Raine Baljak

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Gabriele Raine Abellana Baljak is a Filipino-Australian beauty queen titleholder. She was crowned as Miss Cebu 2016, and is a public speaker, health and fitness coach, entrepreneur, internet personality, and model.^[1][2][3]

Portrait of Raine Baljak

She attended Cebu International School. She was a host for a television program on MyTV Channel Cebu^[4][5] and former radio personality.^[6] In May 2014, Baljak and her mother, Merce Abellana ^[7] (former Miss Cebu's 5 Prettiest 1986) ^[8] became the first mother and daughter endorsers of Oro Galleria Fine Jewelry (owned by the Philippines oldest Jewelry Group, Oro China).^[9]

Early life[]

Baljak was born in Sydney, Australia, but moved to Cebu City, Philippines as a child.^[10][11]

In her childhood, she remembers raising money with her cousin to contribute a small playground built in Maslog that still exists today.^[11] She has mentioned in interviews that she enjoys rock climbing ^[1] and in a 2006 Freeman article she won first place at ten years old in an Aboitiz Baseline Climbing competition. In 2013 and 2014, Baljak competed in Manila for the International Schools Athletics Conference representing CIS Girls Basketball team. She has also volunteered for the Make-A-Wish Foundation in September 2013 - January 2014. In February 2014, Baljak volunteered for the Yellow Boat Foundation. On Baljak's graduating year from Cebu International School, her Visual Arts class exhibited their artworks at the Ayala Center Cebu on March 16–24, 2015.

While Miss Cebu is her first pageant, Baljak is not a complete stranger to them. Her mom, Merce Abellana was crowned one of Miss Cebu's 5 Prettiest 1986 and was also Miss Mandaue 1984 third runner-up and Binibining Pilipinas 1990 Top ten. Her aunt Mae Beverly Lao-Abellana was a Binibining Pilipinas 1981 finalist. Her grandmother, Fe Durano Lao, was Miss Nursing at Southwestern University, and Baljak's great-grandmother Maria Mercedes Durano Lao was also a beauty queen during her time.

Alongside the beauty queens, the men in Baljak's family were also quite the achievers, with her great-grandfather Gregorio Abellana having fought against the Spanish as a Katipunero, while her grandfathers Jovito Abellana and Reuben Lao fought in World War II. ^[10] Jovito Abellana's memoir, My Moments of War to Remember By, was published in 2011 by the University of San Carlos Press, and "Aginid Bayok Sa Atong Tawarik": Archaic Cebuano and Historicity in a Folk Narrative dance-epic, recorded by local antiquarian Jovito Abellana in 1952, purports to retell the main story of Magellan's voyage to the Philippines, from its arrival to the massacre of members of the expedition after the battle of Mactan.

Miss Cebu 2016[]

Raine Baljak was candidate number 9 for Miss Cebu 2016. The pre-pageant was held at the Ayala Center Cebu Terraces on January 9, 2016 and she was an early stand out awarded two of the four awards given that night, as Miss Epson for being knowledgeable about Cebuano history and Best in Funwear in her two-piece creation by Mike Yapching.^[12] The coronation night was held at the Waterfront Hotel's Grand Ballroom on January 13, 2016 where the panel of judges awarded her as ABS-CBN's Kapamilya Star of the Night and Best in Evening Gown wearing designer Dino Lloren.^[13][14]

References[]