147. Carnival Beauties: LEONOR T. REYES, 1926 Miss Bulacan

QUEEN AT SIXTEEN. The first official Miss Bulacan title was held by a teenager, Leonor T. Reyes, who was appointed in 1926 to represent the province in the 1st National Beauty Contest. Leonor Tantoco Reyes, was just a a young lady of 16 when she was named as the first Miss Bulacan of 1926. Born in 1910, Leonor comes from a progressive and nationalistic family from Malolos; in fact, several of her blood relations are members of the esteemed “Women of Malolos”, who petitioned Gov. Gen. Valeriano Weyler in 1888 to let them open a night school and who were praised by Rizal through his famous letter addressed to them. In this group were Maria and Teresa Tantoco, aunts of Leonor. After the Miss Philippines contest in Manila (won by Miss Batangas, Anita Noble), Leonor resumed her studies and finished her Education degree in 1933 from the University of the Philippines. She earned her Master in Education from the same school in 1954. Leonor was a teacher all her life and remained unmarried. When she died at the ripe old age of 96 on 27 February 2006, she left behind a brother, Leopoldo and three sisters-in-law. She rests at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque. Her heritage house still stands preserved in Malolos.

138. THE 1927 BULACAN PROVINCIAL FAIR

MARILAG NA BULAKENYA. Miss Malolos Josefa de Leon and Miss Hagonoy Carmen Tomacruz in their official photos as town muses of the 1927 Bulacan Provincial Fair.

One province that has consistently displayed its support for the national carnival is Bulacan. The province has taken part in the festivities since the inception of the fair in 1908, by way of town booths, product displays and the fielding of their beauty bet to the Carnival Queen search.

The progress of Bulacan was evident in its many pavilions put up for the pioneering 1908 Carnival, although its centerpiece Palacio de Bulakan earned mixed reviews. El Renacimiento reports: “(Bulacan Palace) has been economically improvised. Its presentation is disorderly. Made of nipa and bamboo, I shows the potentials of he industries of that province, the embryo of national industries. Hats, silks, bibelots, chairs, etc. make the pavilion an industrial, if not an art center..”

Bulacan made quite an impression in its 1924 participation, under the helm of Gov. Pio Valenzuela, who headed the Exhibicion de la Provincia de Bulacan. The town pavilions featured once again, their agricultural and commercial produce like the ‘agua minerales’ of Sibul Springs and Marilao.

In 1927, Bulacan once again held its own provincial fair, highlighted by the selection of town muses, two of which are featured on this page. Miss Malolos is Josefa Pantangco de Leon, a teacher at Bulacan High School, who went on to wed Aurelio Lularga Peña of Camiling, Tarlac. Miss Hagonoy, Carmen Tomacruz, comes from a political family from that town. The province-wide affair once again acclaimed the strides made by proud Bulakenyos in contributing to nation-building.

124. Carnival Beauties: PACITA MATEO, 1927 Miss Bulacan

Miss Bulacan 1927, Pacita Mateo was born in Baliwag, to Pedro Mateo, the town’s municipal president and the legendary beauty, Josefa Lara Tiongson. Pacita’s mother was also known as Pepitang Baliwag or Pepitang Himala, and is said to be the subject of the kundiman, Jocelynang Baliwag, which was very popular during the time of the Revolution.


One of Pepita’s many suitors was the by labor activist–politician-writer Isabelo de los Reyes ( 1864-1938) whose daughter (one of 27 from three wives) , Isabel delos Reyes, became a Carnival princess in 1929, in the court of Pacita delos Reyes.


Little is known about Pacita’s participation in 1927 Carnival, won by Luisa Marasigan of Manila. Bulacan held its own provincial fair that year, highlighted by the province-wide search for Miss Bulacan, with all its municipalities fielding their own candidates.