Miss Philippines is 1st runner-up in Miss World in London

LONDON—A human resources graduate from Venezuela, who grew up an orphan and spent five years in an orphanage, was crowned Miss World 2011 at a glittering beauty pageant in London on Sunday.

Ivian Sarcos, 21, took the ultimate beauty accolade at Earls Court in London, the city where the first Miss World was staged in 1951. Miss Philippines, French-Filipina Gwendoline Ruais, a buxom six-footer from Muntinlupa City, was named the first runner-up, or second place.

Ruais tied for the highest finish for the Philippines in the Miss World pageant, which the pageant-crazy nation has never won. Evangeline Pascual was also first runner-up in 1973.

Miss World is considered a British Commonwealth rival to the US-organized Miss Universe pageant. Shamcey Supsup was third runner-up in the Miss Universe pageant in July.

Nervous

In an interview, Ruais said she was nervous, but she chose to focus on herself and her country.

"Syempre po, I'm competing against 112 gorgeous girls from all around the world, so mahirap po 'yan. Pero, 'yan lang, nag-focus ako sa sarili ko. Hindi ko po iniisip 'yung ibang kandidata. Ako lang po and 'yung buong country ko po, 'yung Pilipinas," Ruais said in a telephone interview aired on GMA News TV's "News to Go" on Monday morning [Manila time].

"You never know what will happen, so hindi ko talaga iniisip kung anong mangyayari. Inisip ko lang na I should do my best talaga to make the Philippines proud. 'Yun lang po ang nasa isip ko," she said.

Ruais' return to the Philippines is not yet scheduled, but she hopes she has made her country proud.

"Sana lahat po kayo proud sa akin. Ginawa ko talaga 'yung best ko para sa buong Pilipinas. Sana happy po kayo," she said.

'Woman of responsibility and reason'

Wearing a pink dress with diamante studs that had giant frills slashed below the waist, the 22-year-old Ivian Sarcos threw her hands to her face as she was announced the winner.

"I believe that the next Miss World should be a woman of responsibility and reason," Sarcos said before winning the title.

"I believe the woman should be committed to the organization and help people in need. Beauty with a heart," added the Venezuelan, who works for a broadcasting company. She and her seven siblings lost their parents when she was eight years old.

Miss Philippines, Gwendoline Ruais, was named the runner-up, while Miss Puerto Rico, Amanda Perez, came third in the contest, which was back in its home city to celebrate its 60th anniversary.

Some 113 beauty queens from Albania to Zimbabwe took their place on the stage, with the show being broadcast live to an estimated audience of more than one billion viewers in 150 countries.

'Being a woman is not a competition'

Around 50 feminists staged a demonstration outside, waving placards reading "Objectification won't achieve world peace", "Being a woman is not a competition" and "Sexism is pretty ugly".

Around a half dozen were veterans of the 1970 pageant protest, which caused a major disturbance.

Inside the Earls Court Two auditorium in west London, the few thousand fans cheered, waved national flags and shouted for their favorites.

To whittle them down to the 15 semi-finalists, several point-scoring rounds were held during the contestants' tour of Britain over the previous two weeks, with the results revealed on stage.

Miss Venezuela topped the interview round; Miss Dominican Republic, Marianly Tejada Burgos, was named the general sports champion; home favorite Miss England, Alize Lily Mounter, won the beach beauty title, while Miss Kazakhstan, Zhanna Zhumaliyeva, was named top model.

The crowd were played clips from the talent round — where performers sang, danced and gave piano recitals — won by Miss Chile, Gabriela Paz Pulgar Luco.

Miss Ghana, Stephanie Adwoa Agyeiwaa Karikari, and Miss Indonesia, Astrid Ellena Indriana Yunadi, were the joint winners of the beauty with a purpose category, where contestants can highlight a charity project.

With the scores in and only the top 15 going through to the semi-final, Miss Puerto Rico topped the leader board, ahead of Miss Venezuela, Miss Philippines, Miss Ukraine and Miss Scotland.

The final seven, chosen by the judges, were Miss England, Miss Korea, Miss Philippines, Miss Puerto Rico, Miss Scotland, Miss South Africa and Miss Venezuela.

It was announced that Ordos in Inner Mongolia, China, will host the 2012 competition. -

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China’s puppet Cambodia one sided to China for Spratlys

China's influence to ASEAN neighbors remains strong that make the ASEAN countries divided. Cambodia a member of the ASEAN countries shows an approval of china for in return to have a huge investment from them.

