EXCLUSIVE from Filipino Celebrity Headlines Examiner, LAS VEGAS, Nevada – Venus Raj of the Philippines remains the top choice of this year’s Miss Universe pageant with a rating of 3.58. She is followed by Miss Bolivia Claudia Arce Lemaitre with 3.00 and Miss Venezuela Marelisa Gibson with 2.93.
Venus Raj stirred the country and the pageant community when she was dethroned as Binibining Pilipinas Universe by the Binibining Pilipinas Charities, Inc. on March 29, 2010, barely three weeks after she won the crown, due to “inconsistencies” between her birth certificate and the personal account of her birth. In an interview with TV host Boy Abunda on the Bottomline, Venus Raj said she was upset because from Day 1 she had never hidden the facts of her birth from the pageant organizers and that if they had objections to her birth history they should not have allowed her to compete in the first place. She added that one interviewer even asked her how it feels to be born abroad.
Maria Venus Bayonita Raj was born out of wedlock born on July 7, 1988 in Doha, Qatar to a Filipino mother and an Indian father. When her parents separated, she was taken to Bato, Camarines Sur in Bicol, Philippines and was registered by an aunt as Philippine-born. She was raised solely by her tenant farmer and dressmaker mother in a nipa hut with no electricity in the middle of a rice field. According to Venus, she got her early catwalk training from the rice paddy dikes she walked on for 20 years.
Venus Raj started joining beauty contests when she reached 17 years old. At the same time, she was also joining oratorical contests. With her major victories, she was able to buy land on installment basis for her mother. As further proof that there is much more about her, Venus Raj graduated cum laude from the Bicol University in Albay with a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications Arts, major in Journalism. She later joined the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Region V while working as a part-time fashion model.
The story of her birth and her life touched the hearts of many Filipinos and pageant fans. The support for Venus Raj became so huge and loud that in an unprecedented move, the Binibining Pilipinas Charities, Inc reversed their decision. On April 10, 2010, BPCI announced that they will allow the reinstatement of dethroned Binibining Pilipinas – Universe Maria Venus Raj if she secured a valid Philippine Passport, making Venus Raj the first-ever dethroned Binibining Pilipinas to have successfully staged an attempt for a reinstatement of the Binibining Pilipinas Crown.
On May 19, 2010, the Department of Foreign Affairs issued Maria Venus Raj a Philippine passport thereby attesting to her Filipino citizenship. According to the DFA, Miss Raj is a Filipino by virtue of the jus sanguinis principle (right of blood), a basic right provided by the Philippine Constitution which bestows upon a person the citizenship of his father or mother regardless of where the person was born.
In a recent interview with a local tv station, Venus Raj took all of these events in a positive note. She said that if these had not happened, she would have been just an ordinary candidate of this year’s Miss Universe pageant.
Venus really is no ordinary contender. She took with her a pair of boxing gloves signed by no less than the seven-division world champion Congressman Manny Pacquiao as the country’s gift to the Miss Universe charity auction. She won the Chicken Wing Eating Contest held at Diablos Cantina at Monte Carlo Resort and Casino, one of the fun games of the 2010 Miss Universe pageant.
This year’s Miss Universe Pageant shall be hosted by multi-platinum superstar Bret Michaels and Today show national correspondent Natalie Morales. Miss Universe Stefania Fernandez will pass on the crown on August 23, 2010 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Nevada, Las Vegas. Will Venus Raj be it?
