Putting a face to the crown and a heart in the sash
Bocaue’s newest royals to be ambassadors of “RiverTown Wonders”
Chin Samson
There’s a new king and queen in town. And they’re brother and sister.
No, this is not an episode of Game of Thrones. We’re talking about the Marcelo siblings, who bagged the titles Hari ng Singkaban and Reyna ng Turismo at the first province-wide culminating pageant of the Singkaban Festival held last September 11 in Malolos City, Bulacan.
Hari and Reyna ng Singkaban, organized by the Provincial History, Arts, Culture and Tourism Office, isn’t your regular beauty pageant, though.
The three-week-long competition involved Bulacan’s most beautiful and handsome faces strutting down a runway flaunting Baliuag buntal hats and bags and Meycauayan jewelry, and undergoing a closed-door interview that tested their knowledge of Bulacan’s geography, products and festivals.
Bocaue’s very own Lolomboy-born Lewis Viel, 21, bested 14 other contestants and became the province’s first Hari ng Singkaban. The moreno with a dazzling smile also won over the competition’s official photographer, bagging the Sef Aniag Choice award.
Leandra Vera, his 20-year-old sister, looked immaculate in her white Filipiniana and mestiza looks when she was crowned Reyna ng Turismo and was awarded Best in Festival Costume in the Reyna ng Singkaban competition.
But winning in Bulacan pageantry is now more than just about having a pretty face.
Aside from continuing Bocaue’s legacy of holding the most number of titles, the Marcelo siblings will be immersing themselves in the history, geography and culture of Bulacan and Bocaue because they will be the faces of the provincial and municipal government’s tourism campaigns.
Continuing a legacy
Bocaue prides itself in being the birthplace of countless Bulakenyo and Bulakenya beauties that have gone on to represent not just the municipality but the province as well in national-level competitions. These natives range from your sidewalk tinapa-seller to De La Salle – College of St. Benilde students such as the Marcelo siblings.
Bocaue won its first title in 1998, with Lolomboy lass Novi Anne Principe being crowned Lakambini ng Bulacan that year.
After thirteen years, the municipality became a pageantry powerhouse, winning the Reyna ng Bulacan title back-to-back from 2011 to 2015, save for 2013 where representative Candy del Castillo won an equally distinguishable award as first-runner up and became Bulacan’s representative to Binibining Pilipinas in 2016.
Winning crowns and sashes is not just a municipal legacy but a familial one as well for the Marcelos.
Four of the six Marcelo children have each had their crowning moments. Their glory days began as early as when they were in elementary school, bagging top titles in their alma mater I.S. Montessori and representing their school in the Mr. and Ms. BulPRISA pageant of the Bulacan Private Schools Association.
Viel and Leandra’s older sister Lara was Binibining Bulacan – Earth in 2010 and second eldest Vianca Louise brought home the 2014 Reyna ng Bulacan title before competing in Miss World 2015.
The Marcelo women are also well-known in the papaya-soap-brand pageant Miss Silka, with Leandra being Miss Silka-Bulacan in 2013 and Vianca bagging the national title in 2011.
More than just pretty faces
“Yung Hari at Reyna ng Singkaban is under Bulacan capitol who aims to have its winners become spokespersons ng Bulacan,” said Bocaue’s pageant-training team Powerhouse Bocaue co-founder Willy Catindig, 42. “Wala silang care kung yung winners ipapascreen nila sa Binibini o sa Miss World.”
This is why 20 percent of the criteria for choosing the winners was about the candidates’ knowledge of Bulacan. For Leandra though, she saw this as a good thing.
“It’s not all about the pageant, like walking and all. You need to know everything about Bulacan, like its history,” she said. “Pero… at least, diba, we know where we came from.”
According to Catindig, who is a trainer and handler of Bocaue’s beauty kings and queens, pageant winners rarely did anything after winning the crown in previous years.
“[F]or the longest time na may napoproduce tayo na ganyan, nakakapagbigay ng pride sa Bocaue. Pero pagkapanalo nila, ganoon na lang iyon. Wala na silang ibang ginagawa. Hihintayin na lang nila matapos yung reign nila. So walang social relevance,” said Catindig.
