Iloilo’s Aliwan queen touts nation-building in title bid

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

For Coleen Beatrix Alcarde, winning the title of Aliwan Fiesta Digital Queen in October 2021 bodes well for her long-time advocacy of nation-building over all the glitz and the glamour that comes with beauty pageant titles.

A native of Leganes, Iloilo, Alcarde had been joining pageants since she was 6 years old, which helped her overcome her shyness.

She had a large age gap with her older brother, which made it difficult for her to interact with older children and even those of her age. But pageants helped her get through that situation.

From then on, she treated pageants as a way to discover herself more.

Her most recent victory was winning Miss University of San Agustin 2018 while she was still in college.

“I was closeted at home and had a little insecurity of facing people. When I joined that pageant at 6 years old and I won Miss Congeniality, I thought, ‘Oh! People see potential in me. People see that I’m actually friendly.’ From that day on, I really followed the journey in discovering myself through pageants,” Alcarde said.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic affected what would have been her most recent pageant stint, the Binibining Pintados de Pasi 2020.

Thinking that the pandemic would upend the norm, she was already prepared to quit the pageant scene, until Love Radio, one of the pageant’s organizers, offered her the chance to represent Iloilo City in Aliwan.

The thought of supporting advocacy organizations pushed her to accept the offer.

Alcarde is a member of Iloilo-based advocacy organization iLead Trainings since 2016, regularly providing leadership trainings, advocacy engagements, and team-building activities to students and young professionals alike.

Daily Guardian is one of iLead Trainings’ partners in its ongoing iVote voter’s education drive for the 2022 national and local elections.

“Understanding the platform, Aliwan Digital Fiesta is supporting charities and organizations also, not just the queen. Whatever you’re winning, the organization that you’re supporting is also going to win the same amount, and I thought that it would be great for iLead, that we could use for our advocacy projects,” Alcarde said.

Having competed in pageants since she was a child, she said the essence of pageants had become more important to her than the perks that come along with winning the titles.

“Honestly, at this point in my life, I don’t want to contain myself with all the vanity and the credit. I want to give back as much as I can especially considering the challenges we have had this pandemic,” she shared.

She even touts her membership in the organization as well as her participation and commitment to nation-building, as her advantage in the competition.

“The pandemic has brought about numerous fears and anxieties. Witnessing people lose jobs and loved ones took a toll in my heart. When this opportunity came about, I instantly took it in hopes of widening the scope of the people we have been touching lives for the past 12 years in iLead Trainings. There’s nothing more rewarding than doing the things you love right?” she said excitedly.

When asked more about her advocacy, Alcarde “naturally” turned to nation-building saying it was more than just the usual “molding of people to become leaders” trope.

Citing her experience, she said that nation-building was about “encouraging others in the surge of social media and internet use”.

“Why would look somewhere else if I already have been doing this all my pre-teen and adult life? I want to share it with everybody. I want to see what they believe in, and I want to encourage people that nation-building is really essential in our society nowadays. It’s not just favoring onto something but it’s also building up people to participate in things that really matter in society right now. That’s what we’re lacking,” she said.

Alcarde asserted that her advocacy will shine through when she wins the title, seeking to act as “mediator” between the pageant organizers and her organization.

“It’s not me anymore. Of course, I would like to cooperate with the organization’s vision, Aliwan Fiesta Digital Queen’s vision, and incorporate also iLead’s mission in that vision on top of theirs. We have been doing our thing here in Iloilo for the longest time now, and maybe they need a breath of fresh air, that the ideas coming from our team would be able to help them to reach their goals in the organization to whatever they’re looking forward to,” she said.

But she also described that preparing for a national-level pageant like this, especially with the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic, gave her a newer challenge.

She had to juggle her full-time day job with the demands needed to win the pageant, saying that “24 hours were sometimes not enough”.

Tapping people for the virtual activities in relation to the pageant also posed a challenge to her and her team.

“The materials we need to shoot, we need to follow certain health protocols, not just from the organization, but also for our city. There are limitations for the places where we shoot, the permits we have to process, for the time we can shoot, because of the curfew. When you’re preparing for a pageant, it’s not just one person, the candidate who’s preparing. There’s like a village behind her, who’s working to make sure that I present myself at my best,” she said.

Nevertheless, Alcarde considers the pageant as her “rest from work.”

She added that her strong push for her nation-building advocacy as well as the support from her family, friends, acquaintances, and the Ilonggos are what empowered her to kepp going.

“When I thought I was retiring, and everyone was showing their love and support, it really made me think that if I can do it, then let’s just give our all to it. They can see the potential in me, why won’t I give back to them? Why won’t I be able to perform if I have these people behind me? What also motivates me is our chance in iLead to bring out a bigger sphere of influence, to create an impact, not only here in Iloilo, but of course, this time nationwide,” she expressed.

The coronation night for the Aliwan Fiesta Digital Queen will be held virtually on October 9, 2021.