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| Lee Ann says goodbye to HK pageantry in a preliminary event of Bb Turismo 2025 |
A migrant leader who has made a name for herself with the mega events she has organized for the Filipino community in Hong Kong has bowed out in colorful and grand fashion on Sunday, November 2 with the grand finale of her signature pageant, Binibing Turismo Pilipinas 2025.
Lee Ann E. Mas, who has worked in Hong Kong for the
past 18 years, told the thousands of people who joined the day-long community
event on Chater Road in Central that it was the last time that the Bb Turismo
pageant would be held as she is going home for good.
The former teacher confirmed to The SUN reports that
she plans to try her hand at politics, saying the Mayor of their
hometown in Cagayan has asked her to run as councilor in the 2028 election.
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| TAWAG NA! |
“My mom is serving her third term as councilor, and
might either run for a higher position or retire,” Lee Ann revealed.
Lee Ann would also be going home to a brand-new house that she and her husband and fellow OFW-driver Aldwin G. Mas have recently moved into, along with their two sons.
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| Lee Ann and Aldwin recently celebrated their silver wedding anniversary |
In Lee Ann’s farewell event in Hong Kong, all 14 contestants put their best foot forward, but in the end it was Shaira Bongosia, an Ilongga from the Magdalo group, who emerged as the fairest of them all.
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| Shaira (in grey) was proclaimed Bb Turismo 2025 with only a nearby lamppost lighting the Chater stage |
Tall, tan and lovely Shaira also won for the best in production number and talent categories, with her playful but skillful performance of the Pasigin folk dance.
For the past eight years, Lee Ann has organized and
directed the pageant meant to showcase the best in Philippine culture through
the attires, looks and performances of the OFW contestants representing various regions
in the Philippines.
She managed to get the contest, which required no
mean effort to mount, going, even thru the challenges posed by the Covid-19
pandemic.
But this was also thanks to her husband Aldwin, who as head of the Federation of Luzon Active Groups
(or Flag) helped provide Lee Ann the organizational and funding support she
needed to stage some of the best organized Filipino events in Hong Kong.
Lee Ann first became widely known in the community for organizing and choreographing the Kulay Pinoy dance segment for the Philippine Independence Day celebration in 2016. Even as the rains poured through the performance, some 400 OFWs who went through many months of practice stayed put until the finale, when they formed the image of the Philippine flag.
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| Kulay Pinoy spectacle choreographed by Lee Ann with about 400 OFWs taking part |
Since then, she has mounted many other notable performances, either with other groups including the Philippine Consulate General, or on her own, with Aldwin and other Flag leaders backing her up.
Though she has declared that last Sunday’s
Bb Turismo would be her swan song, Lee Ann will be leaving behind a bigger and more
inclusive organization that will hold annual events to honor the country’s so-called
modern-day heroes, the OFWs.
The group, Kabayani Hong Kong, will lead various Filipino
migrant organizations in Hong Kong in continuing Flag’s advocacy of promoting
Philippine culture, but on a larger scale, as it will have members not just
from Luzon, but the other two main islands of Visayas and Mindanao.
Lee Ann said she has already trained some key officers
in the group in organizing and staging an event on the Filipino stronghold of
Chater Road. But they and many other Filipinos in Hong Kong would likely agree
that Lee Ann would be a tough act to follow.
