Salinlahi Alliance for Children’s Concerns on Monday, December 17, urged Catriona Gray to continue advocating and fighting for children’s rights.
This, after Gray bagged the Philippines’ fourth Miss Universe crown on Monday during the coronation event held in Bangkok, Thailand.
[READ: Filipino-Australian Catriona Gray is crowned the country’s fourth Miss Universe]
“While we congratulate you for your hard-earned victory, we encourage you to continue advocating and fighting for the rights of the Filipino children,” the child rights group said.
Salinlahi commended Gray for helping many Filipino children whom they said suffer from poverty, hunger, homelessness, abuses, and violence.
“This situation has been further aggravated by the ‘lack of child support’ primarily from the government who fails to do its mandate in upholding and protecting the rights of children and implements programs that place them in a very vulnerable situation and incomparable misery,” it stressed.
Salinlahi, however, agreed with Gray that there is a silver lining despite the dreadful situation.
“We see hope in the eyes of children and it gives us so much strength and courage to aspire and work for a better world where every child is respected and cared for,” it said.
Having the same vision, the group even offered Gray to take their children’s work orientation that will provide her with further knowledge and understanding of the situation of Filipino children and their marginalized families.
“We believe that through our partnership we will be able to see the most genuine smiles from the Filipino children, our nation’s hope and treasure,” Salinlahi said.
During the final portion of the competition, the top three candidates — Gray, Miss South Africa Tamaryn Green, and Miss Venezuela Sthefany Gutiérrez — were asked, “What is the most important lesson you’ve learned in your life and how would you apply it to your time as Miss Universe?”
To this, Gray shared that she has worked a lot in the slums of Manila’s Tondo district, where she was able to witness how “poor” and “sad” life is for residents there.
“I’ve always taught myself to look for the beauty of it, to look for beauty in the faces of the children and to be grateful. And I would bring this aspect as a Miss Universe, to see situations with a silver lining, and to assess where I could give something, where I could provide something as a spokesperson,” the newly-crowned Miss Universe said.
“If I could teach also people to be grateful, we could have an amazing world where negativity could not grow and foster, and children would have a smile on their faces,” she concluded.
While Gray’s winning answer was lauded by many Filipinos, others, however, were disappointed by it, saying that her response “romanticized” poverty.