MATAPOS kumalat ang iba’t ibang kontrobersya sa ginanap na 2020 Miss Universe Philippines, humarap na rin si Michele Gumabao sa publiko para ipagtanggol ang sarili laban sa bashers.
Si Michele ang itinanghal na second runner-up sa nasabing pageant at kasabay nga ng naganap na coronation night, samu’t saring issue ang naglabasan kabilang na ang kuwestiyonableng pagkapanalo ni Rabiya Mateo.
“Because people have been trying to taint my name, and drag me down with so many issues that are not real and didn’t happen. I’m not sharing all this to attack anyone or to hurt anyone.
“I just want to share the truth. I want to share my story. I want to be true to myself, because I know that this will be the only way to look back at all this and happily move on,” simulang pahayag ng volleyball star sa kanyang vlog.
Kuwento ng dalaga, bago ang pageant, napakaraming kamalasang nangyari sa kanya, “That day, I woke up, and as I took my first steps, I passed out. I collapsed.”
“I cut my head, I sprained my knee, I broke my toe. It was all very challenging, because as a beauty queen, you have to walk in high heels, you have to look your best, your face has to be presentable at all times.
“It was depressing for me, it was devastating for me. I spent the whole day in bed. I didn’t know what to do. I decided to do my rehab at home, and to whatever I could at home,” pagpapatuloy ni Michele.
Nangyari raw ito, tatlong araw bago sila mag-check in sa tinuluyan nilang hotel sa Baguio kung saan ginanap ang coronation night. Pero kailangan niyang magpakatatag na parang walang nangyari.
“More than the pain, more than the struggle these past few weeks, it was more of the schedule that we really had to keep up with that gave me so much pressure, and that gave me… That was difficult for me.
“I was prepared to do things on my own, but I wasn’t prepared for schedules being so delayed, days wherein we weren’t able to eat because of our hectic schedules that we had to really keep up with. There were days when we were kept in our rooms not knowing why, and we were just there in our rooms.
“Those little things all built up at the end. The anxiety, all the pressure, the exhaustion, it was a lot to handle,” aniya pa sa kanyang vlog.
Hanggang sa dumating na nga ang araw na hinding-hindi niya malilimutan, “Early in the morning of the 25th, at around 3 a.m., and I heard things that I wasn’t supposed to hear and it hurt. I must admit I went back to my room and I cried so hard.”
“Everything that I’ve been hearing for the past two days just came rushing in my head and I was heartbroken, I was devastated that night,” aniya pa.
Balak na sana niyang umuwi ng Manila pero mas nanaig ang kanyang paninindigan, “Everything just came crashing down on me and I couldn’t handle, I admit I wasn’t strong enough to handle that at that moment.
“I knew I was gonna break down, I knew I was gonna cry, and I didn’t want to do that in front of the cameras. They tried so hard to get a breakdown off of me in the past and it never worked. And I told them that I will not give them the satisfaction,” dagdag pa ni Michele.
Sinabihan niya raw ang production na gusto na niyang umalis pero hindi siya pinayagan dahil kailangan pa silang kunan, “I said, ‘Can we just do it now?’ and they said that they couldn’t. And I said I’m sorry that I had to leave and I left.”
Nag-text daw siya kay Jonas Gaffud, ang creative and events director ng Miss Universe Philippines, “I told him my reason, I told him that I was leaving, and I told him everything.”
“I also sent a message to our winner, and I congratulated her and I told her the reason why I’m leaving and she replied, ‘Thank you.’ And after that I thought everything was ok,” sabi pa niya na siyang pinagmulan ng issue dahil wala na siya sa Top 5 photo.
“What saddens me the most is that when people were making issues about me leaving and not being part of that photo, the organization knew why. They knew my reasons, they knew I left, but they never said anything. They kept quiet.
“And now so many stories are circulating, so many issues are circulating and I told myself that I have to speak up, I have to defend myself, I have to fight for myself because I knew nobody would,” himutok pa ng dalaga.
Panawagan naman ni Michele sa mga nagpapakalat ng fake news, “It doesn’t mean that even though we are free to speak our hearts and minds and share our passions about a certain topic, that it is ok to bring and take people down just because we feel bad.”
Pahayag pa niya, “It’s not just crowns that we should be fixing. We should be fixing society, because we can. We should be fixing systems, because we can. We should be fixing social issues, because we can. We should fixing the future, because we can.”