Philippine agency offers free English lessons for beauty pageants

Mar 14, 2008, 5:36 GMT

Manila - A Philippine government training agency on Friday offered free English proficiency lessons to the country's contestants to international beauty pageants following the poor showing of some candidates in a local competition.

Augusto Syjuco, chief of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, lamented that English proficiency was declining among Filipinos and many students were neglecting the subject despite its importance.

He said beauty pageant contestants can avail of a 120-hour crash course on English to help them prepare before they represent the Philippines in international pageants.

'At the same time, we can also train them to answer the usual questions that are asked in pageants,' he said. 'They will be prepared not only on what to answer but also on what questions can be given to them.'

Syjuco made the offer after the controversial win of a 17-year-old contestant in the Philippines' top beauty pageant, despite struggling during the question-and-answer portion in the final round of the competition.

Janina San Miguel, who will represent the Philippines in the Miss World competition, fumbled when asked what role her family played in her bid to be a beauty queen.

She started to reply, saying, 'My family's role for me is so important because they was the, they're, they was the one whose very.' But she failed to finish and laughed it off.

She apologized, saying she never expected to make it to the 'tough 10,' and continued to reply, 'My family was the most important persons in my life.'

Despite her bumbling performance, San Miguel won one of the titles. She, however, has become the butt of jokes in the Philippines and outside the country after footage of the competition made it to the popular video sharing site YouTube.