From Daily Tribune, 29 May 2021
https://tribune.net.ph/index.php/2021/05/29/bb-pilipinas-beauties-pay-tribute-to-tita-lingling/?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=1516ec6d18916ffff860efa32d24502136b61e1a-1623952639-0-ASuykfk920L_psgQDaiirHTtmz7zLkPMYRJoLYJAZdSqnBMZNxOigkHomDPySyiTzDkFa8J8gXuNsVtr3rQE-Q_YundjB0A98lM4DMbP2IAoI-98u4wreMQmEFnlzqIjTGLHlu6f7vtchMTOR95supmFm2a11aU1mhEtu7c5_E_8aI2hsJPxe4RmHA9rOmt40kT4OvQmD31tAXgklCwJ7oz2pbP_oVUE853zdvOITAzLj9Ev86o3IIn_yWZgRBAuSiWliYj1CpAspwE4_qTGdKLl-I1hgG3XogV4CPwzAx_YD2YlWV6okaZPluSXkvHYb2TbMoV9lXKW4b7lIgVgBetkQ8fnHTNF-3DAbnSfa1F6k2_cAtXuINba3JOLIGHJNS0Nn1qBoNPAN-WSkd60a7RhNS2SyGpYc4le-mofH-02ZOso0Tw_ueaHBARngqKN4zf8topDEUNIlFX4EP_DaGMoS7yb4vuz9lOt9yRSK0yx
Bb. Pilipinas beauties pay tribute to Tita Lingling
by Jojo G. Silvestre
Today is the birthday of someone special to the arts and culture community of Makati City, the stalwarts and iconic beauties of the Bb. Pilipinas Charities Inc. and my own Silvestre family.
Lingling Cervantes, or Tita Lingling to most people, is a name that conjures glamor, fun, action and discipline, all at the same time. These are but some of the elements that the lady of action has melded in any activity or cause she has committed herself to all these decades.
Before joining the Bb. Pilipinas Charities, Tita Lingling had been a commercial model promoting such products as Frigidaire, the brand that, for as long as one can remember, we, as a people, equated to refrigerators.
Then, she became the “Bb. Pilipinas girl” whom the contestants had to deal with from day one of the pageant, she being around and ensuring that they followed rules, behaved well and projected themselves as true and deserving beauty queens. Whether she was known as their official chaperone, or mother hen, or the right hand of Stella Marquez Araneta who chairs the Bb. Pilipinas Charities, she was undoubtedly the lady whom no one dared disobey.
From the Bb. Pilipinas Charities, where she was, for every annual search from the 1960s to the mid 1970s, feared and respected by the Bb. Pilipinas aspirants, she moved to the local government of Makati (then still a municipality) where she became the cultural czarina, equally exacting and charming.
Although I grew up in the province hearing of this wonderful woman, a family friend to the Silvestres, especially my aunts who attended the Philippine Women’s University in the 1950s, I met her only in the initial years of the new millennium. Late as our face-to-face meeting might have been, I am lucky because she has remained the same funny, sweet, generous and no-nonsense girl that I had heard of and been told that she was. Tita Lingling, by the way, describes herself as the 13th to the 12 Silvestre siblings of my father’s second generation. Indeed, a lucky addition for I have yet to see a more loyal and more concerned “Tita.” That she cooks the best osso buco makes her even more lovable. (Oh, when will I taste you again?)
Knowing of her get-together luncheons with the Bb. Pilipinas beauties through the years, I got in touch with some of the more famous title holders of the pageant’s early years to share their thoughts on Tita Lingling who many consider as the original “mother hen” of the Bb. Pilipinas contestants and winners. The term, I believe, does not do her justice if it is limited to someone who tends to fuss over her wards. Which is quite different from Tita Lingling who, instead, gave these titleholders her utmost care combined with tough love, ensuring that the best in themselves came out when they were representing our country in international beauty competitions.
Happy Birthday, Tita Lingling, and although this may be late, thanks for the Holiday on Ice experience at the Araneta Coliseum, which you gave my brother Binky and me when I was around six years old.
Tita Lingling does not only shower you with love, she also gives you lifetime memories.
