KLARONG KLARO: Si Claro na nga!

UB & SLU Bets hog the Spotlight on National Stage

by Marciano A. Paroy Jr.
Good looks. Bearing. Onstage charisma. Advertising media appeal both in print
and onscreen. Wit. Charm while verbally expressing ones self. Some talent. Good
educational background. Manners. Amiable personality while still retaining ones
individual drive to outshine the rest. All of these are sure-fire ingredients for a win in a
pageant.
Especially good looks.
The probability of a handler finding one such person who embodies the abovementioned attributes can be pegged perhaps at 10 is to 1 (10:1), thats why handlers
are supposed to have a gifted eye in scouting that one Siya Na candidate in the
absence of a selection opportunity through which the less desirables can easily be
screened out as prospective representative of a participating entity (LGU, region,
school, organization, etc.).
Two or three of the aforementioned qualities may usually be missing in the total
package of an aspirant. Show the scouting handler a hint of your tactlessness and
youre definitely out. Some display of your brainlessness and youre brought to the
bottom list. A glimpse of your lack of competitive spirit and confidence and youre
ushered out of the door.
Consider this scenario: youre from the commercial modeling industry and youve
been asked to do coordinating tasks for a beauty and wellness product and field a pair
of candidates for Baguio City; they must be college students; and the advertising appeal
takes precedence: its a beauty product. You can no longer screen. You have two days.
You need to handpick. You then instantly become a scout and hastily took one male
from the University of Baguio and the female counterpart from the St. Louis University.
Thus is the story of how Claro Shane Nang-is and Shareen Bay-an ended up
spending their summer in a flurry of activities leading to the coronation night of the
pageant annually staged by a beauty product, in its search for that campus male and
female personalities who have the appeal suited for the product.
Result: Claro upgraded his Mr. La Trinidad 2015 1 st Runner-up standing by
taking back to Baguio City the grand prize, the title, during the finale of the pageant last
May 23, 2015 at the SM North Edsa Skydome in Quezon City. Shareen likewise
appended her stats as Ms Kapangan 2015 1st Runner-up by being selected as Ms
Congeniality. Lifesavers indeed for the modeling industry personality who instantly
became a scout and handler.
That handler is actually a tandem: the husband-wife tandem of Erik Salvador and
Carol Cachero Salvador. Erik, of course, is an authentic Cordilleran hero and idol who
really did the first crack on show business and the commercial modeling industry by
way of his victory as Mr. Philippines World in 1999, preceding Mt. Provinces beloved
Marky Cielo by seven years.
I would say part of Claros winning formula is his being down-to-earth, Carol
emphasizes. You know, just one of the boys. This sincere sticking to ones personality
has an endearing effect that shows up in his aura. As an Igorot, he upholds this cultural
tag of ours that what you see is what you get.

Erik and Carol handpicked him for his potentials to make it in the modeling
industry and even in show business, if he chooses to. Shareen Bay-an, aside from
sharing the same roots as Mr. Salvador, this Social Work student at SLU was likewise
handpicked by the couple, having worked with all the Ms Kapangan candidates as the
organizers for this years pageant thus conveniently having a pool of prospects that
they can draw their pick from.
Claro himself, who is the eldest in a brood of five children, can trace his ancestry
to Kapangan, via his grandparents. Described by Carol as humble and respectful, he
matches his parents determination for him to earn his BS HRM degree at UB by
working part-time at the Baguio office of an insurance company.
Indeed, good manners can be glimpsed in his social media acknowledgment of
all the people who supported him: This a sweet victory because of all of you who
supported me through this journey. Your inspiring encouragement online and through
text messages boosted my confidence to do my best for our beloved Cordillera.
Shareen echoed this by saying My very first experience of a pageant at the
national level will be cherished forever. It will never ever fade from memory. And then
this was followed by a listing of many names including the names of many of her
fellow female candidates. Quite fitting for a lady who was voted by the candidates as the
friendliest among them all. Not bad for the image-boosting efforts of Kapangan.
The constantly buzzing online activity for both candidates though far more
intense for Claro helped snag for Mr. Nang-is the Mr. Popularity minor award. The
official online voting was appropriately matched by social media pages devoted to the
candidates online presence most notably of which is the Cordillera Pageanistas and
Fashionistas Facebook page created by Jonar Guidangen Dang-awan, more known for
his moniker Akoy Igorot who is based in Bologna, Italy.
Following his Manila victory, Claro was presented to Mayor Edna Tabanda and
Vice Mayor Romeo Salda of La Trinidad, Benguet by Erik Salvador as a courtesy call.
This success story, which may be looked down upon by pageant haters, did rally us
Cordillerans together again, from wherever part of the globe we may be as we have
previously shown for those who followed Eriks footsteps, like Glennifer Perido (who
also sat as member of the judging panel), Rickson Logaspi, Dennis Keliag and Apple
Anne Bartolome who all did well in their online popularity. It somewhat warms the heart,
knowing there are people out there whom you can count on for support, actual or virtual,
and for all that, we say THIS IS A GENUINE CORDILLERAN TRIUMPH.
Si Claro? Siya na nga at Shareen (siya rin)!
- with inputs from Carol Cachero