Beauty with a cause

Meet the new breed of beauty queens who went on stage to make their advocacies known

August 24, 2014

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Frances Cham
Miss Chinese Cosmos Southeast Asia

WORDS OF A CHAMPION

By: Nickky Faustine P. De Guzman

Cham is four letters short of “champion,” and this lucky girl is living up to this name. Frances Elaine Cham bagged the title Miss Chinese Cosmos Southeast Asia recently held in Malaysia, besting other chinita princesses in other countries. And of course, her smile, along with her chummy personality, has snagged hearts, winning her the competition’s Miss Beautiful Smile.

“I was nursing a bad ankle during the competition,” the 26-year-old interior designer says. But like a true champion, Frances has found confidence in adversity, strutting her stuff on the runway as if everything was fine. More than her smile and statuesque built (she’s 5’8”), what’s in between her ears is her major ace. She’s got the brains.

Instead of the typical Q&A, the contestants were asked to defend a random statement from the emcees. Asked to choose between beauty and brains, Frances’ winning answer was, “Life is a continuous learning process, therefore education is life itself and very important.”

And Frances knows how to practice what she preaches. This Interior Design major from the University of Santo Tomas graduated with honors (cum laude) and secured the top 10 spot in her licensure exam (85.60 percent).

“I am just a regular person. I would like to think that I am a girl next door,” she says. “After school I’d stay with friends for a while then go home to review and study.”

Joining beauty contests was on her list, and she’s ticked it off, not once, but twice. “I’ll do interior designs for a lifetime, it’s my career path, but I consider joining pageants as a new opportunity,” she says. Her first beauty contest was not as sweet: She walked home empty handed when she joined Miss Chinatown last year. “It taught me how to be patient and to never give up. Sabi ko ‘sige, go lang.’”

Winning the tilt was validation. In September, she’ll fly to Hong Kong and China to represent Southeast Asia in the Miss Chinese Cosmos International. “I will not only represent the Philippines, which I consider my homeland, but the whole Southeast Asian region,” she says.

At first glance, many would think that Frances is Filipino-Chinese (she looks like Toni Gonzaga) but she is pure Chinese, although she’s quick to say that she has a purely Pinay heart. Born and raised in Manila, Frances considers herself Filipina. “The trait I admire in us the most is that we have that innate ability to smile,” she says, smiling. “I noticed that in Malaysia, where the Miss Chinese Cosmos was held, they were serious and hardly smiled, while we find happiness in almost anything,” she says.

While there may be a territorial dispute between the Philippines and China and incessant discrimination cases against Filipina domestic helpers, Frances says she loves the Philippines. “I think it’s not about siding, or which side I must be on,” she starts. “But since everyone will be affected, these matters must be resolved in a peaceful manner.”

Frances confesses, in hush-hush, that she’s not a fan of everything “made in China.”

“Now that I have a title, I have a voice. My duty is to compete internationally and represent my country. My personal advocacy, on the other hand, is education. Kaya kulang sa disiplina ang mga tao kasi kulang sila sa education (People lack discipline because they lack education).”