Miss Philippines-Earth 2009
Sandra Inez Seifert
But for one Visayan girl who won in one of the most prestigious pageants in the Philippines, being a beauty queen means beauty beyond skin deep. She said that you can be serious in your attempt to win, but that doesn’t mean that you have to lose yourself in the process and more importantly, you should have more on your mind than the title, the sash and the prestige that goes with it.
If these statements are an indication that there’s more to Sandra Seifert’s pretty face, then the lad by all means deserves the beauty queen title of Miss Philippines-Earth.
“A lot of people think that beauty queens are all about being pretty and winning titles—that it’s not about the substance or wit of a woman but more about her physical appearance,” Seifert relates to The Manila Times. Exuding a confident aura, the seriousness of her tone is an inkling that she was back on stage to prove something.
“In some pageants, that’s true because their intelligence evaluation is only about 10 percent of the total score,” she states, continuing, “The beautiful part is, not all pageants are like that.”
Crowned Miss Earth Philippines on May 10, 2009 at the Araneta Coliseum, Seifert bested 49 others as the country’s next environmental ambassador. Seifert succeeded 2008 grand winner, Karla Paula Henry. She will be representing the country in October for the global Miss Earth beauty contest.
Seifert had a previous failed attempt at the Binibining Pilipinas title stemming from the issue of her photo in swimsuits appearing in a men’s magazine. She narrates that all these trials sweetened more her Miss Earth victory. “When I was younger, I was fond of watching beauty pageants. I would challenge myself by trying to answer the questions the contestants would get,” she reminisces.
During the interview, Seifert was lounging comfortably in a sofa without the trappings of a beauty queen. She carries the laid-back radiance of a 25-year-old girl who was on her way to fulfilling a landmark role in her life.
Born Sandra Inez Seifert, the half-European-half-Ilonggo beauty shares that she owes her beauty to the strong German features of her father, Harald, and the tender glamour of her Filipina mother, Zenaida. She reveals that her family encountered some financial hardships in the past but quickly adds that despite the difficulty, she considered them to be very blessed.
“I had a pretty good childhood,” Seifert narrates, continuing, “I was really, really pampered. I have three brothers. They are all younger than me but they are all taller than me.”
At the age of 14, Seifert was approached by a talent scout who asked her if she wanted to be a model. Though she immediately grabbed the offer, it took her about 50 attempts before she landed on her first legitimate modeling project.
Her perseverance was paid off with a promising career. To date, she has already done several national and international commercials and fashion shows. Seifert displays a penchant of involving herself with social issues through her work and through the media. She even worked with showbiz old-timer German Moreno in his late night program Master Showman.
To beef up her portfolio, Seifert once posed in a photo shoot wearing a two-piece swimsuit in a bedroom setting. The photo, which was done in good taste, was published in the men’s magazine FHM.
Seifert recalls that at that time, she considered those photos no more than a mere attempt to showcase her range as a model, not realizing that it would make a controversial impact on her career. In those days, she is not keen on joining beauty contests even when people were goading her into it. “I wasn’t really up for it. I wanted to just continue going to school and pursue a chosen profession,” she says. Later on, the photos eventually got in the way of her dreams of winning a prestigious beauty contest.
Seifert got her degree in Nursing from the City University of New York in the United States. Before getting her license last year, she excelled as a campus leader and honor student. These accomplishments allowed her to be more confident and more knowledgeable regarding communication and advocacy.
When she came back to the Philippines, the call to join another beauty pageant again came knocking on her door. She took the plunge the second time around.
Candidate number 13
Early this year, Seifert joined the Binibining Pilipinas. “Most of the girls in that pageant were very beautiful—like professional models or beauty queens and the competition was too intense,” Seifert recalls.
Despite her popularity as a contestant, controversy hounded the half-European, half-Ilonggo beauty. Seifert was later to be coined “The candidate with the unlucky number 13,” because of her disqualification after the Binibining Pilipinas organizers discovered her past stint with FHM. She was disqualified from the competition days before the coronation night. The pageant organizers stated that the publication of her feature in such kind of magazine made her unqualified to continue competing in the contest. “Since they did it the last minute, it was really a shock for me,” Seifert laments, adding, “I pleaded through my attorneys, for the organizers to reconsider my case because it’s not like I hid it. It’s just that they never addressed it and a lot of people here knew me already so I thought they knew. I am a professional model. I didn’t want to endanger my reputation so I worked with a professional team and the real story is: we just shot for a portfolio. And since the photographer, worked with FHM a lot, they saw the photos and they wanted to release it. If it had been Preview or Mega that saw those photos first, they probably would’ve been the ones to release and I think that that wouldn’t have been used against me. I think they just used the labeling of FHM and the connotation that goes with it.”
Seifert had considered the whole affair water under the bridge and had already moved on with her life.
She’s thankful because not only that it made her a better person but through it, she learned how many people love and support her.
