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Miss Universe Philippines 2020 Rabiya Mateo became the hot topic amongst Netizens as she paraded her national costume in the prestigious beauty pageant stage on Friday, May 14.
Mateo donned a Philippine flag-inspired outfit with a hint of the Victoria’s Secret Angel-themed with 12-kilo red and blue-tainted feathery wings at the national costume competition. Apart from varied comments regarding her performance, her costume became the butt of jokes from Netizens.
Twitter user Ace Antipolo compared the outfit to two-colored chicks.
Love the inspiration for our national costume. Very Filipino. ✌️#AribaRabiya #MissUniverse2021 pic.twitter.com/PgwryNUZsc
— ace antipolo (@ace_antipolo) May 14, 2021
Another used her V-shaped costume and served as a reminder for the Filipino people to register and vote for the 2022 Presidential Elections.
https://twitter.com/iamkiara18/status/1393176414371737604
Someone thought that the colors of Mateo’s national costume resembled 2015 Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach and 2018 Miss Universe Catriona Gray‘s evening gowns in their respective finals.
https://twitter.com/byronmndz/status/1393008810499842048
Ms. Everthing also tweeted about the national costume.
You are not a feel how harderist to carry the 21 1/4 sheet of paper kilograms of this back pack walking in the street and the functional feeling is to smile and falling intonation..So don’t hate . Just love and support our queen to her journylism ..laban Philippines.#AribaRabiya pic.twitter.com/oXcEUvLJ7V
— MS. EVERYTHING (@msEverything36) May 14, 2021
On the other hand, a Netizen pointed out an insensitive and unnecessary joke about the current situation between Israel and Palestine.
In case no one has ever told you yet.
You. Are. Too. Insensitive. To. Mock. And. Make. Fun. Of. The. Context. Of. Violence.
People. Are. Dying. pic.twitter.com/TtJVabfA6r
— rebolusyon (@lemeuxxST) May 14, 2021
Other Filipinos praised Miss Thailand‘s costume, but there’s a catch.
“Sa kanya na national costume! Okay lang. Sa Pilipinas ang korona,” a netizen wrote.
Sa kanya na national costume! Okay lang! PILIPINAS ANG KORONA!! https://t.co/O2ZmB8IHQC
— ᗩᗪ (@adenisedelacruz) May 14, 2021
Though the national costume portion of the beauty pageant has no bearing in the final scoring of the whole competition, Mateo got emotional as she apologized to those who expressed disappointment toward her performance during the segment.
In an Instagram live, she said that she’s “sorry” but she did her best and even had minor mishaps shortly before her walk.
“I’m so sorry kung na-disappoint man kayo sa akin. But I know na I did my best. I even cut my finger earlier and ‘yung stockings ko puno na rin siya ng dugo. But I kept fighting,” Mateo broke down in tears while she apologized to some of her fans.
“Kahit wala nang oras, I didn’t have time to retouch my hair, to retouch my makeup. I was running for pins, I was running for scissors, for everything, just to be able to execute the costume really well.”
Laban lang Queen @Rabiyamateo11 you did your best!!!! Huuugggs #AribaRabiya pic.twitter.com/Tz7TaUkMk2
— Finn ✨ (@NewSmith28) May 14, 2021
She then thanked her supporters and she felt beautiful while she was making her way on the runway because she heard the audience cheering for her.
“Maraming, maraming salamat talaga, guys… I felt really great. Feeling ko noong naglalakad ako, I was so beautiful. Nakita ko ‘yung cheer ng mga judges, nakita ko ‘yung sigawan ng mga Pilipino, kaya nagpapasalamat talaga ako sa suporta.
“Sana maging proud din kayo sa akin. Kasi it’s never easy pero kinakaya ko para sa inyong lahat.”
Catriona Gray, the Philippines’ fourth Miss Universe (2018) had a backlash after she named her top picks for the Best in National Costume, which didn’t include Rabiya Mateo’s.
Gray tweeted and redeemed herself in her description of Mateo.
https://twitter.com/catrionaelisa/status/1393372242793271297?s=20
The 69th Miss Universe finals’ night will be on May 16 (May 17, Philippine Standard Time), the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
***Additional texts by Jude Cartalaba.
