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Official portraits of Ahtisa Manalo as Miss Universe Philippines 2025
Ahtisa Manalo via Instagram, photos by Seven Barretto
MANILA, Philippines — Make way for our Pambansang Manika, Miss Universe Philippines 2025 Ahtisa Manalo.
The beauty queen was crowned the newest Miss Universe Philippines titleholder last May 2 on her third attempt to represent the country in the world's biggest pageant.
The pageant veteran strutted on the stage to make it her own, unfazed even by an accidental trip during the evening gown competition.
Ahtisa looked back at the incident when she appeared on the May 7 episode of "Fast Talk with Boy Abunda," where the host immediately asked Ahtisa if she had labeled her signature walk as most beauty queens often do these days.
Her predecessors, Chelsea Manalo and Michelle Dee, had their "Tampisaw" and "Snake" walks, respectively, while Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray is remembered for her iconic "Lava Walk."
The new Miss Universe Philippines shared that she is going with "Pambansang Manika Walk," derived from her moniker that means national doll in English.
She then demonstrated and explained that her walk involves "being sweet and demure but also powerful," accentuated by a power stance.
Early in their conversation, Boy brought up Ahtisa's evening gown trip, which the beauty queen said was caused by her Val Taguba dress getting caught in her heels while walking down the steps.
"The moment I fell, I just wanted to get up. I knew I didn't want to be there, I just wanted to get up as fast as I [could]," Ahtisa said, with Boy comparing the incident to when Miriam Quiambao's trip in Miss Universe 1999 en route to a 1st runner-up finish.
Ahtisa mentioned the fall in her Question & Answer response about leading by example, explaining people were there to witness it. For Ahtisa, it made a good reference for her winning answer to the dreaded final portion of the pageant.
Before playing the titular "Fast Talk" game, Ahtisa admitted that individuals would need around half a million pesos to compete in pageants and that she was currently single.
Ahtisa will represent the Philippines in the 74th Miss Universe pageant taking place in Thailand later this year. Coincidentally, Gray, Ahtisa's Binibining Pilipinas 2018 batchmate, won the country's fourth and most recent crown in Thailand. — Video from GMA Network's YouTube channel
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