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This came after Miss Canada, Miss England, and Miss Guam spoke up about the sexual harassment they experienced during the competition.
by LILY GRACE TABANERA | 11 hours ago
PHOTO: INSTAGRAM/THEMONICAAGUILAR
This year's Miss Earth competition was held in the Philippines and the coronation night, where Vietnam's Phuong Khanh Nguyen was crowned as winner, took place on Sunday, November 4, 2018.
A few days after the big night, Miss Earth Canada Jaime Yvonne Vandenberg, Miss Earth England Abbey-Anne Gyles-Brown, and Miss Earth Guam Emma Mae Sheedy spoke up about the sexual harassment they experienced during the pageant.
According to them, a certain sponsor invited the contestants multiple times to private houses in Boracay, asked for their room numbers, offered them mileage in exchange for sexual favors, and would constantly make them feel uncomfortable during official events.
It came to a point where Miss Canada actually withdrew from the competition. "He showed up to almost all of my events telling me he could take care of my needs and asked for sexual favors in exchange to get me further in the pageant. I was disgusted," Jaime wrote on Instagram.
Miss Guam (Emma Mae) identified the sponsor as Amado Cruz, saying he even grabbed her bare backside at the National Costume Competition. She was able to push him away, but he consistently warned her not to tell anyone about the incident.
According to Miss England (Abbey-Anne), "I enjoyed 50% of my trip but the other 50% was overshadowed by feeling exploited, vulnerable, unnerved, and sexually harassed as I was approached by a sponsor on many occasions who asked for sexual favors in exchange for the Crown."
Abbey-Anne approached Lorraine Schuck, the Vice President Of Miss Earth, and was promised that the sponsor would be removed from all contact with the contestants. However, this did not happen because he was even present during the coronation night.
Meanwhile, Miss Earth Cuba Monica Aguilar countered the claims of her fellow contestants on Thursday through an Instagram post. She said that she wanted to stop the allegations being made against the Miss Earth Organization.
According to Monica, although some of the sponsors asked if the contestants wanted to extend their visas to go to Boracay after the pageant, they were not asked for any sexual favors to get them further in the competition. Monica also claimed that after she said no to the Boracay trip, the said sponsor didn't bother her again. "This is not something the team managers should be blamed for," Monica added. "I felt extremely safe this entire month under the care of our team managers."
However, in a follow-up post, Miss Cuba then said that she experienced the same things as her fellow contestants such as getting asked by sponsors for her room number repeatedly. "I agree that this needs to be reported and addressed properly. There is also a huge difference between sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior. Let's use the right terminology." She added, "Guys, let’s stand WITH MISS EARTH and AGAINST SEXUAL PREDATORS. We can do both at the same time believe it or not! Saying that what happened to us girls is Miss Earth’s fault because they were the ones that provided the sponsors is the same thing as saying 'it is your fault your son committed murder because you gave birth to him.' Miss Earth was not at fault, the sponsors were! And this should be addressed properly. Inappropriate behavior is never ok!"
She also posted the text message she received from the sponsor.
Below are Miss Canada's, Miss England's, and Miss Guam's individual testimonies about their experiences:
View this post on Instagram
I left to compete at an international pageant in the Philippines about a month ago. I was so excited because I had been to the Philippines before and loved the country and the people; however, the experience with the pageant was not what I had expected. I left Miss Earth because I did not feel safe under their care. The second day of the pageant I felt uncomfortable because a sponsor from the first night was given my phone number, without my consent, and was calling me asking for my hotel and room number. I gave my phone to a team manager so that she could resolve the issue, but it did not work. He showed up to almost all of my events telling me he could take care of my needs and asked for sexual favours in exchange to get me further in the pageant. I was disgusted. He showed up to a hotel some girls were staying at and when I ran into him he continued to ask for my room number. I was lucky I wasn’t staying at that hotel. After so many strange calls, I recognized his phone number and was able to block it. At an event at the Manila Yacht Club he took all of the delegates in my group to his yacht and had some girls take sultry photos. Again, I was disgusted. Later in the pageant we had another sponsor event at the Manila Yacht Club and he was telling girls he could take them to Boracay, as long as we didn’t tell any one. A group of us left to sit out side as we did not feel comfortable. He followed us outside and was upset we were not dancing with him. The team mangers laughed and told us to be nice. Eventually we were allowed to go and sit on the bus because we refused to go back to his yacht. Six girls and myself left because we felt unsafe at that event. I asked many times why more girls weren’t given the option to leave but, was never given an answer. That night a few of us were given the opportunity to bring our concerns to Miss Lorraine, the woman in charge of the pageant. I went through almost two weeks of sexual harassment before I anything was done about it. I was told he would not be around any more, but I had advised Lorraine of several other issues that were not resolved. Miss Peachy, another employee of the pageant, spoke with me at an event about...
A post shared by Jaime VandenBerg (@missjaimeyvonne) on Nov 6, 2018 at 11:29am PST
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