Chelsea Manalo (right) reunites with her “sisters” from Miss Universe Philippines 2024 Victoria Velasquez Vincent (center) and Christina Chalk./VOLTAIRE TAYAG PHOTO FACEBOOK

Chelsea Manalo found two sure friends among the throngs of beauties who gathered in Mexico for the Miss Universe 2024 pageant when she reunited with her national pageant “sisters,” Victoria Velasquez Vincent and Christina Chalk.

The three participated in the Miss Universe Philippines 2024 pageant in May, where Manalo won the first prize. Vincent, who represented Bacoor, Cavite, in the national competition finished in the Top 10. Chalk, the delegate of the Filipino community from the United Kingdom, made it to the Top 20.

Miss Universe Philippines (MUPH) Executive Vice President Voltaire Tayag shared a photo of the three women together in Mexico City, with Manalo and Chalk showing their hearts to the camera, as the Miss Universe 2024 pageant takes place.

Vincent, who was previously crowned Miss Universe Philippines-Charity in the 2021 national pageant, was initially offered to represent New Zealand in the Miss Universe 2021 pageant, but she turned it down. After the 2024 pageant in the Philippines, she returned to her father’s home country to seize this opportunity again and won the title of Miss Universe New Zealand.

Chalk toured pageants in the UK before flying to the Philippines, her mother’s home country, to continue her quest for a crown. After the national search in Manila, she returned to England and won the title of Miss Universe Great Britain.

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Christina Chalk of Great Britain (from left), Victoria Velasquez Vincent of New Zealand and Shereen Ahmad of Bahrain join Chelsea Manalo in this photo./MISS UNIVERSE PHILIPPINES FACEBOOK PHOTO

But the three ladies are not the only women of Filipino descent competing in the Miss Universe 2024 pageant. Shereen Ahmad, born in Bahrain and raised partly in the Philippines, is representing her father’s Arab nation in the international competition, giving Manalo another “kababayan” to bond with.

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The Miss Universe 2024 pageant brings together the largest number of delegates in the history of the global pageant, with participants from more than 120 countries and territories competing for the title currently held by Sheynnis Palacios, the first winner from Nicaragua.

The new queen will be crowned at the culmination of the final competition at the CDMX Arena in Mexico City on November 16 (November 17 in Manila). Manalo will attempt to achieve the Philippines’ fifth victory in the Miss Universe pageant, following Gloria Diaz (1969), Margie Moran (1973), Pia Wurtzbach (2015) and Catriona Gray (2018).