Herlene Budol the country’s official representative to the second edition of Miss Planet International withdrew from the pageant

Herlene Budol — the country’s official representative to the second edition of Miss Planet International to be held supposedly this November 19 — withdrew from the pageant.

This came after Herlene’s manager Wilbert Tolentino posted on social media on the night of November 11 his decision to pull out his ward following unresolved issues.

Wilbert also cited Ugandan government’s lack of support although he earlier expressed understanding since it was the East African republic’s first time ever to host an international pageant.

It is because of this pageant that Herlene had to ask her home studio’s consent to prepare for the competition, thus setting aside further taping for her first ever lead role in “Magandang Dilag” (reportedly, scenes which were shot during the first taping day had to be thrashed as the GMA bosses weren’t happy about Herlene’s prosthetics).
In the teleserye-inspired by the song of the same title, Herlene gets to be “crowned” with two leading men — Benjanin Alves and newbie Rob Gomez.

It took GMA quite a while to look for Herlene’s screen partners because of her towering height.

Word has it that the comedienne-turned-beauty queen gets to do drama in Magandang Dilag.

Herlene is good at it having watched her play best friend to a cancer victim in an afternoon GMA series months ago.

Aside from getting two leading men, Herlene gets support from veteran actresses Sandy Andolong and Chanda Romero.

Never to be ignored is the special participation of Sandy’s real-life partner Christopher de Leon, fresh from the mammoth success of “Lolong.”

And as though these cast members were not behind Herlene in full force, there are also fellow beauty queens themselves — Maxine Medina and Bianca Manalo.

To play the contravida — as she did in “First Lady” to title roler Sanya Lopez — is Maxine as Blaire (a popular celebrity stylist and fashion designer) while it’s Bianca’s first ever show on GMA.

“Sayang” would be appropriate to express Herlene’s withdrawal from the MPI. Earlier, she said she would need an interpreter. But she would only avail one if she reached the Q & A portion during the preliminaries, when the semi-finalists would have been called at the very least.