How did Cebu's bets do at the MUP 2025 Preliminaries?

After their performances at Monday's Miss Universe Philippines (MUP) 2025 preliminaries, will Cebu City's Gabriella Carballo, Lapu-Lapu City's Natasha Testa, or San Fernando's Thelma Suzanne Dayao become possibly the next Cebuana to compete at the Miss Universe pageant?

- By JANUAR JUNIOR AGUJA

The last time a Cebuana represented the Philippines in Miss Universe was in 2021 with Beatrice Gomez, after Gazini Ganados in 2019, and actress Pilar Pilapil in 1967. Last year, Cebu City's Kris Tiffany Janson finished as a top 10 finalist at MUP.

Gabbi: Looking at the bright side

Carballo, a 26-year-old doctor who's won the titles of Miss Mandaue and Miss Cebu, claims she has only been mad once in her life. She credits her grandfather, featured in her introduction video, as the reason for her calm and collected personality.

NGO "He's so slow to anger. I don't think in the 98 years, 26 of which I have seen myself, I don't think I have seen him angry. And I think that's why he reached that age," she said during the preliminary interview.

This mindset is why Carballo chooses to look at life with a more positive outlook.

"If we choose to accept people from where they are in their life, and reach out to others out of pure love, shun the anger we might feel in our hearts, I think there is a lot more we can do in this world and a lot of love to spread so we can place love above all," she added.

At 14, she was hospitalized for severe pneumonia, an ordeal she only realized was serious a few years later.