The capital has chosen its standard-bearer — and she arrives with a résumé built as much in treatment rooms and outreach sites as on the runway.

Justine Felizarta has been formally named Manila’s representative to the upcoming national pageant, stepping onto the stage with a narrative shaped by experience rather than reinvention. More than a decade after her earliest competition days, she returns carrying a career that now spans aesthetics, business, and humanitarian work.

For Felizarta, the title signals responsibility more than recognition.

“I am not here to just wear a sash; I am here to carry the pulse of Manila.”

Her daily work outside pageantry centers on community medical outreach through her initiative, Reseta, where she collaborates with organizations to bring consultations and basic services to underserved neighborhoods. It was there, she says, that her purpose within the competition became clear.

“Through our work with Reseta, I’ve seen the disparity in our healthcare system. My goal is to use this platform to champion equitable health services.”

Rather than separating glamour and advocacy, she intends to merge them — presenting care as a form of empowerment.

“I want to show that beauty is most powerful when it is used to heal and provide for those in the margins.”

Her background reflects years of preparation: international placements, modeling victories, and professional training that extends beyond performance. The experience, she believes, equips her for a competition where communication and leadership now weigh as heavily as stage presence.

As Manila’s delegate, Felizarta enters a field of candidates from across the country but frames her journey as a collective representation rather than an individual pursuit — one shaped by the realities she has witnessed firsthand.

In her campaign, the crown becomes less a destination than a platform: a chance to translate visibility into service, and recognition into access.

For the newly named representative, the mission is simple — make the spotlight reach places that rarely receive one.