Shamcey Supsup on technical difficulty during MUPH 2023: 'The results may have been compromised'
Miss Universe Philippines (MUPh) national director Shamcey Supsup is clearing up the "technical difficulty" issue that had plagued the recently concluded competition, which resulted in the Top 18 candidates vying for the Top 5 spots despite the pageant already announcing the Top 10.
In a lengthy message published on Facebook, Supsup stressed that she wanted to provide some clarity on what transpired after the announcement of the Top 10, which was based on the "independently tabulated results provided by the accounting firm."
When those "very same results" were submitted to the board of MUPh for record-keeping purposes, Supsup examined the figures and noticed the "highly improbable nature of the numbers."
"This gave rise to concerns that the integrity of the results may have been compromised. In order to ensure absolute fairness and transparency, the board made the decision to initiate a manual counting of the judges' votes," she revealed.
When they counted the results again in the presence of the accounting firm, it was found that "there were discrepancies in the initial Top 10 results," resulting in the pageant allowing all 18 candidates to compete in the evening gown portion of the competition.
"Our primary objective as an organization is to promote integrity, transparency, and accountability in all aspects of the pageant. We believe in providing equal opportunities for all candidates and to do what is right no matter the consequences," Supsup wrote.
The former beauty queen ended her post by expressing her gratitude to their supporters and promising to continue conducting the pageant with honesty.
"Your trust means the world to us, and we are determined to honor that trust by continuing to navigate this situation with grace and integrity," Supsup wrote.
To recall, the Top 18 aspirants had competed during the swimsuit round, after which the Top 10 candidates were named by hosts Alden Richards and Xian Lim.
However, after almost an hour-long break, Lim surprised the audience by announcing, "Due to technical issues, we resulted to manual tallying, which means our Top 18 candidates will go through evening gown and compete for the Top 5."
The pageant, which was held on May 13, concluded with 28-year-old actress and model Michelle Dee winning the much-coveted crown. She is now set to represent the Philippines in the international pageant in El Salvador later this year.