Leandra and Viel are also promoting Bocaue’s “RiverTown Wonders”, as they lead the town’s newly-launched tourism ad campaign. The “RiverTown Wonders”’ ad campaign showcased – among others – the Krus ng Wawa Festival and various Bocaue products such as kadeneta, a type of hand embroidery done only in Barangay Taal.
The tourism campaign was one of the highlights of Mayor Joni Villanueva’s State of the Municipality Address (SOMA) last November 24. Mayor Joni emphasized that the “RiverTown Wonders” aims to boost Bocaue’s economy and job-creation programs.
Catindig said it was good to know that the provincial and local government’s plans were jiving together. He said the move for pageant winners to be tourism spokespersons is good, because it shows more than just the physical beauty of the lads and lasses.
“Maganda kasi hindi lang siya sash and crown then after a year, ipapasa nila,” he added.
The powerhouse behind the powerhouse
If there’s a phrase Catindig could use to describe Bocaue in relation to pageants, it would be “super pageant-crazy.
“[A]side from gaining several titles, we also have the record of having the most cheerful crowd -- the craziest supporters during the coronation,” he said.
Behind every candidate is a supportive family, and for Bocaue, family means the whole town. While there is only a 50-seat allotment per municipality and city during Hari and Reyna ng Bulacan and Singkaban, Bocaueño audiences are usually twice the size of that. They literally bring the whole barrio to the show. Usually, Catindig said, the other half has to stand up during the pageant.
The pomp does not stop there because Bocaue began the practice of bringing gimmick to coronation nights, starting with being the first town to bring drums in aid of cheers. But the most elaborate one was done in 2005, when former municipal councilor Josey Ofracio competed in the Lakan ng Bulacan pageant.
Coming from a family that had a fireworks and firecracker distributing business, his family and friends brought handheld firecrackers that they used to support Ofracio during the night that turned out to be his crowning moment. He won the title.
Bocaue is a happy and festive audience, that other towns usually anticipate during beauty pageants according to Catindig.
“Quoting some candidates before, as relayed by our Bocaue representatives, sinasabi ng candidates ng ibang towns na ang sarap daw maging candidate ng Bocaue kasi yung sigawan pa lang and cheer from the Bocaue crowd, iba ang naibibgay sa kanila kapag nasa stage na during the pageant,” he said. “Ganon kahalaga yung Bocaue crowd.”
Graduation
Viel and Josey are a couple of Bocaue’s hopefuls that have successfully won the crown for the town.
It was also quite a feat that they joined, because it is usually hard to convince men to compete, said Catindig.
“Not many men would consider joining a pageant kasi diyahe. In fact, dito sa Bocaue, sobrang daming potential na mga lalaki na sumali sa pageant kaya lang hindi sila pumapayag kasi either wala silang interest or nahihiya sila sa girlfriend or nahihiya sila sa barkada kasi kinakantiyawan kasi yung portion ng swimsuit,” he said.
For Viel, who prefers to maintain a low profile and rarely posts anything on social media, he said it was his mother who ultimately convinced him to join Hari ng Singkaban, four years after he won the Hari ng Bocaue crown in 2013.
“Pagpatuloy na daw,” he said. “Sayang daw opportunity, sayang daw irepresent Bocaue.”
This year’s Hari at Reyna ng Singkaban was a wonderful opportunity indeed for the two Marcelos not just for their pageant careers but also for their bond as brother and sister.
Rather than feeling awkward about being onstage together, Viel and Leandra said they had more fun because they were with each other.
“Ang sarap sa feeling na same kami ng goal. Same kami na gusto manalo, sabay kami magwork out. Nakakapagbond kami together. Every activity namin, parang kami agad yung magkasama,” said Leandra.
This carries on to their plans after their Singkaban and Turismo reigns, where both plan to take a break from joining pageants. Both on their senior year of college, fashion design and merchandising major Leandra plans to follow in the footsteps of her icon Liz Uy and become a personal stylist. Viel, on the other hand, will fly out to Italy in 2018 for a culinary arts internship.
Bocaue will be lucky to have these two newly minted royals become the face of their town because they certainly are not just beauty, but also brains and heart.