Athena Mae Imperial

Athena Mae Imperial is a communication researcher and beauty queen from Casiguran, Aurora, Philippines. She competed in the eleventh edition of the national Miss Philippines Earth beauty pageant where she emerged as the winner and was crowned Miss Philippines Earth 2011. She was crowned Miss Earth-Water 2011 during the coronation night of the Miss Earth 2011 pageant held in the Philippines.


Miss Philippines Earth 2011
Imperial joined and represented Casiguran, Aurora in the national Miss Philippines Earth 2011, the largest and most widely participated beauty pageant in the Philippines with 50 official candidates participated in 2011. As a beauty titleholder, she fulfills her duty as one of the spokespersons of the Miss Earth Foundation, an environmental-social-humanitarian outreach arm of Miss Earth beauty pageant.

The pageant was participated by delegates representing various towns, cities, and overseas Filipino communities in the beauty contest that promotes environmental awareness. The event was telecast by ABS–CBN Broadcasting Corporation in the Philippines and by The Filipino Channel internationally.

Imperial was one of the initial 50 candidates, and after a series of four eliminations, she was announced as one of the final 10 finalists during the talent and cultural costume competitions at Thunderbird Resorts in Binangonan, Rizal.

In the final competition of the Miss Philippines Earth 2011, she competed and achieved one of the five highest scores in the swimsuit, and evening gown competitions for her stage chops and question and answer portion of the pageant. At the conclusion of the pageant, she won and was crowned Miss Philippines Earth 2011. She was crowned by the outgoing Miss Philippines Earth 2011 titleholder, Psyche Resus on June 5, 2011 at the Puerto Princesa City Coliseum in Palawan.

Imperial is 24 years old at the time of crowning and stands 5 feet and 5 inches in height. She works as a program researcher for one of the country’s biggest networks and she hopes to become a news reporter. She bested 49 other candidates in the beauty contest which is focused on the protection and preservation of Mother Earth. She also won the People's Choice award.

After her feat in the Miss Philippines Earth pageant, the governor of the Philippine province of Aurora predicted that Imperial would someday follow in her footsteps as governor and said: “Every time I heard her speak, I told myself one day she will become governor of Aurora,” because Imperial has a good political persona and given that she is a graduate of the country’s premiere school, the University of the Philippines, where the Angaras had learned the hard knocks of life.



Controversy
Imperial got into a controversy for her misconstrued statement about Miss Universe 2011 Third Runner-up Shamcey Supsup when she was interviewed by Filipino television host Boy Abunda on the Bottomline on June 25, 2011. When Abunda asked Imperial, "If you are to compete with Shamcey in a pageant, what part of it will you stand out?" she made the quick answer, "Question-and-answer portion!" Her bold reply triggered negative reactions from different people on the Internet and social networking sites. Soon after, she clarified the issue of rivalry between her and Supsup through the Philippine Entertainment Portal (PEP), explaining that she was not underestimating the latter's ability, even expressing her intention to be friends with the latter.

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