Gemma Cruz
Encyclopedia
Gemma Teresa Cruz Araneta is the first Philippine
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 delegate to win the Miss International
Miss International
Miss International is an annual international beauty pageant held since 1960.The current Miss International is Fernanda Cornejo, from Ecuador...

 title in the pageant's fifth edition in Long Beach
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...

, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 in 1964. She is the first Southeast Asian and Filipina
Filipino people
The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....

 to win an international beauty pageant title.

Araneta received an "Outstanding Manileña" and a "Golden Heart" Presidential decoration from President Diosdado Macapagal
Diosdado Macapagal
Diosdado Pangan Macapagal was the ninth President of the Philippines, serving from 1961 to 1965, and the sixth Vice President, serving from 1957 to 1961. He also served as a member of the House of Representatives, and headed the Constitutional Convention of 1970...

 .

Heritage

Araneta's paternal great-grandmother was Doña Maria Mercado, the sister of the Philippine's national hero, José Rizal
José Rizal
José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda , was a Filipino polymath, patriot and the most prominent advocate for reform in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era. He is regarded as the foremost Filipino patriot and is listed as one of the national heroes of the Philippines by...

.
Her mother is writer and journalist Carmen Guerrero Nakpil
Carmen Guerrero Nakpil
Carmen Guerrero Nakpil is a Filipino writer and historian.She came from a literary family, which includes her brother, the diplomat and novelist León María Guerrero III, uncles Fernando María Guerrero and Manuel Guerrero who were poets and essayists, and cousin Wilfrido María Guerrero, who was a...

, and her maternal uncle is writer and diplomat León María Guerrero III
León María Guerrero III
León María Ignacio Agapito Guerrero y Francisco , better known simply as Leon Ma. Guerrero III, was a Filipino diplomat and novelist, and was one of the foremost Filipino nationalists of his era. A partner in the law practice of senator Claro M. Recto, he became Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs...

.

Rise to fame

She earned the right to represent the country by winning the Miss Philippines pageant, sponsored by the City of Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...

 in 1964. Araneta donated the US$10,000 prize money she won as Miss International to Manila Boys Town and Girls Home, a place where indigent and out of school youth are housed, in Marikina City, Philippines
Marikina City
Marikina, officially the City of Marikina, known as the Shoe Capital of the Philippines, was former capital of the province of Manila during the declaration of Philippine Independence and one of the sixteen cities within the Manila Metropolitan Area. Marikina is part of Eastern Manila District of...

. This led the Congress to pass a resolution to exempt her from paying taxes.

Career

Araneta first entered public service in 1968 when then-President Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos, Sr. was a Filipino leader and an authoritarian President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He was a lawyer, member of the Philippine House of Representatives and a member of the Philippine Senate...

 appointed her Director of the National Museum. She was concurrently a member of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. She was appointed Secretary of Tourism
Department of Tourism (Philippines)
The Department of Tourism is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for the regulation of the Philippine tourism industry and the promotion of the Philippines as a tourist destination....

 by President Joseph Estrada
Joseph Estrada
Joseph "Erap" Ejercito Estrada was the 13th President of the Philippines, serving from 1998 until 2001. Estrada was the first person in the Post-EDSA era to be elected both to the presidency and vice-presidency.Estrada gained popularity as a film actor, playing the lead role in over 100 films in...

, a position she held from June 30, 1998 to January 20, 2001. She resumed her writing career in 2001 and has now a bi-weekly column editorial section in Manila Bulletin
Manila Bulletin
The Manila Bulletin , is the Philippines' largest broadsheet newspaper by circulation, followed by the Philippine Daily Inquirer. It bills itself as "The Nation's Leading Newspaper", which is its official slogan...

.

In 2003, she was elected director/trustee and president of Heritage Conservation Society of the Philippines and was re-elected in February 2006.

On May 16, 2005, Araneta started hosting a daily radio program, Krus Na Daan (Filipino
Filipino language
This move has drawn much criticism from other regional groups.In 1987, a new constitution introduced many provisions for the language.Article XIV, Section 6, omits any mention of Tagalog as the basis for Filipino, and states that:...

 for "Crossroads") on DZRJ 810
DZRJ-AM
DZRJ-AM , also known by its tagline The Voice of the Philippines, is an AM radio station of the Rajah Broadcasting Network, Inc. in the Philippines. The station was located on the roofdeck and tower of the J&T Building along Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard...

 and a weekly television show, "Only Gemma!" on Rajah Broadcasting Network
Rajah Broadcasting Network
Rajah Broadcasting Network, Inc. is a Philippine television and radio network owned by guitarist-singer-businessman Ramon "RJ" Jacinto...

.

To date, Araneta has authored and co-authored six books namely:
  • Makisig, the Little Hero of Mactan
  • Hanoi Diary: Beauty and Fashion for the Filipina (co-author)
  • Sentimiento: Fiction and Nostagia
  • Katha at Salamisim
  • El Galeon de Manila: Un Mar de Historias (co-author)
  • Stones of Faith


In April 2010, Araneta was named as one of the members of the Board of Regents of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila.
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