MANILA, Philippines – The Miss Universe Philippines Organization announced that the pageant’s finals will happen on October 25.

The news was confirmed in a post by organizers on the Miss Universe Philippines Facebook page Tuesday, May 5. Miss Universe Philippines creative director Jonas Gaffud said June to October will be a “learning journey” for the candidates.

“The whole process from June to October is a learning journey for the women mentally, emotionally, and physically. In this way, we are very confident that th winner will already be rquipped with a mindset and preparations worthy of representing our country in Miss Universe stage.”

National director Shamcey Supsup-Lee said they are making the adjustments to the pageant given the coronavirus pandemic.

“Now more than ever, a post COVID-19, our contenders need to channel the phenomenal woman in them, and inspire others to do the same. The best preparation was to build a program that is more than a pageant. We assure everyone that there will be adjustments in the way the pageant program will be delivered and that the MUPh will be tweaking it to remain sensitive to the ‘new normal.”

Gaffud said schedule changes will give them time to shoot the videos of the candidates. Shoots will also follow government regulations, should the enhanced community quarantine over Metro Manila be lifted.

“Protecting our ladies, our entire workforce, and everyone on the ground for this production is our utmost concern.”

“Our current plan is to limit production shoots to only 5 people. Time is of an essence so we want everybody to be on schedule.”

The organization said that some activities will resume but with some restrictions. You can view the lineup of activities here. 

The competition was originally scheduled to take place on May 3 but was moved because of the coronavirus pandemic. – Rappler.com