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Margie Moran
Miss Universe 1973, Bb. Pilipinas 1973
A mother hen to us was Lingling Cervantes, the strict but caring superintendent to the candidates vying for Miss Universe, Miss International, and Miss Young International, along with Miss Maja Philippines and Miss World Peace Philippines.
In 1973, candidates of the Binibining Pilipinas Pageant checked in at the lodging facilities of the Araneta Coliseum. Some rooms resembled hotel suites. But I was billeted in an eight-bed dormitory. As fate turned out, all the winners came from that room. Next to me was Joan Gatlin. A few beds away were Marilen Ojeda and Marimi de la Fuente.
We called her Tita Lingling when a more accurate moniker might have been Mother Superior. She was petite, but her demeanor demanded strict adherence to rules. We complied, ensuring that we turned off both lights and girl talk on clockwork every night. More than just for beauty sleep purposes, these rules enabled us to report bright-eyed, ready for work during the pageant’s hectic days.
Tita Lingling’s elegance and manner of speech were always one of kindness and conviction, with a firm knowledge of navigating her wards into a higher standard of inner and outer beauty.
I treasure my memories with Tita Lingling as one who mothered me in those unforgettably exciting times.
Happy Birthday, Lingling. I hope you enjoy many more beautiful and joyful years with the same life of inner abundance that you have gifted other people!
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Gloria Diaz
Miss Universe 1969 and BB. Pilipinas 1969
I first met Lingling in the Bibinibining Pilipinas Pageant in 1969.
She was super strict. She was super mataray, super “no this, no that,” although we were slightly friendly and slightly more familiar with each other because we spoke Spanish.
Number one was don’t be late. Number two, don’t show that you are tired. Third, don’t show that you’re ready to die or to collapse. You got into this, so do your best.
It was all business for her during the rehearsals. She was never humorous or patient. As far as she was concerned, you had to get going. She was always around because she was like the right hand of Stella Marquez.
Long after I was Miss Universe, we would be in touch because of her job with the Makati Cultural Office while I am a local resident. She’d invite my nieces and my kids to join the annual Flores de Mayo. One time I even became a judge in the annual search for Miss Makati.
I am close to Lingling. I last saw her in a dinner about three or four years ago before the pandemic. Behn, her brother who is a close friend of mine, was there too.
Happy Birthday, Lingling. I want to grow as pretty as you are. I love your discipline and your commitment to responsibilities and yet you do not lose your sense of playfulness. Happy Birthday. I love you forever.
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Vida Doria
Bb. Pilipinas 1971 (Miss Photogenic of Miss Universe 1972)
Tita Lingling was practically the one running the whole show right from the start of every Bb. Pilipinas pageant.
Stella Marquez was lucky to have her there. Tita Lingling is so efficient, very organized and an extraordinary person. When she works, she really puts her heart into it. She was kind of strict but loving and caring. Although she expected you to toe the line.
After I won, it was she who coordinated my travel to the United States for the Miss Universe pageant. She made sure I would be able to secure my travel papers.
She was kind of scary but after a while, after you got to know her well, you already knew how to relate with her.
I became close to her brother, Behn Cervantes, who was my professor in the University of the Philippines. If you’re okay with Behn, I don’t think there’s any problem with Lingling. She was superficially stern.
Tita Lingling looks even better now. She got slimmer. She looks younger. My relationship with Tita Lingling is even better now.
Tita Lingling, I want you to be strong and healthy. I am looking forward to that time when we will be free to get together anytime that we want.
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Evelyn Camus
Bb. Pilipinas 1971, 2nd Runner Up, Miss International ‘71
Happy Birthday dear Lingling. You are really God’s blessing to everyone of us!
Tita Lingling taught us discipline and hard work from day one of the pageant and all the more when we won, which worked to our advantage in the beauty pageant abroad. In my case, in Long Beach California.
Tita Lingling, the other Bb. Pilipinas title holders and I have developed this special friendship. We have become more prayerful as we age.
