Miss Grand Philippines is a female national beauty pageant in the Philippines, launched in 2014 by John Dela Vega,[1][2] who was also the founder of the "Hause of JDV", one of the country's most recognized pageant training camps.[3] The winner of the contest represents the country at its parent international platform, Miss Grand International.[1][2] In cooperation with the Binibining Pilipinas Charities, Inc. (BPCI), some national finalists of the Binibining Pilipinas pageant were assigned to participate in the Miss Grand International pageant in 2013 and 2015.[4][5][6]
In 2016, the competition license was transferred to BPCI.[7] Under the supervision of BPCI, from 2016 to 2022, majority of Filipino representatives at the Miss Grand International pageant were directly determined through the Binibining Pilipinas contest,[7] except for the 2020 season, wherein the runner-up of the previous edition was appointed to participate.[8] The Miss Grand Philippines pageant, on the other hand, returned as a separate platform in 2023 when the franchise was passed to the ALV Pageant Circle under the leadership of talent manager and businessman Mr. Arnold L. Vegafria.[9][10][11]
Since the inception of the Miss Grand International pageant in 2013, the Philippines has yet to win the contest, but hold a record of six placements; the highest position is the first runner-up, obtained by Nicole Cordoves in 2016 and Samantha Bernardo in 2020.[12][13]
History
Before the 2020s, the Philippines had only one Miss Grand national standalone pageant, which took place in 2014.[2] Under the direction of John Dela Vega, who served as the national licensee from 2013 to 2015. The contest was held on August 16 at the GT-Toyota Asian Cultural Center in Quezon City, where Kimberly Karlsson of Oriental Mindoro was named the winner.[2] The remaining representatives were either chosen on the Binibining Pilipinas stage or appointed,[7] such as Parul Shah, who was elected Binibining Pilipinas Tourism in the Binibining Pilipinas 2014 pageant, but was later assigned to represent the country at the Miss Grand International 2015 pageant instead,[4][5] due to the cancellation of the Miss Tourism International 2014 pageant;[14] as well as Samantha Bernardo, who was appointed Miss Grand Philippines 2020 after obtaining the second runner-up position at the Binibining Pilipinas 2019 pageant.[8]
^α Resigned from the title after finishing the international contest in Venezuela, Bb. Pilipinas 2019 1st Runner-up, Maria Andrea Abesamis was later promoted to take over the title but did not go internationally to compete.[7]
^β Initially finishing as one of the top 20 finalists, she has since been promoted to the 5th Runner-up (Top 10) position as a replacement for Miss Grand Mauritius, who resigned from the title.[16]
