177. Carnival Beauties: LILIA H. LOPEZ, 1930 Miss Philippines Candidate

LILIA H. LOPEZ of Leyte, Candidate of Atalaya newspaper to the quest for Miss Philippines of the Manila Carnival 1930.

Lilia Hidalgo Lopez was born in 1912 in Leyte, the child of Honorio Lopez of Leyte (b.1888/d.1974)  and Fermina Hidalgo (b.1894/d.1944). She had 3 other sisters (Aida, Herminia and Emma) and two brothers (Honorio Jr.and Tirso).

In 1930, the budding beauty was sponsored by the Visayan publication Atalaya to compete in the Miss Philippines quest of that year’s Manila Carnival edition. Her campaign, however, was thwarted by a fellow Visayan belle from Iloilo—Consuelo Acuña, who was crowned as the 1930 Miss Philippines.

Still, Lilia had a great experience as one of the muses of the Carnival. Just 18, she also had her studies to think about as well as the admirers who had come to woo her. One of them was Dominador Medalle Tan, (b.21 Mar. 1905) a young lawyer of the University of San Carlos in Cebu who passed the bar in 1927.. Once the din of the Carnival died down, the young couple were married in 1930.

The couple would have two children--Dennis and Anamarie. Anamarie was sent off to St. Scholastica where she became a classmate of our future female president--Cory Aquino. Lawyer Dominador Tan,  on the other hand, enjoyed a successful political career, becoming an assemblyman (undefeated, from 1935-1969) and a Congressman of Leyte's 4th district. Serving under the Commonwealth government of Pres. M.L. Quezon, Tan was one of the authors of the 1935 Philippine Constitution.

The Tans would set up house in Ormoc, and their mansion was known for its beautiful architecture set amidst lush,landscaped gardens. Their residence was finished a year before World War II.

But the war would bring unfathomable sorrow to the Tans. On 16 Dec. 1941, the Tans boarded the ship S.S. Corregidor and departed from Manila for southern Philippines. It was approaching La Monja when it struck a mine between Corregidor  and Sisiman Cove. It quickly sank taking away the lives of more than 900 passengers. Among those who perished were Lilia and her two children, Dennis and Anamarie. Lilia was only 30, and her kids, about 8 and 7, respectively. 

The congressman survived the tragic accident but he was so devastated that he rarely talked about the family he had suddenly lost. To make matters worse, his grand residence was commandeered by the Japanese and was partially destroyed during the Battle of Ormoc bombings.

He would eventually  recover from this profound personal losses and marry a second time to Patria Macandog, She was an actress who went by the screen name, Patria Rosal, and who had a brief career doing movies under Philippine Films. They remained together until Tan, regarded as the "Father of Ormoc" and one of the country's outstanding congressman,  passed away on 6 Oct. 1992. Today, the ruins of the Tan-Lopez mansion still stands, a sort of a memorial to our history, when beauty was in flower--as personified by the lovely belle of the 1930 Carnival, Lilia Hidalgo Lopez. 

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.

175. CHILDREN'S PETIT CARNIVALS

Perhaps to make a point and remind every one that the Manila Carnivals is for the old and young alike, the beauty pageant—always the highlight of the national festivities—became the inspiration of some provincial groups to hold their own petit carnivals with children reigning as royalties.


The Charity Fairs (Feria de Caridad), organized by the government to raise funds for its charitable advocacies, actually popularized the concept of having children reign as “queens” during these much publicized 1920s events. Schools even held their own themed charity fairs, featuring little misses addressed as “Infantil Princesas y Reinas” and decked in court costumes and pompadour wigs. Then the Anti-TB Society launched its own “Queen of Mercy” quest where only children were eligible to join.


These children’s beauty pageants were immensely popular and became springboards for beautiful young misses to join the Manila Carnival Queen search later on. For instance, Alicia de Santos was chosen as Queen of Mercy in 1929; two years later, she competed in the 5th National Beauty Contest and emerged as Miss Luzon. Similarly, little Blanquita Opinion, Queen of Charity in the 1925 fund-raising program of Centro Escolar alumnas, joined the Miss Philippines search eight years later and won the title of Miss Visayas 1933.


The idea caught on in the different provinces, and soon, petit carnivals were being organized with literally, their own petit royalties. This example shows a provincial carnival held in Aparri in 1939, with an adorable Queen Teresita and her satin-caped escort, ruling over the fair’s festivities. The tradition continues today, instigated by TV shows which holds annual talent-cum-beauty pageants like “Little Miss Philippines”.

174. Carnival Memento: 1909 MANILA CARNIVAL TICKET

TICKET TO RIDE, AND MORE! A rare example of a 1909 Manila Carnival general entrance ticket issued by the 'taquillera' at the gate. 1909.

So well-received was the first Manila Carnival of 1908 that a second Carnival just had to be organized the first year. Director General G. A. Reilly noted, “The Carnival of 1909, in presenting itself to the Orient, needs no more substantial guarantee of success than the truly wonderful record left behind by the Carnival of 1908”.

