Manila, June 2, 2003 -- 2003 Bb. Pilipinas-Universe Carla Gay Sunga Balingit is in great shape going into the homestretch of the 52nd Miss Universe Pageant which will be held at the Panama Canal Village Convention Center on June 3 (June 4 in Manila, to be aired on RPN 9 at 9:30 a.m. with a primetime telecast at 7 p.m.)

Her hair cut to shoulder length and several pounds lighter, Carla is in tip-top shape, reaping the fruits of her month-long pageant training in Cartagena, Colombia even as she vies, along with 71 other national beauty queens, for the coveted Miss Universe diamond-and-pearl crown currently held by Panamanian Justine Pasek.

Unfazed by formidable contenders from perennial "powerhouses" Venezuela (Mariangel Ruiz), India (Nikita Anand) and the USA (Susie Castillo, who is of Puerto Rican parentage), Carla is bent on repeating her victory at the Bb. Pilipinas pageant last March 15, where she started as an "underdog" but eventually outshone the favorites to take the coveted Bb. Pilipinas-Universe title.

Aside from Misses India, USA and Venezuela, the other early favorites are: Misses Brazil (Gislaine Ferreira), Colombia (Diana Mantilla), Dominican Republic (Amelia Vega), Estonia (Katrin Susi), Greece (Marietta Chrousala), Italy (Sylvia Ceccon), Serbia & Montenegro (Sanja Papic), South Africa (Cindy Nell), Spain (Eva Gonzalez), and host Panama (Stefanie De Roux).

In an exclusive interview with Henrique Fontes of Global Beauties, Inc.
(one of several net servers of Miss Universe), Carla said she was proud to be 100 percent Filipino and hopes that people would "appreciate me for who I naturally am, not for what others say I am or want me to be."

Carla also cited that beauty pageants represent a national passion in the
Philippines, like soccer is to Latin America, and that she, as a beauty
queen, is pressured to do well.

Judging from her photos in preliminary Miss Universe events in Panama,
Carla has undergone remarkable transformation (thanks to her intensive
training in Colombia) and stands a good chance to make it to the next round of 15.

With NBC at the helm of the Miss Universe Worldwide telecast for the first
time, the annual beauty spectacle has been reformatted and 15 (instead of the usual 10) semi-finalists will be selected to compete in the evening
gown competition. Only the top 10 scorers in that round will advance into
the next round where they will compete in fully-beaded red Endless Sun
swimwear. The gown and swimsuit scores of the 10 finalists will then be
averaged and only the top five will advance to the interview portion where
they will be asked the final and deciding question.

To add suspense and drama to the theater audience as well as to the
worldwide televiewers, no scores will be flashed on TV, a break from a
25-year tradition.

Miss Universe 1998 Wendy Fitzwilliam of Trinidad & Tobago will be among the Preliminary judges, while Miss Universe 1985 Deborah Carthy-Deu of Puerto Rico will be among the judges during the televised finals. Billy Bush and Daisy Fuentes will host the much-awaited event.