What Bb. Pilipinas-International Ahtisa Manalo learned from her Q&A 'stutter'

In the Q& A portion of the Binibining Pilipinas pageant, Ahtisa Manalo couldn't help hide her jitters.

When asked how a beauty queen should respond to ruthless criticism, Ahtisa stammered a bit, took a pause, and eventually and gracefully recovered.

"A beauty queen should always respond to criticism constructively. We beauty queens are public figures. And we put ourselves in the position to be judged. But nonetheless, we should always.. we should always filter which... which comments we should accept and what we should not," she answered.

She was eventually crowned Binibining Pilipinas International.

Says Ahtisa, it was most definitely a learning experience.

The Binibining Pilipinas Queens: BB Pilipinas International Ma. Ahtisa Manalo pic.twitter.com/1vX8ZZ81CF

— Jamil Santos (@Jamil_Santos02) March 22, 2018

During the Binibining Pilipinas 2018 beauties' visit to GMA Network last week, Ahtisa recalled the experience, saying she was thankful that the right words came out just in time.

"I stopped halfway 'cause I was looking for a word that I can't think of, and then when I stopped, I laughed lang and they all laughed then they clapped (audience). Tapos ako, buti naisip ko 'yung word and then I continued and then I saved it naman. Pia said it's a 'nice save,' thankfully."

Asked what she has learned, Ahtisa said she "should read more, so that I have a lot of words to pick from."

Just 20 years old, Ahtisa hails from the province of Quezon. Binibining Pilipinas was not her first pageant experience; previously, she joined Bb. Niyogyugan in 2016 and Reyna ng Aliwan 2017.

In her interview with GMA News' News To Go, Ahtisa said one of the issues she is vocal about is the LGBT community.

"I'm really strong when it comes to gender equality, when it comes to LGBT community, I really try to speak about it, I call [out] someone who is being homophobic, and that's what I'm strong about lang."

Ahtisa admittedly has a reason why.

"I have family members who are gay, and I have a lot of friends who are gay also, my mentors, my friends, my supporters, I'm surrounded by gay people and the LGBT community," she told GMA News Online.

In her News To Go interview, Ahtisa said she was flattered that people say she looks just like Miss International 2016 Kylie Verzosa. Check out her comment.

— LA, GMA News