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Simonette de los Reyes
Bb. Pilipinas Universe 1970
Lingling has always been connected to my thoughts of Binibini days, and that was way back 1970. Whenever I reminisce about being billeted at the Araneta Coliseum dormitory , my thoughts would always have Lingling in the background warning us that the orderliness of our rooms would be considered by the judges when they give us points. Of course it wasn’t true. It was just her way of telling us we better be neat and tidy. Or else!
She was our “pillar” then, like a second mother. Morning, noon, and night we were all under her care. It was more of her whom we saw often; much more than Madame Stella herself. I would always run to Lingling asking advice — what to wear, where we are we going next, where our next pictorial will be, should I fix my hair up or down.
Lingling was always feisty and strict but at the same time loving and caring. She was always there to build up our confidence, to the point that she made each one of us feel like we were all winners!
I remember our pre-judging interview behind closed doors. It was a one-on-one, with all judges together in one room and just me being interviewed while I was in my bathing suit.
I was so jittery and we had to wait outside on a single file while waiting for our name to be called. We were busy chit-chatting when I heard “De los Reyes you’re next.” It was Lingling alerting me.
As I walked toward the entrance door, a hand grabbed my elbow. It was Lingling. She said, “De los Reyes, tuck that in,” pointing to my stomach which relaxed somehow during the chitchat. It looked terrible in my tight one-piece bathing suit. So there I was, so tense throughout the entire interview, tucking my belly in so it would not look so relaxed.
After I won, I was bombarded by requests for interviews for newspaper and magazine articles. Lingling saw that I was too busy to answer a set of questions and so she volunteered to answer it.
The first question, I later found out, wanted to know who my Filipino idol was. She wrote there Juan Tamad without my knowledge. Soon, I was being bombarded with criticisms. My
cousin-in-law, Eddie Ilarde, a media personality, defended me in his column by explaining that Juan Tamad was the image projected by the Spaniards during the era. He explained it so well that the criticisms eventually fizzled out.
Lingling and I lost touch many years soon after but we were reunited just a few years during birthdays of other Binibining Pilipinas beauties.
I found out that Lingling loves to cook gourmet dishes as a hobby and not for business. I asked her to supply me with her all-time specialties. She makes a mean Osso Buco, Callos, Ilonggo adobong chicken using chestnuts. She does not use any recipe so if you request the same food from her, it would not exactly be the same although it is as delicious. Of course, she will tell you what she put as an original ingredient. Indeed, Lingling is a true artist.
Lingling never talks ill of anyone. She keeps her mouth shut even if the whole world says how evil a person is. LIngling does not engage in idle gossip.
Lingling, stay as feisty as you are even in your advancing years. I believe it is your secret anti-aging formula and it is very effective.
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Nini Licaros
Bb. Pilipinas-International 1968
I remember that when I won the title, Tita Lingling was very happy for me. She felt as jubilant as I was. As I prepared for the international competition, she attended to all my needs and guided me all the way.
From day one, everyone knew Tita Lingling to be strict. But one could not blame her. After all she was handling a lot of young women with different characters.
She was a disciplinarian. A contestant had no choice but to follow the rules. And we all followed her because she had been with Bb. Pilipinas all her life and she knew everything there was to know.
Eventually, we worked together at Makati City Hall when she was the tourism head and I was a councilor. We used to see each other a lot in various functions and I was even a board director in her department, which handled arts and culture programs in Makati.
Through the years, she has been consistently sincere, straightforward, loving and thoughtful. She calls us, her Bb. Pilipinas cohorts, “Hija” and treats us like her own family.
My wish for Tita Lingling is to have peace of mind, serenity and the company of people who love and care for her. We all love you, Tita Lingling.
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Cita Avecilla
Bb. Pilipinas Young International
“What’s too painful to remember, we simply choose to forget,” so goes the song. But I vividly recall the time that Lingling scolded me and told me to pack up and go home because I was not following her instructions. We were rehearsing and like those of an undeserved prima donna, my mind and body were far away. How I disliked her. But days passed and I realized the sacrifices she was making for all of us girls — the love, the care, the discipline.
I had the experience of my life with Lingling being there for me and she is the one person in the world that I cannot forget. When I got married and had my first child, I chose her to be the godmother -— we miss you, ninang!