{"id":194711,"date":"2018-12-20T21:59:27","date_gmt":"2018-12-21T02:59:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=194711"},"modified":"2018-12-20T21:59:27","modified_gmt":"2018-12-21T02:59:27","slug":"prrd-meets-miss-universe-catriona-gray-in-courtesy-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/12\/20\/prrd-meets-miss-universe-catriona-gray-in-courtesy-call\/","title":{"rendered":"PRRD meets Miss Universe Catriona Gray in courtesy call"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte shakes the hand of Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray who paid a courtesy call on the President at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City on December 20, 2018. KING RODRIGUEZ\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA —<\/strong>\u00a0President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Thursday night met Philippine bet Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray in a courtesy call three days after she won the coveted title.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said their meeting took place at 6:20 p.m. at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City. It lasted at about 7:10pm.<\/p>\n

“They exchanged pleasantries. He thanked her for bringing the crown. He said everybody is euphoric about her win,\u201d Panelo told reporters in a message.<\/p>\n

Panelo said the President also mentioned that his partner Cielito \u201cHoneylet\u201d Avance\u00f1a wanted to meet Gray as well but had to stay in Davao City.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe told her she made every Filipino proud. He told her that Honeylet wanted to go with him to meet her but had to stay in Davao to attend to her daughter Kitty,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, who was also present during the courtesy call, noted how Gray raised the Philippine flag through both her words and actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe showed the universe the pride of the Philippines through her self-produced videos promoting our country\u2019s diverse culture and beautiful destinations,\u201d Puyat said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look forward to continuing and strengthening our collaboration with her in the coming year,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Earlier, Malaca\u00f1ang congratulated Gray for winning the fourth Miss Universe crown for the country on the pageant coronation night held in Bangkok, Thailand on Monday (Dec. 17).<\/p>\n

Panelo said Gray has made the Philippines proud when she showcased \u201cthe qualities defining a Filipina beauty: confidence, grace, intelligence, and strength in the face of tough challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

He noted that Gray\u2019s victory \u201csets the bar high in empowering more Filipino women to believe in themselves and to fight for their own place in the universe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Panelo also said that although Gray could have made up her own decision on her support for the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes, there was also a chance it was influenced by the stand of the President.<\/p>\n

\u201cCatriona Gray’s position on the legalization of marijuana for healing purposes could have been influenced by PRRD’s stand on the matter or she could have come up with that conclusion after considering the pros and cons of the issue,\u201d Panelo earlier said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is the only one who can answer whether or not she was influenced by PRRD. I suggest you ask her after her triumphant return,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

During the first question-and-answer portion, host Steve Harvey asked Gray the question: \u201cCanada recently joined Uruguay as the second nation in the world to make marijuana legal. What is your opinion on the legalization of marijuana?\u201d<\/p>\n

Gray answered: \u201cI\u2019m for being used in medical use but not so for recreational use. Because I think if people were to argue, \u2018what about alcohol and cigarettes?\u2019 So, everything is good but in moderation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gray won the country\u2019s fourth Miss Universe crown, taking after Pia Wurtzbach (2015), Margie Moran, (1973), and Gloria Diaz (1969).<\/p>\n

She is expected to fly to the US in January next year to fulfill her Miss Universe duties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA —\u00a0President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Thursday night met Philippine bet Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray in a courtesy call …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":194712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-194711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}