Pasay City's Celeste Cortesi was crowned as Miss Universe Philippines 2022 on Sunday, April 30 during the pageants coronation night at the Mall of Asia Arena.
She will be representing the country in the 71st Miss Universe this year.
Joining Cortesi in the winner's circle are Makati delegate Michelle Dee who received the Miss Universe Philippines-Tourism crown, and Pauline Amelinckx from Bohol who was proclaimed Miss Universe Philippines-Charity.
Annabelle MacDonnell from Misamis Oriental placed first runner-up while Katrina Llegado from Taguig was named second runner-up.
During the final Question and Answer portion, Cortesi was asked by Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach, “If you could stop time for a day, how would you spend it?”
The beauty queen answered, “If I could stop time, I would spend it with my family, especially my mother. It’s been two years [since I have seen] my family because they live in Italy and I came to the Philippines just by myself, so if I had a chance to spend one day, I would definitely be with my mom and I would just tell her how much I love her and I miss her.”
Cortesi had previously won the Miss Earth Philippines crown and represented the country at the 2018 edition of Miss Earth.
Along with Wurtzbach, other Miss Universe queens Iris Mittenaere, and Demi-Leigh Tebow hosted the coronation night.
Miss Universe 2021 Harnaaz Sandhu was also present at the event as one of the judges.
