Former Miss Universe Catriona Gray went viral on social media after she called Miss Venezuela instead of Miss Valenzuela during the Binibining Pilipinas pageant Sunday night. She meant the representative from Metro Manila's northern gateway, not the South American beauty powerhouse.
"Venezuela" and "Catriona" topped Philippine Twitter trends even before the pageant concluded past midnight. Miss Valenzuela, fan favorite Meiji Cruz, made it as far as the Top 12. During Gray's Miss Universe win in 2018, Venezuela's Sthefany Gutierrez was second runner-up.
Blunder aside, pageant-crazy Filipinos are not new to confusing Valenzuela, that first Metro Manila city after Bulacan, with Venezuela, that country with the most Miss Universe crowns.
In April 2020, when the National Capital Region was fresh into COVID quarantines, ABS-CBN News shared photos of a Nazarene procession in Venezuela. It was usual practice for the news account to share international news with Tagalog caption.
The earlier version of the caption reads "Sa Venezuela, tuloy ang prusisyon ng Nazarene of St. Paul kahit may nationwide quarantine na ipinatutupad doon dahil sa #COVID19 pandemic." It later specified that it was referring to the South American country, some 17,600 kilometers away from the Philippines.
The post garnered more than 53,000 shares: Netizens thought that the religious activity was happening in Metro Manila. Some even chastised Mayor Rex Gatchalian, who gently clarified the geographical scope of his leadership.
"So ang daming nagagalit sa akin dahil dito. Hindi ko alam na ako na din pala ang pinuno ng bansa na Venezuela," he said on a now-viral Twitter post.
"Mga sirs and ma'ams, Mayor po ako ng dakilang lungsod ng Valenzuela. Hindi po ng bansa na Venezuela..."
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