PH bet Dia Mate is Reina Hispanoamericana 2025
The Philippines has bagged the Reina Hispanoamericana title for a second time after singer and model Dia Mate was crowned this year’s winner in ceremonies held in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, on Feb. 9 (Monday, Manila time).
Mate, a native of Cavite who comes from the Remulla political clan, bested 24 other aspirants in the Latin-dominated international competition to inherit the title from 2023/2024 winner Maricielo Gamarra from Peru. Actress Teresita Ssen “Winwyn” Marquez was the first candidate from the Philippines to win the title in 2017.
Sofia Fernandez of Venezuela was proclaimed “Virreina” or vice queen. She will inherit the crown should Mate fail to perform her duties.
Named as “finalistas” or runners-up were the delegates from Colombia, Spain, Peru, Brazil and Poland.
In her sheer Rian Fernandez gold column gown, Mate delivered her winning answer to the question: What value do you think is the most important to our society, and why do you think this is important?
“I think the one most important value that we should have is kindness. And my experience here in Bolivia is that you have showed me so much kindness and so much love even though racially I am not Latina. And the most beautiful thing I’ve noticed is that even though we don’t speak the same language, we share the same culture, same heart and same faith in God,” she said.
“And I hope this shows to everybody that if we use kindness, that we are all the same, then we can create a better world and a better society for us all,” she added.
Mate, who also won the Best in National Costume or the “traje tipico” contest, is the girlfriend of musician JK Labajo.
Established in 1991 to promote Bolivia as a tourist destination, the pageant which was then known as Reina Sudamerica covered only South American countries.
It was later rebranded as Reina Hispanoamericana to serve as a platform to promote Hispanic culture with the pageant opened to candidates from countries with Spanish influences.
