Pia Wurtzbach felt the need to defend herself after some netizens claimed she wasn’t deserving of the “Woman of the Year” award from a Dubai-based magazine.
On Monday, the former Miss Universe posted about how grateful she was to be chosen by Xpedition magazine as one of the 15 honorees at this year’s Xpedition Annual Gala Awards.
While Pia’s friends and supporters flooded the comment section under the post with congratulatory messages, some bashers didn’t escape her attention.
She said she normally ignores negative comments but still feels hurt whenever she is told that she hasn’t done anything substantial to merit recognitions such as her latest award.
“I noticed a few bashers questioning why I was given this award, also saying that I don’t deserve it. I usually don’t like answering them but I have to admit, nahu-hurt ako ‘pag sinasabing ‘wala ka namang ginawa’,” she wrote on Instagram.
Pia defended herself by opening up on what she has accomplished this year so far, including a fundraiser that she started on her own.
“Usually, I just join other fundraisers but this time I started my own. Literally me handling the monetary donations myself, without an org to work with. And keeping it all transparent para sure na lahat talaga madodonate.
“I was able to collect over 1 million pesos. I used the money to donate PPEs to hospitals earlier this year when they were harder to get by. I also donated money to the fundraiser myself.
“When we collected everything, I only had my cousin, a friend and my driver to help me do the deliveries. Kami lang po yung gumagawa. Wala kaming big team or staff.
“Around the same time, I also partnered with a local restaurant to continuously deliver lunch and dinner to the ICU unit (of) Makati Med for weeks and that was with my own money.”
After the success of her first fundraiser, Pia said she gained the confidence to do more such as donating all her Miss Universe gowns for a charity auction.
She also took up more non-profit advocacy work and supported the likes of the World Wildlife Fund. Her businessman boyfriend Jeremy Jauncey also happens to be a WWF global ambassador.
“I was so happy to be a part of it and learn more, also because Jeremy who is a global Ambassador for WWF, has been teaching me so much about it.
“Now because of safety reasons, I haven’t done any on ground work yet but I helped with their fundraisers and since I joined their team we closed 3 campaigns. Each of them were about 300 to 400 thousand pesos.”
She also participated in the fundraising efforts of her celebrity friends like Anne Curtis and Angel Locsin and continues to give free talks with UNAIDS, an advocacy she started when she was Miss U.
Pia further shared that she has also started a fundraiser for typhoon victims with fellow beauty queens. “I even personally reached out to the beauty queens myself to help us spread the word so we could collect more and help more. Syempre nag donate din kami from our own pockets.”
She continued, “And before I left for Dubai, before I could even pack my stuff for the trip, inuna ko muna yung repacking of relief goods for Love Yourself. Wala po akong maid sa bahay, kami lang po ng pinsan ko ang nandun and we did everything ourselves. I kept myself busy during this pandemic by helping, donating, keeping myself updated with the news and doing free interviews and talks.”
Unlike before when she chose to stay mum on issues, she decided to speak out against bashers this time while lamenting at how they only noticed her glam pics and photos with Jeremy.
“Ang saya saya ko everytime I give back in my own little way. And it hurts me when people say na wala naman akong ginawa or ginagawa. Pinopost ko naman pero somehow people only notice the glam pics and my photos with Jeremy. This year has been tough for me, too.
“I’ve been trying to keep my head up and balance work and businesses, my personal life and even family issues. I’ve been through some really dark times this year (even Jeremy has seen it) but somehow I’ve been able to fight through it and I haven’t forgotten about the people who believe in me.”
Pia ended her lengthy response on a positive note, expressing gratefulness to those who still believe in her.
“So to my bashers who work so hard to bring me down, okay lang sakin kung ayaw nyo sakin or iba kasi ang bet nyo. This month marks five years since I won Miss Universe but there are people are organizations who still believe and trust in me and that’s all that matters. Ok na ok na ko dun. ❤”
