2012 was a good year for this beauty pageant-crazy country.
With 10 international glories achieved by Filipino representatives, the Philippines was declared “Country of the Year” in pageant sites from all over the world. Four major titles and six placements were won in 2012 by our goodlooking men and women: Miss Supranational Philippines 2012 Elaine Kay Moll with her consistent winning presence being the tallest contestant with an engaging aura captured a 3rd Runner placement on Sept. 14 in Poland; the gender-free world beauty of the Philippines Kevin Balot was crowned winner at the Miss International Queen transgender/transsexual beauty pageant on Nov. 12 in Pattaya; the leading male pageant of the world Manhunt International that took place on Nov. 9 in Bangkok where Mr. Philippines June Macasaet was declared over-all winner; Luzviminda McClinton, the first Filipina to win the Pro-Fame Figure World Championship in 2010 in the United States, gave the country another trophy as she was declared the world’s best at the World BodyBuilding & Fitness Federation Southwest US Championship in November in Oklahoma; Mr. Philippines Andrew James Peñaflorida Wolff was 1st runner-up in the Mister World pageant Nov. 24 in London; Miss Philippines Stephany Stefanowitz was Miss Earth Air in Miss Earth; and the beauty year was capped by Cebu’s Rizzini Alexis Gomez who was crowned Miss Tourism International on Dec. 31 in Kuala Lumpur. One glory overshadowed all of these as it came from the Filipinos’ well-loved pageant, the 1st runner-up honor of Janine Mari Raymundo Tugonon in the Miss Universe pageant held Dec. 20.
With a year of great achievement in pageant world, it’s time to recognize the hero behind Janine’s glory: Janine Tugonon is under the management of Mercator’s Jonas Gaffud.
The name of Jonas’ model management agency came from a word he had seen from an old map while taking up Geography at UP Diliman. Mercator is the word for merchant, he explained. He said it’s the perfect name for his agency since selling an image today requires consideration of the global projections.
What’s a social scientist doing in the world of model management? Jonas sensed his eye for discovering beauty during his college days.
At UP, he met this campus beauty named Zorayda Andam. He told her she was beautiful, and simply encouraged her to join the Bb. Pilipinas beauty pageant. He successfully convinced the brilliant Business Economics student to be in the pageant. Jonas gathered all the resources to help his bet win, and this included meetings with the UP circle of Binibining Pilipinas beauty scouts led by the country’s walking beauty pageant almanac Wendell Capili and film director Jeffrey Jeturian.
Zorayda was crowned Bb. Pilipinas — Universe in 2001, and became Miss Tourism Asia. Jonas got so inspired by the thrill of discovering his first beauty queen.
He has since been unstoppable, giving the Philippines our bets to the Miss Universe pageant from 2005 to 2012.
Jonas was also the one who taught Shamcey Supsup in Miss Universe 2011 the walk now known as the “tsunami” and gave Janine “the cobra walk” to define a regal presence in the Las Vegas pageant.
Jonas’ new found love meant “goodbye” to geography which had courses like anthropology, volcanology, and other studies covering the contours and features of the earth. Now, Jonas continues to look at contours and features…of women — which spell the possibilities for the physical make-up of a would-be talent.
Mercator is the agency behind today’s top male models like Rocky Salumbides, Victor Basa, Bruce Quebral, and Akihiro Sato, to name a few. A good number of the Binibining Pilipinas beauties are also under Jonas’ Mercator.
