125. THE 1928 BATANGAS CARNIVAL

Batangas beauties have done very well in the Manila Carnival Queen quest, starting with Julia Otero Arceo of Batangas, Batangas, who wore the crown proudly for her province in 1913. It took another ten years for another Batangueña to win back the title; in 1923, Catalina Castillo Apacible of Balayan town was elected Queen. Then, in the very first search for “Miss Philippines”, the lovely Anita Agoncillo Noble of Lemery, handpicked by the Batangas governor to compete in the 1st National Beauty Show of 1926, did not disappoint and emerged victorious in the tightly-fought finals.


Perhaps, Anita Noble’s winning qualities set a standard that was too high to be matched by her would-be successor, so much so that in the next year’s Carnival edition, the local carnival committee opted not to send a delegate to the 2nd National Beauty Show of 1927, to the consternation of many who had expected to see another strong candidate from the province. Besides, it was a tall order for another Batangas beauty to win the crown two years in a row.

Instead, the local provincial carnival committee decided to focus their energy on their search for the 1928 Miss Batangas. This time, an appropriate grand event was planned that will be the backdrop for the proclamation of the province’s royal queen—the 1928 Batangas Carnival.


Sure enough, the search for Miss Batangas drew accomplished beauties from all over. There was Iluminada “Luming” Perez from Bolboc, who was already a popular Manila colegiala, and Consuelo Luna, the youngest daughter of Don Remigio Luna, an affluent businessman who had set up a lucrative pawn shop business in Batangas.


In the end, the title of Miss Batangas 1928 went to the fashionable Consuelo. But alas, that year, the 1928 Manila Carnival was scrapped for reasons still unclear, and with it, the national beauty pageant. Consuelo lost the opportunity to represent her province in the much-awaited beauty tilt.

Luming Perez, the Diwata ng Bolboc, was luckier, because the year after, she was elected “Miss Centro Escolar de Señoritas” , the muse of the Manila school she went to. She became the school bet to the 1929 Miss Philippines search, which had attracted contestants from colleges, universities and other educational institutions. Iluminada eventually won a place in the court of Pacita de los Reyes, a law student of U.P., who snagged the Miss Philippines title.


As for Consuelo Luna, she met and married a doctor ten years her senior, who had studied and taught at the University of the Philippines and Cambridge, England. As Mrs. Narciso Cordero, she settled in Quiapo, Manila where she and her husband started a family that consisted of two daughters, Gilda and Teresa. Gilda Cordero-Fernando is a respected figure in Philippine journalism today, an acclaimed and multi-awarded writer, editor, book publisher, artist and cultural advocate.

It would be another five years before another beauty of Batangas descent would wear the Miss Philippines sash. Half-Batangueña Maria Villanueva Kalaw, whose father Teodoro hails from Lipa, became Miss Philippines of 1931.

29. 1913, Reina de Mindanao, INOCENCIA CABATO

1913 QUEEN OF MINDANAO. Inocencia Cabato of Zamboanga.

28. 1913, Reina de Visayas, ANA S. PALANCA

QUEEN OF VISAYAS. Ana S. Palanca, of Coron, Palawan.

Anita Sandoval Palanca comes from the Sandoval family of Coron, Palawan and Iloilo. She was only 15 and a student of Sta. Catalina College in Manila when she was crowned 'Reyna ng Visayas 1913'.  She eventually married Dr. Guillermo Fernandez from Dagupan, Pangasinan, a doctor working in Culion. They had 3 children: Guillermo Jr.--better known as the late interior designer, Wili Fernandez who married award-winning author Doreen Gamboa; Vicente, who became a municipal secretary of Coron (married to Rebecca Dabuit) and Francisco (a farmer, married to Leticia). Mrs. Palanca-Fernandez spent most of her life in Coron, Palawan.

27. 1913, Reina de Luzon, JULIA OTERO ARCEO

1913 MANILA CARNIVAL QUEEN OF LUZON, Julia Arceo y Otero of Batangas, one of the most beautiful but tragic figures ever to animate the annual Philippine carnivals.

1913 saw the introduction of another innovation in the annual Manila Carnivals. Three beauties of equal rank, representing the major regions of the Philippines were chosen, instead of one supreme royal: Reina de Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. But still, most attention from the press and the crowds gravitated towards the Queen of Luzon, who was unofficially tagged as the Queen of the 1913 Manila Carnival.

THE YOUNG JULIA. A budding beauty at the Colegio de la Concordia.

Julia Arceo y Otero had a life of extremes—she was the unica hija of Sixto Arceo and Maria Otero of Batangas, who, despite their modest station in life, managed to give Julia a good education at the Colegio de la Concordia. Her father, an officer of the Manila Railroad Company in Tutuban, doted on her, often using the budding beauty as a subject for his photography hobby.

HER FATHER'S DAUGHTER. Railroad executive Sixto Arceo dabbled in photography, and he would often use his daughter as a willing subject.

It was in her school that the 18 year old Julia attracted the attention of the organizers of the Carnival. They overlooked her humble background (relative to her more socially-privileged predecessors) and elected her as the Queen of Luzon on the basis of sheer beauty. er co-winners were Ana Palanca (Queen of the Visayas) and Inocencia Cabato (Queen of Mindanao).

OFFICIAL PICTURE OF LUZON'S QUEEN, as Julia appeared on the cover of El Renacimineto in her coronation finery. She wears a fabulous tiara made by Crispulo Zamora.

It was Queen Julia II however, who took center stage at the coronation rites, radiant in an elegant terno and crowned with sunburst-topped tiara designed by Crispulo Zamora. Indeed, Julia’s reign as a carnival queen was a joyous moment in her young life, basking in the limelight and catching the attention of a number of admirers.

CROWN ONA CLOWN. julia donned this costume of a French pierrot--an iconic symbol of the carnival--shortly after the coronation rites.

Among these was a handsome Capizeno, Vicente Villaruz, a pharmacist-chemist whom she married in 1915. Julia’s life of sorrow began soon after she and Vicente begot three sons. The youngest died when Julia accidentally fed him formula made from powdered medicine, instead of milk—an irrevocable mistake that haunted the mother no end. She sank into a deep depression.

In time, Vicente, too passed away, leaving Julia to fend for his remaining kids. But, despite her mental state, she soon found new love in his late husband’s friend--Jose de la Cuesta, also a fellow-pharmacist from Sarrat, Ilocos Norte. Perhaps to leave her painful past behind, the couple moved to Laoag to start life anew and to bear more children. They were to have two daughters and 4 more sons.

Grief continued to haunt Julia, as her first daughter died, followed by her husband. Her in-laws took over the raising of her children and another kind relative took her to live with her in her Quiapo house. No sooner had she settled when a fire engulfed her relative’s home which nearly killed her.

HER CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT. Julia's official coronation pictures as captured by the leading salon photographers of her time.

As a result, Julia’s nervous breakdown grew worse, a progressive condition from which she never recovered. She retreated to herself, often crying, dazed and lost in tears. Her last years were spent with sons Jose de la Cuesta and Martin de la Cuesta at a house in Blumentritt, Sta. Cruz, Manila, finding peace and comfort from years of personal agonies on 18 November 1975.