after the hostage taking situation here in the Philippines, the news that the Philippine representative to Ms Universe 2010 Venus Raj made it to the top 5 was a welcome and a relief. welcome because after a week of too many bad news here comes a good one that can bring smile to a lot of people. a relief, that after 11 years of drought in that contest, finally there is a chance for our contestant to get the title. the excitement watching the live coverage of the ms universe was worth the feeling i had then. who would not welcome such news. anyway, here comes the announcement of winners, ms Philippines was announced first as the fourth runner up, was i disappointed? yes i was but nevertheless happy about it. you know why? finally miss venus raj has been vindicated. why did i say vendicated. here is the story. after the binibining Pilipinas pageant, the winners were supposed to be preparing for their respective international pageants but ms venus raj was busy with her case of trying to get back the crown that was taken away from her due to an issue about an inconsistency in her birth certificate which i have no idea why the committee task to check on it never found out before the pageant. here comes this probinsyana lass trying out her luck in one of the most coveted pageant in the country and succesfully won it and is trying to fight those big names that runs the pageant, right there and then this lass earned my respect. i don’t know what hounds this pageant that it cannot function according to what it advertise there is always a controversy every year about anything that i cannot help but wonder if the people behind it is really capable of handling such jobs. my sympathy went to ms raj and was hoping and praying that she gain back her crown and be able to represent the country. luckily my prayers was answered and i know that i was not the only one who prayed for it. then came the international contest and the announcement of the top 10 finalist. when ms raj name was announced i was already contented with it. at least she was able to prove herself that she can do it. top 5 finalist, her name was announced again, so much elation and shouting around the room, you can feel the thrill and laughter all around. there were enemies all glued to the screen of the television, but at that moment they were two individuals who created a silent pact that day, and that is to both see our contestant win the title. ms raj was already a winner to us. then came this comments about her answer which some people thinks that if she could have answered in a different way she could have won. but to me it was ok. it was her who was there, we don’t know what she was feeling when she answered the question, we will not know what to feel because only a few is given the opportunity to stand in that stage and represent the whole country. whatever those critics is saying about the answer, i on my behalf would like to say that i am proud of ms raj and she made the country proud. she made us women proud.