MANILA, Philippines — Miss Universe Philippines 2025 Ahtisa Manalo gave a stellar performance at the 74th Miss Universe preliminary competition last November 19.
Filipino pageant fans were all praises for our representative's masterful pasarela in both the swimsuit and evening gown categories.
Philstar.com had an exclusive interview with esteemed beauty pageant analysts Tita Lavinia and Norman Tinio to get their thoughts on Ahtisa's preliminary performance and her chances of winning the Miss Universe crown for the Philippines.
Rock-solid performance
For Norman, Ahtisa gave a "rock-solid" performance.
"In my opinion, it was the best preliminaries from a Philippine candidate, even eclipsing Miss Universe 2021 Top 5 finalist Bea Luigi Gomez," he added.
The pageant expert gave Ahtisa an overall grade of 9.7 for both swimsuit and evening gown.
Tita Lavinia, who called Ahtisa "the last of the Binibini greats" as she joined Binibining Pilipinas in 2018 and won 1st runner-up at Miss International 2018, noted that she exceeded everyone’s expectations by bringing that same 2018 energy to her preliminary performance.
"She gave us more with her overall styling, fluidity, and total commitment, as well as her connection to the camera following her," she added.
Related: Ahtisa Manalo wows social media with Miss Universe 2025 preliminaries performance
Post-Prelims Top 20
Tito Norman:
- Côte d’Ivoire
- Philippines
- Latina
- Colombia
- Thailand
- Venezuela
- Chile
- Guadeloupe
- Turks & Caicos
- Mexico
- Peru
- Puerto Rico
- India
- Brazil
- Argentina
- France
- Paraguay
- U.S.A.
- Vietnam
- Portugal
Tita Lavinia:
- Philippines
- Puerto Rico
- Côte d’Ivoire
- Thailand
- Latina
- Colombia
- Venezuela
- India
- Guadeloupe
- Turks & Caicos
- Chile
- Mexico
- China
- Costa Rica
- Haiti
- Malta
- Portugal
- Estonia
- Laos
- Myanmar
Tita Lavinia made it clear that should the finals had been held right after the preliminaries, and pageant politics and economic talks were set aside, she'd declare Ahtisa the winner.
Related: WATCH: Ahtisa Manalo sparkles in Mak Tumang gown at Miss Universe 2025 prelims
Fifth crown?
Time and again, we have asked these beauty experts if the fifth crown for the Philippines is still within reach for this pageant veteran, especially after her flawless preliminary performance.
"Absolutely. If we've been mind-conditioned that we'd never win at MGI — more so to get a back-to-back — who's to say a fifth crown isn't possible for a candidate who performed and has a wide fan base?" said Tita Lavinia.
She is referring to the back-to-back coronations of CJ Opiaza and Emma Mary Tiglao at Miss Grand International.
Tito Norman reckons the fifth crown is within arm's reach, citing his faith in Ahtisa's communication skills.
"If she can deliver in the Q&A part flawlessly, then our fifth crown is just waiting for her," he said. "A predominantly Latino panel in the finals will be a source of concern. But if fate is on her side, then we just might have reasons to celebrate."
Filipino pageant fans are hopeful that in tomorrow's finals, Ahtisa will clinch the Philippines’ fifth Miss Universe crown — right in the same country where her Binibining Pilipinas batchmate Catriona Gray won seven years ago.
Norman Tinio is a permanent fixture in Philippine pageantry. He has a widely followed pageant blog: https://normannorman.com/
Tita Lavinia is a popular pageant analyst and a certified cat lover. Follow and subscribe to her widely popular YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TitaLavinia