Manila warmly welcomes back Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach [PHOTOS]

Filipinos gave their third Miss Universe crownholder a warm welcome on Monday afternoon with a parade that lasted several hours, passing through major routes in Metro Manila. It was a heroine welcome for Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach whose victory was mired in controversy.

In her brief visit to the land of birth of Pia’s mother – the beauty 26-year-old beauty queen is half-Filipina, half-German – controversy still hounds Wurtzbach over a resolution filed in Congress by Cagayan de Oro Representative Rufus Rodriguez proposing tax exemption for Wurtzbach. The proposal, however, has been criticised for singling out the beauty queen while millions of ordinary wage earners bring home smaller paychecks because of the mandatory withholding tax.

Pia said she is willing to pay taxes for her winning, pointing out that before she became Miss Universe 2015, she paid taxes as a talent of ABS-CBN and her prizes from Binibining Pilipinas. But she drew the line on her $300,000 crown which Pia stresses is a property of Miss Universe.

“I don’t think they can tax me for something that’s not mine. This on loan,” Wurtzbach points out, quotes Inquirer. The crown, which has diamonds, blue topaz, blue sapphire, crystal and gold, was crafted in Czech Republic.

The parade started at 2 pm at Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila hotel and snaked through Roxas Boulevard, Taft Avenue, Buendia, Ayala, EDSA and Aurora Boulevard at Araneta Coliseum. The coliseum is owned by the family of former beauty queen Stella Marquez-Araneta, franchise holder of Binibining Pilipinas which selects the country’s representatives to major beauty pageants.

People lined up the parade route and patiently waited for the motorcade, accompanied by a band and police escorts. Life stopped temporarily in areas where the parade passed as employees and students went out of their offices and campuses to have a peek and take photos of Pia, similar to the victory parades of Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao.

But it won’t just be waving to the huge crowds what Pia will do during her brief visit to the Philippines. She would also promote her advocacy of pushing for HIV tests and drawing support for nations vulnerable to disasters. Those were her answers to the Miss Universe 2015 Q&A portion in December wherein host Steve Harvey made a huge mistake by calling the name of Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez who was actually first runner-up.

The very warm reception given Pia contrasts with the extreme cold in New York, where she stayed right after winning the crown, which was hit by its second-worst winter storm in the Big Apple’s history.