To give the second Carnival a fresh sense of visual identity, an illustrator was commissioned to create a logo for the Manila Carnival of 1909, which was cascaded to all sorts of printed materials and collaterals. The logo shows three Carnival symbols of revelry—a court jester and two masked female revelers, one in a Gibson Girl hat, the other in a native baro, to symbolize the unity of East and West. Below the smiling jester is the great seal of Manila. A ribbon carried the text “The Philippine Carnival”, festooned on top with coconut and anahaw leaves. The date of the event is on a crest between the 2 female figures: February 1909, Manila.


The artist has discreetly inscribed the illustration with the letters “HX” inscribed in an ovoid, below the Filipina masked figure. He may have been Howard Hedden, an American who illustrated for national publications like The Philippine Magazine in the first decade of the 20th century.

The small 2 x 3 in. paper ticket featured here, printed with green and red colors, repeats the design elements of the logo although they have been compressed and rearranged to fit the vertical portrait format. This paper ephemera, now over a hundred years old, is a rare memento of our country’s finest hours, when the world converged in Manila to see the a grand spectacle never before seen in the Orient.

173. 1936 Queen of the Ilocos Norte Carnival, FLORENTINA I

ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE. Queen Florentina I. Ilocos Norte Carnival Queen of 1936.

The province of Ilocos Norte was quick to take a cue from neighbor Ilocos Sur in holding its own petit carnivals. Ilocos Sur seemed to have taken the Carnival spirit more to heart, holding provincial fairs with more frequency and at every given opportunity. But it is to be remembered that Ilocos Norte gave the country its second Manila Carnival Queen, in the person of Julia Guerrero Agcaoili of Piddig, who reigned in 1909. Her sister, Pilar, also was the Queen-elect of the 1929 Ilocos Norte petit fair.

Ilocos Norte fielded two beauties in the 1926 and 1927 editions of the national Manila Carnival. In the dying years of the Carnival, the only documented provincial fair was held in 1936, in which this beauty, "Her Majesty, Queen Florentina I", reigned over the festivities. Nothing more is known of this Ilocana beauty. The last Ilocos Norte Carnival was held in the postwar year of 1946.

172. THE MINDORO CARNIVALS

HER MAJESTY, QUEEN PEPITA I. With her court. Mindoro Carnival 1926.

The seventh largest island in the country, Mindoro was known to Spaniards as a “gold mine”—Mina de Oro, hence its name. Pre-colonial history tells us that Mindoro, known as Ma-i in those days, was an active trading partner of China. Local traders swapped and sold cotton, beeswax, pearls and gold with their Chinese counterparts.

When the American came, they made Mindoro a sub-province of Marinduque on 23 June 1902, but later in November, Mindoro was separated from its mother province and its own provincial government was organized with Puerto Galera as the seat. Mindoro was finally declared a regular province in 1921. Thereafter followed, the fast development and cultivation of the island's interior. The structure of society and culture were likewise altered, becoming more influenced as American influenced crept in.

The Manila Carnival offered the opportunity for Mindoreños to show how far they have advanced in terms of economic, commercial, social, cultural and human development. In 1926, the people of Mindoro held their own showcase of progress, a provincial carnival that was highlighted by the coronation of Queen Pepita I.

The next year, when the Manila Carnival called for candidates to the 2nd National Beauty Contest, the province sent their very first beauty delegate to Manila to compete in the 2nd Miss Philippines- a Pinamalayan-born belle and a St. Scholastica interna named Caridad Morente, Miss Mindoro 1927.

HER MAJESTY, Queen Loreto I and Court, Mindoro Carnival 1935-36.

There are no records of other Mindoreñas having succeeded Caring (who lived to be more than a hundred), but the provincial carnivals of the big island province continued. During the Commonwealth years, another petit carnival was held, of which we have above a lone pictorial evidence. Her Majesty Queen Loreto I reigned supreme in the provincial fair, assisted by two fair princesses and their consorts. Not much else is known about Loreto and the details of this carnival.

After the Second World War, the island was divided into its two present-day provinces, Occidental Mindoro and Oriental Mindoro, on June 13, 1950, by virtue of the Republic Act No. 505.

171. Carnival Memento: 1920 MANILA CARNIVAL POSTER

CARNIVAL POSTERITY. Posters issued by the Philippine Carnival Association are sought after by collectors of Filipiniana and fair & exposition memorabilia.

The 1920 Manila Carnival was truly a special edition of the national fair. For two consecutive years before that, the Carnival had been scrapped as the United States was engaged in a long-winded war with the Central powers. But as the war came to an end with an American victory, the Carnival Association revived the event in 1920, dubbing it as the Victory Carnival and Exposition.

This full-color original poster was just one of the promotional materials printed for the 1920 Carnival by the Philippine Carnival Association. The main visual depicts a pair of revelers, with the man dressed as the Red Devil, the Carnival mascot and his woman companion as a masked Perriot. The Angel of Peace descends upon the Carnival gate, holding an olive wreath. The same illustration appeared in other collateral materials, like the 1920 souvenir program, which also featured the couple on the cover.

This incredibly rare, large poster comes in 3 sections and measures an impressive 25 x 48 inches. It must have been printed by the Bureau of Printing in Manila. Posters such as these were seen all over the city—from train stations, municipal halls and government bureaus.

Used with permission. My thanks to: Mark J. Weinbaum Fine Vintage Posters and Decorative Prints 2211 Broadway, Suite #4E New York, NY 10024 By Appointment www.MJWFinePosters.com