LED by the Filipino-Australian Community Association in Eastern Sydney with The Philippine Community Council of NSW, Inc. hundreds of Filipino-Australians gather on this highly anticipated coronation night where dazzling candidates present their very best and vie for the title Ms. Sydney and Mrs. Sydney, Charity Queens.
As part of an annual event that seeks to deepen understanding and cooperation among the Filipino-Australian community in Sydney, the organization has launched a pageant for a cause, with the event now in its fifth year.
Proceeds for the event will be donated to various charities such as the House of Refuge Foundation in Quezon City, Holy Rosary Foundation school in Caloocan, and Sydney Breast Cancer in Australia.
Remedios Masian, Treasurer of FACAES, shared the main purpose of the event and the most important criteria they were looking for from candidates.
“We do this event every year because this is a charity. Part of the proceeds goes to the House of Refuge Foundation in the Philippines.…and Sydney Breast Cancer Society.”
“The best criteria is willingness to help. Charity in the heart. Helping other people less unfortunate than us,” according to Remedios Masian, Treasury of FACAES.
“A lot of the candidates that win this (pageant), they use it as a…basically multicultural activity,” Roderick Aguilar, Acting VP, FACAES stated.
“Because this one will really be a part of the community. This will be a big help to the community because they can lend a hand, especially to the less fortunate, and also to be a part of the community like that is very…something you will be proud of,” Joyce Caballero, Mrs. Glamour Look Australia Elegance Queen 2019 said.
For the Ms. Sydney category, interested candidates must be 16 to 21 years old, while those interested in joining the Mrs. Sydney pageant must be at least 21 years old and above.
The organization came into being after a group of former Overseas Filipino Workers who worked as registered nurses, together with their families and friends who had also worked in the Middle East, Europe, and Sydney formed the Volunteer Community Association in 2007.
This group later became known as the Filipino-Australian Community Association, Eastern Sydney (FACAES) whose primary goal is to help and assist new Filipino migrant nurses, skilled workers, and professionals who continue to arrive in Sydney to work and settle permanently.
“Thank you so much SMNI News for your continuous support in our association. I hope you will have plenty of time to help other associations like us,” according to Precy Santos, FACAES President.
“Good evening, Philippines. Good evening Pastor Quiboloy and the other staff of SMNI. I know your TV network is very popular. My husband keeps on watching you. Yeah, but you now, I seldom watch TV, but you have a very good mission to people around the world,” Caballero added.
The pageant was a continuation of the yearly Grand Philippine Sydney Fiesta Kultura, the largest Filipino Community gathering in the Southern Hemisphere.
This coronation is a testament to how barriers of ethnicities, language, and culture are overcome in the face of everyone’s support of this pageant, and even though only selected candidates were given awards and titles, there is no doubt each contestant has proven their worth in commitment, intelligence, beauty and passion.
