Venus Raj won’t get special treatment: DFA

Posted at 04/12/2010 4:29 PM | Updated as of 04/12/2010 4:46 PM

MANILA, Philippines – Dethroned beauty queen Maria Venus Raj will not be given any special treatment when she applies for a Philippine passport, an official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Monday. 

DFA spokesman Eduardo Malaya said Raj will have to go through the right process before she can obtain a passport.

He announced the creation of an ad hoc committee to look into the case of the Filipino-Indian beauty from Camarines Sur.

According to Malaya, this is to avoid any perception that the department is giving the beauty queen a preferential treatment.

The Binibining Pilipinas Charities, Inc. (BPCI) stripped Raj of her crown due to inconsistencies in her birth records. BPCI later announced that it was allowing the beauty queen to reclaim her title "for humanitarian reasons."

The dethroned 2010 Binibining Pilipinas-Universe can only reclaim her crown if she can secure a valid Philippine passport.

"We have reassessed the situation pertaining to Miss Maria Venus Raj and have decided, for humanitarian reasons, that if she is able to obtain a valid Philippine passport, we will reinstate her as the reigning Bb. Pilipinas-Universe," the BPCI said in a statement issued on Saturday.


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6 comments

Stop the red tape!

I understand the need to treat everyone the same, but in other countries, there's an expedited process for getting a passport depending on your departure date. This is not VIP treatment. It's being accomodating! What's up with the red tape? Tama na!


Stop the red tape!

I understand the need to treat everyone the same, but in other countries, there's an expedited process for getting a passport depending on your departure. This is not VIP treatment. It's being accomodating! What's up with the red tape? Tama na!


Since she plans to become a

Since she plans to become a model for young teens in our country to look up to, i believe that she should follow the process of clearing up the inconsistencies. how can she be a model if she her self doesn't follow the rules(even if its broken).

OT: If shes going to have problems acquiring her passport then I could think of the many potential problems she may face if she enters the Ms. universe pageant.

The mind chooses what it wants to see

venus raj

Tama lang na no special treatment. As a law abiding citizen, Venus should have done this a long time ago. Maybe she thought by winning a crown, the DFA will submit to her wishes. What BPCI has done is to put the issue into the family of Raj. Sa madaling salita, naghugas kamay.


DFA Should Help!

It's because Miss Raj just came from ordinary and poor family thus DFA wont give any special treatment? No wonder!

Should Venus came from a prominent or from an influential family her case will be treated differently or perhaps she wont even have a problem at all!

This lady is going to represent our country and she should be already undergoing trainings and the likes to boost her chances for the title and yet DFA will issue an adding insult to injury statement like this instead of extending their help where exactly one of their mandates to Filipino people? Not necessarily a VIP treatment but DFA could facilitate some measures to speed up processing time. If they can do it to their friends or their influential government official then why not for a real poor but deserving filipino individual who has another chance to bring glory and honor to the Filipino nation?!

Clearly this is BPCI's ineptness in the screening process! they should not impose such condition but rather they should publicly apologize to Venus and help her to process her requirements instead! BPCI should learn how to bear the consequences of their mistakes!

This case and that of Ms. Janina San Miguel (in 2008) are clear proof of incompetent BPCI's preliminary screening procedure! Perhaps it's time to reassess and reevaluate its system procedure, its staff and their competencies to avoid another similar problem in the future!

pagbabago... kaya natin ito!

that's good

everyone should undergo proper process... no one should be a VIP so that no one would react... tama yang pare-pareho ang pagtrato mahirap man o mayaman. para di unfair sa iba.

Bangon Pilipinas!