Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach defended Miss Philippines Maxine Medina after the latter mistakenly said a former first lady “invented” the Filipino terno.
“It’s a mistake, it wasn’t done intentionally. She honestly did not know. Are we really going to put our girl down because of a statement like that?” Wurtzbach said.
In a recorded video shown during the preliminary pageant on Thursday, Medina said former first lady Imelda Marcos “invented the terno.”
“The terno was actually invented by our former first lady, Imelda Marcos. She invented these butterfly sleeves and they use these [for] covering their face,” Medina said.
For Wurtzbach, Filipinos should give Medina a break.
“It’s a mistake she did not know. And perhaps next time she can be a little bit more mindful of facts that she will share especially that she is the host delegate,” Wurtzbach said.
She added Filipinos should instead support Medina.
“(W)e should be celebrating because she’s made it so far already. This girl has been training for months and months leading up to the competition and what she really needs now is encouragement, along with the other candidates. Three days nalang eh,” the reigning queen said.
The Miss Universe coronation is on Monday, Jan. 30, 2017.
CNN Philippines’ Correspondent Isabella Montano contributed to this report.
