Jonas Gaffud is a name everyone knows about in the Philippines.  He is the man behind the enormous success of many Filipina beauty queens in international pageants in the recent years.  Janine Tugonon, Shamcey Supsup, Venus Raj, Ara Arida, Pia Wurtzbach, Catriona Gray, Megan Young, Kylie Verzosa, Maxine Medina – all these pageant stars of recent years have been trained by him.

This year, along with Miss Universe Philippines, he is also training Miss Universe Indonesia Kezia Warouw. This news has brought some mixed reactions from pageant fans of the Philippines.  One reason of this can be the recent Miss World 2016 pageant where Miss Indonesia, suspiciously in opinions of many, made it to the Top 3 while the front-runner Catriona Gray of the Philippines had to suffice with 4th position.  Jonas Gaffud recently explained why he is training Kezia.  Just to note, the Filipina beauty queens are trained by him for free, while Kezia will be trained for a fee.

In an interview with ABS-CBN, Jonas Gaffud states that Filipino beauties like Miriam Quiambao have been trained in foreign countries in past.  This is true; until few years ago, Colombia was the training destination for Filipina contestants.  He says we have to open our country for our talents and be selfless, especially for Asians.  He expressed his desire of seeing the world appreciating the Asian beauties and thereby promote the Asian race.  He opines that at the end, everything is connected to everything and we are neighbours.  He appealed to the fans to not bash, because he wants to share his knowledge with young women with dreams.

We feel training foreign contestants is a noble act by Jonas.  After all, it will not diminish the chances of Maxine Medina if she is really deserving.

Credits: ABS-CBN