Senate honors Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray

Published February 26, 2019, 6:04 PM

By Vanne Elaine Terrazola

The Senate honored on Tuesday Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Elisa Gray for her victory in the prestigious pageant.

Gray went to the Senate to pay a courtesy call to Senate President Vicente Sotto III and other senators as part of her official homecoming after being crowned as Miss Universe.

Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto gives Senate Resolution No. 140 to Miss Universe Catriona Gray in Pasay on February 26, 2019. (ALI VICOY / MANILA BULLETIN)

Aside from Sotto, Senators Nancy Binay and Gregorio Honasan, as well as other Senate officials and employees, welcomed the 25-year-old Filipina beauty queen in her arrival Tuesday afternoon.

During her short visit, Gray was bestowed the Senate Resolution No. 140 to congratulate and commend her for her “outstanding performance” and for bringing “great honor, glory and recognition” to the country in winning the most-coveted Miss Universe title.

The measure was adopted by Senate last February 8.

In his message, Sotto, who authored the resolution, said Gray “deserves nothing better than a high level of praise.”

He also urged her to “continue to inspire others, especially the youth, in pursuing worthwhile advocacies” to make the country and the world a “better place for everyone.”

Gray thanked the Senate for the recognition.

Responding to Sotto, she vowed to “continue to hold Filipinos at a high standard to the international audience” and to pursue her advocacies during her reign.

Meanwhile, she called on senators to support and empower young Filipinos and allow them to give back to their respective communities, “in their own facets, in their own ways.”

Gray, a model, singer, and volunteer for a non-government organization helping underprivileged children in Tondo, Manila, bested 93 other contestants when she won the 67th Miss Universe pageant held in Bangkok, Thailand last December 17.

She is the fourth Filipina to clinch the crown after Gloria Diaz (1969), Margarita Moran (1973) and Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach (2015).

https://news.mb.com.ph/2019/02/26/senate-honors-miss-universe-2018-catriona-gray/