The Miss Universe pageant will finally be held in the Pearl of the Orient after two decades.
The next edition of the Miss Universe pageant will be held in the Philippines on January 30, 2017, Philippine tourism secretary Wanda Corazon Teo confirmed in a press conference in Makati City held today, July 28.
“I would like to inform everybody that the Miss Universe pageant will be on January 30, 2017 in the Philippines,” said Teo in a report by Rappler. “The government is not going to spend any single centavo. It will be the private sector who would shoulder the expenses.”
Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte earlier said that he would not spend government funds on hosting the pageant. The hosting expenses will amount to $11 million.
Manila hosted the Miss Universe for the first time in 1974, which saw Miss Universe 1973 Margarita Moran from the Philippines crown Amparo Muñoz of Spain. The pageant came back to the country in 1994 with India’s Sushmita Sen winning the title.
Reigning Miss Universe Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach has always expressed desire to crown her successor in her homeland.
