After a five-year hiatus due to the global pandemic, Miss Asia Pacific International is set to return this 2024. The pageant in search of a queen to best represent its advocacy of diversity has expanded its age limit to 30 years old, while opening its doors to married women and mothers. MAPI 2024 is slated to hold its season-long activities in October.

“There were times in the past that we felt pageantry has no place in a world riddled with a global pandemic. But now that it is relatively safer to gather once more, we believe that Miss Asia Pacific International is a strong platform to raise the voices we need to hear today,” said Jacqueline Tan-Sainz as she concluded her stint as Miss Asia Pacific International president.

Tan-Sainz formally turned over the pageant’s leadership to former beauty queen Eva Patalinjug in an event held 18 February at Hilton Manila hotel in Pasay City. Patalinjug, who’s also a newly minted lawyer, said she plans to bring in her advocacy for pageantry, along with the reinvigorated energy needed to take on the challenge in leading the organization.

General manager Essa Santos-Gogna, on the other hand, announced stepping down to assume instead the role of a consultant. She will be succeeded by Kristine Caballero-Aplal, the pageant’s headmistress for the past several seasons.

“In the current era when relevance has been a persistent question for the industry, I am more resolved in making sure that we appreciate the power of this platform — the dreams it can realize, the voices it can amplify,” Patalinjug said.