Ima Cleofe: The good daughter

Wake-uppers:

Scene: Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has finally filed his COC for president in Friday under PDP-Laban in substitution of Martin Dino who earlier filed and withdrew his COC for Duterte.

Scene: Today ends the People’s Pilgrimage for Climate Change. Some 20 Boholano environmental activists took the 99-kilometer journey on foot, from Tagbilaran City to Anda town in Bohol on November 27-29, to call for 100 percent Clean Energy and walk in solidarity with the People's Pilgrimage to the Paris climate talks.

Scene: Many people in the Philippines have HIV. So you might know someone who is living with this virus. Since the most common ways to get the virus are through unprotected sex or drug use, teens who have HIV may feel embarrassed and want to keep the issue very private. People also can be born with the virus or get infected through a blood transfusion in another country. To understand more about the HIV-Aids, the World Aids Day Run in Tagbilaran is on Dec. 5. For inquiries, contact Dr. Wilnilia Causing, MD; Eduardo Gabud Jr and Bon Ryan Bongato at 09287958201.

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Grandma Betty: A stitch in time

The feast of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception in Baclayon town is just a few days away.

Alberta "Betty" Real-Brua, 89, (with Miss Tagbilaran 1987 

Fiel Angeli Araoarao-Gabin and son Renji) is 

content with the fact that she is able to share her talent, 

creativity and activity while she savors quality time with her family. 

Contributed Photo

As the town prides itself of its centuries-old church that is still teeming with both international and domestic tourists even when the 7.2 magnitude earthquake ravaged its facade and belfry, it has a skilled person who has proven her craft for almost a quarter of a century now.

At 89, Alberta "Betty" Real-Brua doesn't look her age. She actually looks younger. According to her son, she still sews gowns herself or does direct supervision on her workers, though at times, she uses her eyeglasses or asks someone to assist her to put the thread inside the eye of the needle. She was 18 years old when she started sewing wedding gowns for the "alta sociedad" and the prominent in the province, among them, erstwhile Bohol First Lady Amalia Reyes - Tirol and the other gracious ladies in the Tirol clan, long before Boholano Luciano "Shannon" Pamaong founded the Fashion Institute of the Philippines (FIP) and the younger generation of couturiers, Maximiel Tallo and EJ Relampagos, started to make names for themselves.

In her younger years, she was a beauty queen at the Rafael Palma College (University of Bohol), as attested by Wincesa Espejo Araoarao, Bohol National High School Physical teacher and Bukang Liwayway Dance founder.

From her wealth of experiences, she is content with the fact that she is able to share her talent, creativity and activity while she savors quality time with her family.

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Beauty queen Imaculada Cleofe Leopardas hasn’t declared her independence yet.

Imaculada Cleofe Leopardas: ‘I believe that if you 

want a positive life, then one should have a 

positive mind. In the end, it's all in the mind.” 

Contributed Photo

“I haven’t moved out yet,” she clarified. “Actually, I am living with my mother because my father is on abroad (The last time she saw his father was when she was in grade six. Now, Ima is a graduating college student taking up BS Industrial Psychology at the Bohol Island State University Main Campus-LPU). I'm still living with my mother because I'm still 20 and I am still studying and maybe because I think I am not ready to be independent because I grew up with my mother who is always by my side. In fact, she has been very supportive to me, like on every pageant that I have joined, she's always there and she's just a dream mother that every child wanted to have.”

Her friends and neighbors have described Ima a good daughter.

She said, “I guess the best way to answer this question is by letting the whole world know that I am more than proud to have a very good mother. She is my inspiration and I love her so much, that I will do whatever it takes to make her happy and be proud of me. I have this thought in my mind wherein I've been thinking about my mother when she was at my age. And so, she might have been dreaming for an ideal daughter. And for the past 20 years, I have been secretly living that "dream daughter" my mother may have been wishing for. Everytime I win on a beauty pageant, believe me or not, I give all the money to her and everytime I surprise her, I always make her cry. Tears of joy. Wow!”

Her own love life is, as she put it, going great.  She describes herself very optimistic.

“Yes. Yes, because I should be. Yes, because I have to. I have dreams for my family and I figured that the only way to turn that dream is to be optimistic, “ said Ima, a Sagittarius (Nov. 24). “Sometimes, it's hard to understand life especially when I haven't seen my father for eight years. Life is unfair, yes, that is true, but it should not stop us from motivating ourselves to be better, to do better and to live the life you have imagined. I have been through a lot of darkest and downest moments in life but in the end, I always think positive. I believe that if you want a positive life, then one should have a positive mind. In the end, it's all in the mind.”

Regal at 5’8”, 130 lbs., Ima likes to join beauty pageants.

 “I learned that winning isn't always about winning the crown. It is learning with all of your heart those many life lessons because to me, the real pageant is life, itself. I learned to wear my self confidence and drop the fear, and whatever that fear is, I would always choose to face my fears and drop the insecurities,” stressed Ima. “I learned to accept myself and then let the real me shine. I learned that a beauty queen is not just concerned on how her figure looks and on what's going on with herself, because a true beauty inspires people to be the best possible version of themselves and that makes her even more beautiful. And lastly, I learned that beauty queens come and go but what will truly matter in the end is who you are a person, and so, I just live my life to the fullest, I make each day count and I take risks in life because I want to make my family proud.”

Ima on joining beauty pageants: ‘I learned that

 winning isn't always about winning the crown. It is

 learning with all of your heart those many life lessons 

because to me, the real pageant is life, itself.’ 

Contributed Photo

Lately, in preparation for Miss Carcar Cebu 2015, Ima has been exerting extra effort to keep trim by eating healthy, a routine that she decided to be a regular part of her life.

Incidentally, Ima and other OMG (www.mikeygatal.com) models will join the OMG Outreach program “Apples for kids an souvenirs” in Pilar town on Dec. 6. It is supported by US-based lawyer and philanthropist Sandy Roxas and OMG friends in America.

“It feels like home because it's where I feel like I belong. I am really comfortable with my responsibility as an OMG model because this makes me happy and seeing those children smile makes me happier,” she said.

She also said that she is excited to make kids happy.

 “I can't wait to make that day a memorable one. I like being with those children because when I was young, I was inspired by a beauty queen whom I looked up to, even if I don't even know her name. Now, I believe it's time to inspire those children that dreams do come true.”

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