Cambodia's economy is still lagging far behind with other ASEAN countries like Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam but the support of Cambodia for the ASEAN decision in connection with the Spratlys dispute is still important.

Cambodia's Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hor Namhong said that the territorial dispute in the South China Sea should be solved between China and the concerned countries by complying with the Declaration of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and recent adopted guidelines.

His remarks were made during meeting with visiting Liu Zhenmin, assistant to Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, at the ministry.

"Both sides agreed that the South China Sea issues must be solved out between China and the states involved in the dispute only," Koy Kuong, spokesman for Cambodia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters after the meeting.

"All concerned parties in the South China Sea have to comply with the (2002) DOC and adopted recent guidelines," Hor Namhong was quoted by Koy Kuong as saying to Liu Zhenmin.

DOC is called toothless by the DFA Secretary Del Rosario as he said even China the signatory of the DOC is violating it resulting to a heighten tension  in the West Philippines Sea (South China Sea)

DOC and UNCLOS Law will work together as both parties are member of the United Nations and inner conflict which could not be solve by the region must be push to the United Nations ITLOS.

Hor Namhong continued to say that all relevant parties in the dispute have to build mutual trust in order to solve the dispute in the spirits of mutual benefit, peace and friendship.

The Philippines have slacken off  its mutual trust with china after china invaded the Mischief reef near Palawan by building a "said" fishermen shelter then later converted into military garrison. Mischief reef is just adjacent to the Mainland Palawan and within 200 Nautical Miles Exclusive Economic Zone of Palawan, Philippines.

China and ASEAN in July adopted an agreement on the guidelines of implementing the DOC.

The guidelines include some principles that offer directions for implementing the DOC and map out procedural rules for cooperation in the future.

The oil- and gas-rich South China Sea is partially claimed by several Southeast Asian states, including the Philippines and Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Liu Zhenmin said the visit in Cambodia was to strengthen bilateral and regional cooperation in all fields with Cambodia and said China still continued its support to Cambodia in all circumstances.

Cambodia's commitment in supporting China reaped a promise of support and more investment. Cambodia's vulnerable stands for the ASEAN might lead into losing its support from its fellows when china's expansionism attitude diverts' it point to Cambodia to be the next annex state of China.

Both sides also exchanged views on the East Asia Summit in Bali, Indonesia later this month in order to enable the Summit to run smoothly and successfully as this year was the 20th anniversary of the establishment of China-ASEAN dialogue relations.

Liu arrived Phnom Penh on Saturday (November 5, 2011) and will leave here on Sunday.

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Malaysia Jailed the Sultan of Sulu and North Borneo

Malaysia's High Court rejected a plea by a man who claimed to be the Sultan of Sulu who was sentenced to jail for 8 months for burning flags and illegal assembly in the oil-rich state of North Borneo (Sabah), which is being claimed by the Philippines.

Datu Abdul Rajak Datu Abdul Aliuddin pleaded guilty on both charges and was originally sentenced to 5 years in prison, but appealed to the court and won, and was eventually to serve 8 months and fined 10,000 ringgits or $ 3,312 US Dollar, a report by Malaysia's Daily Express said.

It said Judicial Commissioner Datuk Douglas Primus rejected Aliuddin's latest appeal and upheld his sentence for both crimes that occurred on April 4, 2009.

Aliuddin led a protest with 11 others in the North Borneo - Sabah's Tawau town after the Malaysian government refused to recognize him as the 6th Sultan of Sulu. The report said they burned Sabah flags during the protest.

It was not immediately whether Aliuddin is a Filipino citizen or not, but many Muslims in the Philippine provinces of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi have made similar claims, while some used it to collect money from followers and others had been jailed for fraud and extortion activities.

The Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo lays claim to Sabah. The Sultanate of Sulu was a Muslim state that ruled over much of the islands off the Sulu Sea. It stretches from a part of the island of Mindanao in the east, to North Borneo, now known as Sabah, in the west and south, and to Palawan, in the north.

The Sultanate of Sulu was founded in 1457 and is believed to exist as a sovereign nation for at least 442 years or to 1899 after its eastern territory becomes a province of the Philippines during the Spanish regime. It obtained Sabah from Brunei as a gift for helping put down a rebellion on the Borneo Island.

The British leased Sabah and illegally transferred control over the territory to Malaysia without informing the reigning Sultan of Sulu and North Borneo after the end of World War II. Even after Borneo became part of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur still pays an annual rent of 5,000 ringgit or $ 1,606 US Dollar to the heirs of the recognized Sultan of Sulu and North Borneo HM Ismail Kiram. 

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