PULCHRITUDE isn’t only their weapon. They are also armed with immense talents.
Pilar Pilapil, Binibining Pilipinas 1967, through her sheer communication prowess to evangelize and to lead an exemplary life of a Bible preacher, was recently conferred an Honoris Causa, a Doctor of Divinity by the General Assembly Church of the First Born in Cebu City Saturday night.
According to the citation given to Pilar during the investiture ceremony, the conferment was bestowed to the actress “for her exemplary work as Christian evangelist for many years now.”
In her acceptance speech, Pilapil confessed that receiving a high educational award out of school in service to others didn’t even enter her mind. “Maybe about six months ago, I wasn’t expecting something so valuable as this and so beautiful,” she said.
“I am so blessed about this particular ceremony. As I was listening to each and everyone of you tonight. Thoughts just came over me and thought about how special this particular event is,” she praised the people who organized the awarding rites.
What struck the attention of the audience, though, was Pilar’s comparing the Honoris Cause to awards in show business.
“Definitely much much more special than receiving those best actress awards. Why? Because I know this is God’s will,” she explained and punctuated her speech with “Amen.”
“The Lord has used you to honor all the things, all the efforts, all the years that I have served. It is only by His grace. Amen. That I am able to continue on and to move towards the direction He wants me to take. Amen. Amen. Amen. And I thank you all for encouraging me, by giving me this honor, by giving me this conferment or best picture. This is a big encouragement to me. For me to be able to continue to work towards excellence, spiritual excellence. You’re talking about divinity. When you’re talking about being divine. We are talking about all of this,” she gushed.
One of the most important persons in La Pilapil’s life who greeted the actress was her friend Isidra Reyes, a socialite and a social entrepreneur.
“Congratulations,” exclaimed Isidra.
Versatility is one quality of stars that make them shine like Pilar and her fellow beauty titlists Maria Isabel Lopez.
1982 Binibining Pilipinas-Universe Isabel Lopez recently won the Exhibition Coordinator Award for the art exhibit “Resist and Persist” held at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts in Sebastopol, California where she also exhibited one of her award-winning and thoughtful mosaic art works titled “Free Miradel Torres and Baby Karl” about the incarceration of freedom fighter artist Miradel Torres in the Philippines.
Although Maria Isabel missed the opening of the visual arts exhibit, she was proud not just to have won the plum but to express her solidarity with the fight for freedom and democracy of artists and their subjects worldwide. “I missed the opening as I was on the plane from Switzerland. But I went to see it today and I’m humbled to win my first art award called Coordinators Choice Award,” beamed the beauty queen-actress who said that the show was a multiracial art exhibition in the US.
“Resist and Persist” was a juried exhibition, the Filipino actress qualified.
In her social media posts, Lopez also noted: “During times of unrest, art does not stay silent. This exhibition strives to lift our communities’ voices and seeks to explore the promise and ongoing struggle of liberty, democracy, and justice.”
She emphasized: “Free all political prisoners!”
One of the well-wishers of Maribel was her husband, lawyer Jonathan Melrod. “Congratulations to my wife,” he quipped.
Meanwhile, Maria Isabel is set to hold a solo show billed “Illumination in Glass” from September 8 to October 18, 2026 at the Usher Gallery in Petaluma, California.
Isabel will present in the solo gig her latest creation, “Tree of Life 2” which according to her is “a mixed media of smalti, glass, natural stone and gold leaf.”