The Philippines’ entry for the Miss Universe beauty pageant has been disqualified after local organisers discovered she was born overseas and out of wedlock, a contest official said.
Maria Venus Raj, 21, was set to represent her country in August and begin charity work after winning the Miss Philippines-Universe competition early this month.
But the journalism graduate was stripped of her title after the foundation that runs the local competition discovered she had been born in Qatar to an Indian man who was not married to her Filipina mother.
Her birth certificate stated she was born in the Philippines to married Filipinos.
