June's Featrured Pageant

Contestants

Argentina - Solange Magnano

Aruba - Alexandra Ochoa Hincapie

Australia - Michelle Van Eimeren

Bahamas - Meka Knowles

Belgium - Christelle Roelandts

Bolivia - Cecilia O'Connor-d'Arlach

Brazil - Valeria Melo Peris

British Virgin Islands - Delia Jon Baptiste

Bulgaria - Nevena Marinova

Canada - Susanne Rothfos

Cayman Islands - Audrey Elizabeth Ebanks

Chile - Constanza Barbieri Sanz

Colombia - Carolina Gomez Correa

Cook Islands - Leilani Brown

Costa Rica - Yasmin Morales Camacho

Curaçao - Jasmin Clifton

Cyprus - Maria Vasiliou

Denmark - Gitte Andersen

Dominican Republic - Vielka Valenzuela Lama

Ecuador - Mafalda Arboleda Arditto

Egypt - Ghada El-Salem

El Salvador - Claudia Mendez Cuellar

Estonia - Eva-Maria Laan

Finland - Henna Merilainen

France - Valerie Claisse

Germany - Tanja Wild

Great Britain - Michaela Pyke

Greece - Rea Toutounzi

Guam - Christina Perez

Guatemala - Katya Schoenstedt

Honduras - Jem Haylock

Hong Kong - Mok Hoi-Yan

Hungary - Szilvia Forian

Iceland - Svala Bjork Arnardottir

India - Sushmita Sen

Ireland - Pamela Flood

Israel - Ravit Yarkoni

Italy - Arianna David

Jamaica - Angelie Martin

Japan - Chiaki Kawahito

Korea - Sun-young Goong

Luxembourg - Sandy Wagne

Malaysia - Liza Koh

Malta - Paola Camilleri

Mauritius - Viveka Babajee

Mexico - Fabiola Perez Rovirosa

Namibia - Barbara Kahatjipara

Netherlands - Irene van der Laar

New Zealand - Nicola Johanne Brighty

Nigeria - Suzan Hart

Northern Marianas - Elizabeth Tomokane

Norway - Caroline Saetre

Panama - Maria Sofia Velasquez

Paraguay - Liliana Gonzalez

Peru - Karina Calmet

Philippines - Charlene Bonnin Gonzales

Poland - Joanna Brykczinska

Portugal - Monica Pereira

Puerto Rico - Brenda Robles

Romania - Mihaela Ciolacu

Russia - Inna Zobova

Singapore - Paulyn Sun

Slovak Republic - Silvia Lakatosova

Spain - Raquel Rodriguez

Sri Lanka - Nushara Pramali

Swaziland - Nicola Smith

Sweden - Dominique Forsberg

Switzerland - Patricia Fassler

Taiwan (R.O.C.) - Joanne Wu Chung-Chun

Thailand - Areeya Chumsai

Trinidad and Tobago - Lorca Chelsea Gatcliffe

Turkey - Banu Usluer

Turks and Caicos Islands - Eulease Walkin

Uruguay - Leonora Dibueno

USA - Lu Parker

Venezuela - Minorka Mercado

Zimbabwe - Yvette D'Almeida-Chakras

Theme Song

MABUHAY!

Here in The Philippines they have a word,

A great way to start of each day

When you want to say "Welcome", "We wish you the best"

Just smile up a smile as you say, oh, oh, Mabuhay!

"You're smilin" Mabuhay "You're stylin"

It's a great salutation Mabuhay!

Mabuhay! "Persuasion", Hello, "You are delicious"

It's a one word flirtation, Mabuhay!

Won't you join us and try out this Philippine way,

To say "Welcome, we're glad that you came"

It's a neat little greeting to start off each day,

Just smile up a smile and exclaim, oh, oh,

Mabuhay!, Hello there, come join us, let's go there, Mabuhay!

God bless you Mabuhay!

Mabuhay, you're singin'

Mabuhay, we're swingin'

May you have a wonderful day

There's one thing about it you can't live with out!

Don't doubt it, just shout it, Mabuhay!

Click on video to watch and sing along

Tidbits about the pageant

Miss Romania, Mihaela Ciolacu and Miss Russia, Inna Zobova almost didn't make it to the pageant. They both had layovers in Bangkok, Thailand where they were detained by airport police for lack of documents in order to enter that country. After hours of intense scrunity, the police let them go. Since Miss Romania was stripped of her sash in Thailand, the welcoming committee had a hard time finding her at the airport when she finally arrived in Manila.

Miss Australia, Michelle Van Eimeren ended up marrying a Filipino singer named Ogie Alcasid.

Miss Mauritius, Viveca Babajee ended up staying in the Philippines and became an actress. She was involved in a controversy during an acting award ceremony where she announced a different winner than what the official card said. Incidentally, when the Miss Universe Pageant was held in Manila for the first time in 1974, Miss Aruba, Maureen Ava Viera also prolonged her stay in the Philippines. She also acted and ended up making several movies.

The Filipino crowd favorite during the entire pre-pageant activities was Miss Belgium, Christelle Roelandts. Unfortunately, the prelimenary judges had a different opinion. She did not make the semi finals and ended up in 22nd place over all.

If there had been 15 semi finalists during that year like they have today, the other five delegates would have been Miss Australia, Michelle Van Eimeren; Miss Russia, Inna Zobova; Miss Thailand, Areeya Chumsai; Miss Peru, Karina Calmet and Miss Denmark, Gitte Andersen.

Miss USA, Lu Parker was the first delegate to arrive in Manila while 3 delegates from Africa, Misses Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Nigeria were the last ones to arrive.

The shortest contestant was Miss Northern Marianas, who stands at 5'4", while the tallest was Miss Venezuela, who stand 6'2".

The contestant that endured the longest flight to Manila that year was Miss Puerto Rico, who endured an agonizing 31 hours of flying time.

70% of the contestants that year were still in school and over 40% work as models in their own countries.

They actually awarded second and third place winners for the national costume competition, which were won by Miss Mexico and Miss Russia respectively.

There were supposed to be 78 contestants that year but the first candidate ever from the country of Lithuania did not make it to Manila.