Bea Rose Santiago of Philippines crowned Miss International 2013

Bea Rose Santiago, a Beauty Queen hailing from Philippines has been crowned as Miss International 2013 at a function held at Tokyo, Japan yesterday. Nathalie den Dekker from Netherland was the first runner up, while Casey Radley from New Zealand was the Second Runner up. Miss India  Gurleen Grewal failed to bag any of the awards, not even in Top 15.

Bea Rose Santiago in Swimsuit

Bea Rose Santiago in Swimsuit

“This is my dream. Thank you Japan for giving it to me,” an ecstatic Bea Rose Santiago said at the event, held late Tuesday in Tokyo.

“I’m going to use my crown and my title to help the victims” of Super Typhoon Haiyan, which raked the Philippines last month, leaving nearly 8,000 people dead or missing.

“So this is actually for my province, and this is for the Philippines.”

Unlike other year’s pageant, she was crowned by Miss International 2008  Alejandra Andreu of Spain. Miss International 2012 Ikumi Yoshimatsu of Japan,  stayed away from the pageant due to a Controversy which erupted between her and few organizers of the pageant.

Prior to his, she had won the Titles of Mutya ng Pilipinas 2011 Overseas Communities and Binibining Pilipinas-International 2013. She was also among the top 10 Contestants of Miss Tourism Queen of the Year International 2012.

She is the fifth Filipina Beauty to win the crown after Gemma Cruz-Araneta in 1964, Aurora Pijuan in 1970, Melanie Marquez in 1979 and Precious Lara Quigaman in 2005.

She is 22 years old and 5 ft 9 inches in height.