“How does it feel that you’ve been tagged as an icon of elegance and fashion?” DAILY TRIBUNE asked Margarita “Tingting” Cojuangco, to which the Filipina politician, philanthropist and socialite replied: “Well, it makes me feel like a fossil!”

“An elegant Filipina is attractive because of her demeanor, her manners, but most especially, she’s not concentrated on herself. She’s concentrated on the elegance of the purpose of her life,” Cojuangco said as response to the follow-up question of DAILY TRIBUNE on how she defines an “elegant Filipina,” in time for her release of “Tingting’s List: The Elegant Filipinas 2025” in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City recently.

“An elegant Filipina, the definition is simplicity, grace and good taste,” added Consul to Monaco and past honoree Fortune Ledesma, co-director of the list that aims not only to salute the country’s most accomplished women of style and philanthropy, but also to raise funds for charity.

“It’s not only the way they dress up, but it’s a way of living. You have to be charitable so that you’re aware of the needs of our less fortunate brothers and sisters.”

For its 2025 iteration, the list’s beneficiary was Philippine Society for Orphan Disorders, a non-profit organization established in 2006 supporting families and individuals affected by rare or orphan diseases. In the past, among the list’s beneficiaries were widows of the SAF 44, typhoon “Yolanda” victims and La Trinidad, Mt. Province weavers.

“I have nothing against cosmetic surgery or anything. It’s just that, I believe that true elegance, like true beauty, for me, is to have the grace, the elegance, and it radiates outwards,” said Crystal Jacinto, owner of health and wellness firm Villa Medica Philippines, honoree and co-presenter of the list. 

“So if your beauty is from the inside, then it radiates outward just like that. But I have nothing against like surgeries or anything like that. It’s just that a true elegant Filipina doesn’t need any alteration, I guess.”

Joining Jacinto in the 2025 list were actresses Sharon Cuneta and Marian Rivera; Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach-Jauncey; Department of Justice Undersecretary Margarita Gutierrez; Janet Olivarez, City Nutrition Action officer and wife of the mayor of Parañaque; Vanessa Pastor-Ledesma, entrepreneur and Consul of Montenegro; Alice Eduardo, the founder, president and chief executive officer of Sta. Elena Construction and Development Corporation; Joy Wambangco Rustia, an entrepreneur who runs the Wamrus Group of Companies; Linda Ley, art collector and former businesswoman; and Annette Gozon-Valdes, lawyer and president, chief executive officer of GMA Films and the president of GMA Worldwide.

In past years, among those in the list were Amparito Lhuillier, Lucy Torres-Gomez, Dawn Zulueta, Karen Davila, Audrey Tan Zubiri, Tweetie de Leon Gonzalez, Lulu Tan Gan, Joanna Preysler, KC Concepcion, Small Laude and cousins Heart Evangelista and Happy Ongpauco.

The women in the list were handpicked by Tingting and a small committee she formed. The women in last year’s list were honored in a gala night last 5 November in Shangri-La Makati, featuring a 25-piece fashion show dubbed “Magenta Realm” by international Filipino designer Albert Andrada.

According to Cojuangco, the 2025 honorees’ selection is a reaction against “nepo babies” or children of politicians who flaunt their wealth and fashion despite these coming from questionable sources or presumed ill-gotten wealth.

The women in the list, she said, are reminders to others to “live gracefully and purposefully.”

“We came up with a list of these women who are consistently elegant in words and manner and clothing and in deeds, yes, they help others,” Cojuangco said. “We should come up to prove that there are better Filipinos who help and not keep on acquiring, but helping.”