176. 1926, Queen of the Pangasinan Carnival, POTENCIANA I

THIS BEAUTY HAS POTENTIAL. Queen Potenciana I, 1926 Pangasinan Carnival Queen with her King Consort, was a popular winner and her victory was even reported in Spanish newspapers.

Not since the 1919 Pangasinan Carnival has there been a more publicized provincial fair than the 1926 event held in Dagupan. After seven years, people still remember the mesmerizing beauty of the 1919 queen, Nieves Gonzales. Earlier in the year, the first titled Miss Pangasinan was sent off to compete in Manila for the Miss Philippines title, Corazon Sison.

Pangasinenses apparently could not get enough of their beautiful lasses so in 1926, a separate queen was selected for the Pangasinan Carnival—a charming belle whom we know only as Potenciana. “Su Majestad Potenciana I” was escorted by a handsome mestizo, and her victory was even reported in a Spanish publication, together with her coronation portrait.

The second Miss Pangasinan, Asuncion Gonzales, did not fare well in the 1927 Miss Philippines quest. It was only in 1930 that a Pangasinense beauty managed to land in the semi-finals of the controversy-marred 1930 Miss Philippines contest. Nieves Ocampo Benito landed in the Top 8, but missed the final cut after the pre-judging, which required the candidates to wear bathing suits. She later married her consort Cipriano P. Primicias Sr., who went on to become a Philippine senator.

121. 1919, Queen of the Pangasinan Carnival, NIEVES GONZALES

REINA NIEVES I. Only 14 years old when crowned Carnival Queen of Pangasinan, her beauty was knowned and admired even in Manila. Her granddaughter, Margarita Moran, followed in her footsteps by becoming Bb. Pilipinas 1973 and later, the biggest world crown of all--Miss Universe of 1973.

In 1919, there was a pall in the air with the world still plunged in a great war in Europe. In keeping with the atmpshere of the times, no national Carnival was held in Manila. But this was not the case in the provinces in which people felt far removed from the devastations of a world war. Provinces continued to hold petit fairs that livened domestic tourism, promoted trade and attracted visitors from across the country.

The Pangasinan Carnival of 1919, staged in Lingayen, was held in such a large scale that it drew almost as much buzz as those held in the capital city of Manila. And, adding much to the stature of the local exposition was the election of a carnival queen—the only provincial nobility whose fame extended to Manila and to other parts of the country: Queen Nieves Gonzales.

Nieves was born in 1905, to a ruling class family that owned large hacienda and land holdings in Rosales, Pangasinan. The concept of beauty pageants was not exactly new to the Gonzales family; Nieves’s first cousin, Augusto had married the 1916 Queen of the Manila Carnival, Manolita Barretto. So when the idea of becoming the Queen of the 1919 Pangasinan Carnival was brought to Nieves for consideration, she did not resist. At the tender age of 14, she accepted and embraced her new role as a paragon of Pangasinense pulchritude.

Immediately, photo postcards of Nieves found their way to Manila which were immediately snapped up by thousands of fans enamoured by her beauty. It was said that her photos even outsold those of previous Manila Carnival Queen winners, catapulting her to national attention.

A year after her reign, she became the young bride of Don Manuel Moran, who later became a Chief Justice and an Ambassador. From this union came a daughter Nenita, and a lawyer-son, Francis Moran, who, one day would wed Charo Roxas, who counts Pres. Manuel Roxas as one of her ascendants. Among their children was a daughter who would continue the tradition of beauty started by her grandmother, even taking it to an international level.

In 1973, this granddaughter, Maria Margarita Roxas Moran, captured the world’s most prestigious Miss Universe crown—our country’s 2nd – in a spectacular pageant held in Athens, Greece. She was also named Miss Photogenic in the same contest.