Miss World Philippines to award 3 more crowns in this year's pageant

Miss World Philippines 2016 Catriona Gray will be passing her crown to one lucky beauty queen, but three more contestants will get the chance to represent the country in international pageants.

MWP National Director Arnold Vegafria on Friday announced that they will be crowning Miss ECO Philippines, Reina Hispano Americana Filipinas, and Miss Multinational.

Miss ECO Philippines will carry the torch for the country in Miss ECO International 2018, which will be held in Alexandria, Egypt in April 2018.

MWP General Manager Bessie Besana explained that, like Miss World, Miss Eco International promotes the importance of the protection and conservation of the environment, in addition to marketing tourism. The pageant is now on its 4th year.

Reina Hispanoamericana, meanwhile, is a pageant open to beauty queens from countries with ties to Spain. Whoever wins the title in the Philippines will have the honor of being the first Filipina to join this pageant, scheduled to be held in November in Bolivia.

Miss Multinational, meanwhile, is a homegrown title. First staged in Davao, the pageant has gone global and will be staged in New Delhi, India.

The awarding will be as follows: Miss World Philippines, Miss ECO Philippines, Reina Hispanoamericana Filipinas, Miss Multinational, 1st Princess, and 2nd Princess.

Vegafria additionally promised fans that this year's pageant will be bigger and better, starting with a new theme song by Jay-R and Kris Lawrence.

"I am looking forward to continuing our mission of uplifting the image of the Filipina in the global pageant circuit, but even more importantly, it has always been our priority to perpetuate the Miss World Organization's noble advocacy of 'Beauty with a Purpose,'" he said.

Miss World Philippines head say PHL could host int'l pageant in 2019 —AT / LA/KVD, GMA News