Stella Marquez de Araneta – a stranger in a strange nation

Nothing could possibly be more dangerous being a Colombian living in the Philippines. At least, since 2015. Stella Marquez de Araneta is doing just like that and she’s doing fine. The animosity between Colombia and the Philippines – not diplomatically and neither economically nor strategically but rather in pageantry – did put a lot of strain in what was then a perfect relationship. No need to delve further into this issue as perhaps every beauty pageant fan knew exactly what happened.

But for Stella Marquez de Araneta, the undisputed doyenne of local pageantry, being a Colombian in the Philippines is strange but not totally that strange. She has been at the receiving end of a gamut of invectives and she listened and she managed to nit-pick on what can help her and her dreams. She may be a Colombian but her devotion is for the Philippines and unfortunately she was largely misunderstood.

If anyone questions the loyalty of Stella towards the Philippines, it is worth mentioning that she is responsible for bringing three Miss Universe crowns, four Miss International titles and a Miss Supranational victory to the country. She may not be perfect and may had committed a lot of missteps but her unwavering clear-cut goal to bring as many beauty pageant crowns as possible to her adopted country allowed her to survive even to the strangest and toughest of circumstances.

Stella Marquez de Araneta despite being married to a Filipino who belongs to the high-society, never gave up her Colombian identity. She never claimed to be a Filipina but her passion and energy are all channeled towards a Miss Philippines. She may be happy to see a Colombian winning but she saw it as her sacred duty to see a Filipina emerging victorious at Miss Universe, Miss International or Miss Supranational.

If anything, Stella is a stranger in a strange land but she never felt she never belongs to her second home. Perhaps being a half-Polish Colombian who is married to a Filipino, Stella is never meant to belong to a single nation. There is always a bit of this and a bit of that in her veins. By the end of the day, she is the undisputed matriarch of the Philippine pageantry and while she was terribly unappreciated, her loyalty to the Philippines had been unwavering. Philippines owes a lot of Stella and it is only right for the Filipinos to thank a stranger in their midst who never felt like a stranger in the first place.

This article is part of series giving tribute to several personalities with very valuable contribution to the Philippine pageantry scene.

ALSO READ Cory Quirino’s policy of Filipino First