak their nations official tongue, I do not see the problem in them competing for Miss Universe.

Due to Donald Trump’s recent racist comments toward Latin American immigrants during his run for US presidency, a couple of Latin American countries have taken a brave choice to back out of the 2015 annual beauty competition. These countries include Costa Rica, Colombia, Puerto Rico and a few others. This has resulted in Donald Trump allowing Miss Japan and Miss Philippines to attend this years’ Miss Universe Pageant.

The difference between Pia Alonzo Wurtbach and Ariana Miyamoto, is that Pia has a foreign non-native Filipino surname, while Ariana is under her mothers native Japanese last name. In Japan and the rest of the world, Ariana has received criticism for having the ability to represent Japan even though she is bi-racial. In the Philippines, it is not peculiar to have a mixed Filipina representing the country in national and international pageants. The Filipino people make it seem that halfies are the country’s super power to winning in international pageants. As long as she has a sincere long relationship with the country, and speaks Tagalog or another native Philippine language, it is generally accepted in the Filipino communities in and outside the nation.

The video attachment below is a short BBC news interview segment with Ariana Miyomoto, on how life is like in Japan, being the first mixed race woman to be given the title of Miss Japan:

sources: http://adobochronicles.com/2015/03/15/donald-trump-disqualifies-miss-japan-miss-philippines-from-competing-in-the-2015-miss-universe-pageant/ ,  Youtube: Ilang Latina beauties, hindi sasali sa Miss Universe