Since he took over as the National Director and owner of the country’s Miss World franchise in 2017, Arnold Vegafria (more popularly known by his initials, ALV) has been thrown in the pageant spotlight as one of its major movers and players. Initially known in the entertainment industry as a formidable talent manager and star builder, his foray into the world of pageantry has added a new dimension to his persona. All too suddenly, he has transitioned himself into a man with a mission of helping Filipinas realize their dreams of becoming beauty queens.
He has scored some wins along the way. Under his term, the country has, so far, placed respectably in the Miss World competitions. He also has produced two Miss Eco-International winners; one Reina Hipano-Americana winner; one Miss Teen Eco-International queen; one Miss Multinational crown holder and a host of runners-up and semifinalists in many different international pageants. However, despite this impressive track record, it has not all been roses for Vegafria. He has also been thrown a lot of accusations with the way he has been running his Miss World Philippines Pageant, the way he selects the eventual winners, and just how poorly his onstage and television productions go, year after year.
The Thrillmaker recently had a chance to catch up on THE ALV, as we sat together as co-panelists in the judging panel of the recently-held Miss Bicolandia pageant in Naga City. Naturally, I took that as an opportunity to engage the man in a quick round of Q-and-As about his pageantry-related ventures. I did try to muster enough courage to ask him the toughest questions and I sensed that he also tried to answer them the best way he could. Here’s how that Q-and-A went:
THRILLMAKER: You have so far admitted that there are talks and negotiations going on between your group (ALV Pageant Circle) and the organizers of Miss Grand International. Can we expect MGI to be a part of the circle soon?
ALV: I will definitely accept it, but yes, we are still in the middle of negotiations. Let him (Nawat) announce it first. Let the announcement come from them. This is an additional crown for the Philippines. I consider Grand now as a major crown because many countries are participating in it and its production values are at par with the big pageant organizations.
THRILLMAKER: However, the MGI organization has been very vocal that it wants a separate national pageant for itself, so it cannot just be folded into the MWP search. How will that go?
ALV: A lot of developments will happen in 2023 in my pageant business. Why am I doing that? I want to give a lot of chances to a lot of women out there who want to represent our country and be our ambassador of goodwill. It’s gonna be bigger and better pageants that you will see from my company, which is the ALV Pageant Circle. I’m sure the Filipino pageant lovers will love it and will hopefully support it.
THRILLMAKER: I just heard you say, pageants. Plural. If I got that right, then that means you’ll really produce multiple pageants next year to possibly accommodate MGI into the circle!
ALV: Yes, magiging plural na yan. Namili naman ako. May tinanggal akong ibang titles pero I also added new titles. This is going to be good for our country. Give them chances. All the girls who want to gain exposure and dream to become beauty queens. Kaya I added bigger crowns.
THRILLMAKER: There are allegations thrown against you, that previous results in MWP are pre-arranged, highly-political and even rigged. What can you say about that?
ALV: That’s impossible. Every competition, we have a DTI representative. It’s the choice of the judges. Lagi naman ang judges namin are credible. You cannot question the choices of the judges. How can you do that? You can’t. It’s the choice of the judges. If I have some questions, I always ask for deliberations. During the deliberation, we have to re-judge again and choose who is fitted for the crown. Tapos, yun na yung result. And so far so good naman. We’re always in the top 10. We’re always in the top 15. Always a winner or runner-up.
THRILLMAKER: What about criticisms saying that your pageants are poorly produced and often turn into pageant marathons. What is your explanation on that?
ALV: We’re always live. Live digital, live on television. We’re always a live broadcast, never delayed. So when you're producing live, a lot of problems happen. During the pandemic, we’re the only pageant who did a live show for mainstream. Those are challenges, I can’t do anything if something happens technical. Hindi naman lahat ng best technical people ay posibleng nandoon sa live venue. That was also their first time to handle a live event during a pandemic. Hindi na ako yun. I cannot control that anymore. The most important is na-deliver ko yung show live via satellite.
THRILLMAKER: Certain quarters are also wondering why the international pageant queens you promised will be gracing the MWP finals this year were a no-show in the final show. What happened there?
ALV: They’re supposed to arrive. We invited them kaya lang something happened during that time kasi we changed the schedule. Nagkaroon ng schedule changes. Naapektuhan din yung mga schedules nila. But definitely, they will come over in the 2023 edition.
At that time, our conversation had to be cut short with the serving of lunch. Just the same, I think that was an opportunity enough to get to be enlightened on some of the issues hovering around THE ALV and his pageants. Exactly how he fared in that Q and A round? You be the judge.