Meet the Pinoy in charge of the Miss Universe Cambodia 2021 franchise

 

Romyr Libo-on, A Pinoy expat in Cambodia, is a big fan of beauty pageantry, and actually holds the franchise for Miss Cambodia Universe. In the following interview, he shares the story of how he bagged the franchise and earned himself a ringside seat to the most prestigious pageant of them all.

 

When I first arrived in Phnom Penh in 2006,  it was very laid back and quiet; on TV there were a few competitions, such as Star Search and the Freshie boys and girls contests, and these gradually gained in popularity.  [But] there were none of the beauty contests that other countries like the Philippines and Thailand were crazy about.

 

Around seven years later, there were many developments in the country; it was changing quickly. The resort and casino company I worked for as an events manager held many more events to involve the public – bike festivals, the first-ever New Year countdown, big events organized around the Water Festival, etc. 

 

 

There were a few places with drag shows in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, and we featured a few of them in the events I helped organize. LGBTQ+ pride events were starting to become really popular in the city, and they reminded me of several contests I actually joined in back in my college days in Iligan City. 

 

When I became the managing director of Arise Agency,  a talent management company incorporated in 2015,  I did my best to bring talents together – the youth, designers, etc. 

 

Why organize a pageant like Miss Cambodia? 

One goal was to have Cambodian participation in national and international pageants for more exposure and recognition of the country’s other features. However there were many officials who felt that such participation was not appropriate for the country, because it was a “conservative” country.  The agency needed government permission to hold such a talent search. Here, you can’t just go and organize an event of national scale, carrying the country’s name without government approval and collaboration with the relevant ministry.

 

We already had experienced good relations with the Ministry Of Tourism and the Ministry Of Culture, so we put the focus on being not just a “beauty pageant,” but also a promotion of ecotourism and cultural heritage – cuisine, clothes, culture.

 

It wasn’t easy; we had to revise the proposal several times with the government bureaucracy. We approached a major broadcaster  to collaborate. Weeks to months passed without a response. As my birthday approached, I decided to visit Myanmar to rewind, and at the temples there I prayed a lot for a positive response. I was so thrilled that on my birthday, I received a call saying the proposals had been approved!

 

So, we were able to hold the first “Miss Cambodia” contest in 2016. 

 

Our agency wrote to the Miss U organizers, to their global franchises division, and asked about the requirements for sending an official delegate from Cambodia to the pageant, since Cambodia had never joined in the past.

 

The first requirement was to organize a national pageant to choose the representative to Miss U, and that the applicant country organizer (or holder of the franchise) must be a legitimate, registered entity with the capability to organize a national pageant. I then prepared a business proposal for the Miss U organizers. 

 

I did not know it at that time, but Laos and Nepal had also put in proposals to send delegates to the contest. Then, in 2017, Cambodia participated in the Miss Universe contest for the first time.

 

Upon the Miss U franchise approval, our next challenge was to introduce the idea of the global pageant to potential candidates from all over the country – and it was not easy because there was little awareness and interest at that time. 

 

To select potential candidates, we decided to hold caravans and outreach events in several key towns and provinces, and also partnered with the TV company to hold a “university tour” to raise awareness of the pageant. In many provinces, the initial efforts were unsuccessful; the parents were reluctant to send their daughters to Phnom Penh, and several backed out.   We then decided to do a tie-up with several known talent and model agencies to conduct official screening activities, introduce them to the media, and organize other pageant-related activities such as tours of tourist spots and charity events. 

 

We provided everything for the selected candidates – hair stylists, makeup, attire, shoes, personality development, exposure to the media, and catwalk training. Many of the candidates were not used to wearing high heels. We also tried to look for event co-sponsors.

 

And here’s where Filipino networks got involved – Pinoys are really key to organizing beauty pageants! The head of Unilever Indochina was a Filipino I had never met, but he was nonetheless enthusiastic to be a sponsor. We also worked with fashion designers from Cebu to lend us gowns that were more appropriate for a pageant, and a Filipino TV director, Monty Parungao, was hired to be the TV director for the first two years of the pagean.

 

Local TV networks and production people gradually took on larger roles in the broadcasts; they were more used to live events and concerts, but shooting for a beauty pageant was different, with the variety of camera shots and angles needed. And the networks here did event coverage live and it was simultaneous; there was virtually no room to edit and pan out, so all wrinkles and boo-boos were obvious. 

 

The beauty products industry in every country is intimately connected with these pageants – skin cream, lotions, hair products, makeup artists, photographers, designers all join in, and this happened in Cambodia as well. This of course helped create jobs for people. 

 

One advantage for Cambodia is the glitzy traditions in their weddings: there can be several days of elaborate rituals, dressing up, and posing – including seven costume changes – for a typical Khmer wedding.