Aurora McKenney Pijuan (born November 11, 1949) is a Filipino beauty queen who was crowned Miss International 1970.

Biography

She comes from

Bacolod Bacolod, officially the City of Bacolod (; hil, Dakbanwa/Syudad sang Bacolod; fil, Lungsod ng Bacolod), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the region of Western Visayas, Philippines. It is the capital of the province of Negros Occidenta ...

and is a graduate of Saint Scholastica's College (batch 1967). A product of the 1970

Binibining Pilipinas Binibining Pilipinas (abbreviated as Bb. Pilipinas; ) is a national beauty pageant in the Philippines that selects Filipina representatives to compete in one of the Big Four international beauty pageants: Miss International and selects two ot ...

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

, Aurora was sent to

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

to compete, and eventually win, Miss International 1970. Her victory paved the Philippines to become the first country to win consecutively twice. Pijuan went on to marry golfer and basketball coach Tomas Manotoc. The couple have two children, Mavis and Tomas Jr. ("TJ"). Manotoc obtained a divorce from Pijuan in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

and married

Imee Marcos Maria Imelda Josefa Remedios "Imee" Romualdez Marcos (; born November 12, 1955) is a Filipina politician and former actress serving as a Senator since 2019. She is the daughter of Ferdinand Marcos and former first lady Imelda Marcos and the ol ...

, daughter of then Philippine president

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. ( , , ; September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled under martial ...

, on December 4, 1981. In

1984 Philippine parliamentary election A parliamentary election was held on May 14, 1984 in the Philippines. Like past elections, charges of bribery, protests and complaints on irregularities marred the elections. Former ''Manila Times'' publisher Chino Roces and former senator and op ...

, she failed to win a seat as assemblyman to the

Batasang Pambansa The Batasang Pambansa Complex, or simply the Batasan (), is the seat of the House of Representatives of the Philippines. It is located along the Batasan Road in Batasan Hills, Quezon City. The complex was initially the home of the Batasang Pa ...

for

Makati Makati ( ), officially the City of Makati ( fil, Lungsod ng Makati), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. Makati is the financial center of the Philippines; it has the highest concentration ...

. Pijuan is currently an active member of the

Gawad Kalinga Gawad Kalinga (GK) ("to give care" in Tagalog) is a Philippine poverty alleviation and nation-building movement known officially as the Gawad Kalinga Community Development Foundation. Its mission is to end poverty for 5 million families by 2024. ...

movement in the rural areas of the Philippines.

References

* https://web.archive.org/web/20061022074056/http://www.pathfinder.com/asiaweek/96/1011/feat6.html *https://web.archive.org/web/20061024194857/http://www.visayandailystar.com/2006/Starlife/2006/April/02/feature2.htm 1949 births Living people Binibining Pilipinas winners Miss International winners People from Bacolod Miss International 1970 delegates St. Scholastica's College Manila alumni {{Asia-pageant-bio-stub