Venus (finally, finally!) starts Binibini training

A light at the end of the tunnel, at last?

Keep your fingers crossed.

After the brouhaha over her dethronement and eventual reinstatement, 2010 Bb. Pilipinas-Universe Maria Venus Raj started training yesterday preparatory to the Miss Universe pageant scheduled for August perhaps in Las Vegas (tentative venue).

Said “beauty-contest specialist” Gerry Diaz, “Venus and her supporters who genuinely have her welfare at heart should appreciate the fact that the Bb. Pilipinas Charities Inc. (BPCI) for the first time in 46 years has reconsidered a dethronement and has agreed to a reinstatement. While the BPCI may have missed a step or two in dethroning Venus, I still credit it for this move, and it should no longer matter whether this was for humanitarian reason or not. Let’s not forget as well that from the very start, BPCI has said, and I heard it on GMA News when it broke the story of Venus’ dethronement, that it wished to emphasize that Venus did not have malicious intent.” (Again, I agree.)

Gerry added (and I also agree) that first runner-up Nicolette “Nikette” Henson, tapped to replace Venus if and when Venus won’t be able to leave if she can’t get a passport, acted “queenly” through it all. Nikette visited Venus after her dethronement and assured her that whatever the outcome would be, they would remain friends.

“When Nikette visited her folks in Pampanga,” Gerry said, “they asked her why she didn’t look happy. Nikette said, ‘Why should I be happy over somebody’s misfortune?’ She accepted best wishes from her friends but she never proclaimed herself as the new Bb. Pilipinas-Universe in her Facebook account. Tahimik lang siya.”

In a brief phone chat with Funfare yesterday, BPCI head Stella Marquez-Araneta confirmed that Venus has indeed reported yesterday to start training.

“She and her court will take up crash courses at the school run by Vivienne Tan (the judge who asked Janina San Miguel the ‘controversial’ question at last year’s Binibini pageant),” said Madame Stella. “The 2009 winners (Bianca Manalo, Universe; Melody Gersbach, International; and Marie Anne Umali, World) will also help train Venus and her co-winners.”

Meanwhile, Venus should rush the application for a passport, or else...

Source: The Philippine Star