“I heard a lot of inspiring things during the coronation night. I was there and I received my own flowers from people who believed in me and there were some people who even cried.”
The Binibining Pilipinas’ rejection of her, opened a lot of doors. It caught the attention of another beauty contest: The Miss Philippines-Earth .
A beauty for a cause
A brainchild of Philippine-based Carousel Productions, the first Miss Earth beauty pageant was launched in 2001 with the aim of promoting the preservation of the environment. One proud distinction of the Miss Earth contest is that all its contestants are involved with environmental causes and its winners are expected to participate in international environmental projects. The latter caught Seifert’s fancy.
“Before I joined Miss Earth, I did my research just to see if I wanted to do this,” she shares, continuing, “Before, people would ask me, ‘Oh did you join Miss Earth for vindication?’ I said no because I didn’t want to waste my time and Miss Earth’s time just to get back at people. That’s childish. I want to do something and to put my time in something I believe in and that would allow me to generate more good.”
Fresh from her failed attempt at the Binibining Pilipinas title, she stressed that she was not afraid to join Miss Earth and likewise, Miss Earth was not afraid to have her. That despite her being a former “FHM girl” she could represent the country in the pageant’s campaign for 2009.
“When I came to Miss Earth, one of the judges during the screening said, ‘Before anything else, I would just like to tell you that I don’t think there’s anything wrong with what you did at FHM,” Seifert says with a proud smile. “When I joined, I made a promise to myself to do my best and to have more fun because in Binibini it was like a competition every day. You couldn’t value friendships so much because we were placed in situations where you have to be really competitive. I didn’t want to be that way anymore. Instead, I should be genuine about everything.”
Like in Binibining Pilipinas, Seifert became a crowd favorite in Miss Earth as well. She showcased her vast knowledge of environmental issues as well as the poised she earned from years of professional modeling. She points out the difference of her experiences joining the two pageants: “I looked younger compared to how I looked in Binibini because in Miss Earth we were encouraged to go for a more natural look. In Binibini, we were made up everyday. I also looked happier and not so haggard because our schedules were more spread out. We got more rest opportunities. Everything was very natural. It was also very soothing. In Miss Earth, we could sit, unwind and act natural. In Binibini, we always had to be so ‘perfect’ and poised even when there were no judges around.”
She also notes that being a Miss Earth candidate allowed her to be herself than just being “Candidate No. 13.” “But of course, the competition was just as tough,” she stresses.
Seifert stayed focus. Faced with two question-and-answer portions, she took the opportunity to share her cause with the audience and quoted Ghandi by saying “In gentle ways you can shake the Earth.”
Beyond environmentalism
After bagging the Miss Philippines-Earth title, Seifert believes that there’s still a lot to be accomplished.
“I have a lot of plans—short term and long term. I definitely want to raise more awareness in the advocacy that I started with as a candidate in the Miss Earth pageant, which is waste management. During the contest, I spoke about a Republic Act 9003. It exists but only a few local government units, at the moment, are enforcing it. We need to get more people involved. That’s one of the things I wish to achieve during my reign as Miss Earth—to increase the number of participants getting involved in addressing this issue. And since I have access to the media, I would love to start a show wherein we could help raise environmental awareness as well. That would be for my long-term goal. A short term goal perhaps would entail getting a segment in one of the current TV shows.”
Seifert also tells of plans with a global scope, “Global warming is still a big issue. I think that even though they have these protocols like the Kyoto protocol, where they try to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by five percent, we don’t really see that much of it yet. People are still burning fossil fuel. I think we need to understand that there is a need to not just focus on the immediate returns of businesses we’ll have. I agree with [President Barack] Obama. We should always encourage people to shift to renewable energy because it doesn’t just solve the environmental problem; it also solves the long-term financial problem.”
An avid traveler, she also wants to see more of the Philippines before she represents it on October. And still, she maintains that although her duties are arduous, she will not let it overwrite who she is as a person.
“It’s good to be proper, refined and womanly but women should also be like girl scouts, ready to roll their sleeves to work.” Seifert says pertaining to how she willingly went through garbage clean up in an episode of the TV show Matang Lawin.
As the reigning Miss Philippines-Earth, Seifert believes that there is indeed a lot of pressing environmental issues but as a “queen” and as a woman, she expresses on fulfilling additional missions.
“I want my fellow queens and others who are aspiring for the title to always go for what they believe in and not let anyone discourage them. I noticed that a lot of people who would join this did it just for fun. I’m not saying that’s wrong, but I think that it comes with a responsibility and it comes with an opportunity to inspire people. That’s what I want to achieve: to change the perception most people have of beauty queens.”
With that said, it is clear that Sandra Inez Seifert is not just another beauty queen with a saccharine smile.
Featured Article: Sandra Inez Seifert Miss Philippines-Earth 2009: The beauty queen as an advocate originally appeared on Manila Times on 07 Jan 2009.
