Rabiya Mateo spoke up following the accusations thrown at her after she was crowned as this year's Miss Universe Philippines.
In an interview with MJ Marfori of TV5, the beauty queen became emotional as she addressed the issues.
“To be honest po, maybe I wasn’t a frontrunner so people didn’t expect me to win and now that I have the crown... I’m sorry I’m being emotional," she said.
Rabiya continued, "They’re questioning my capability as a person, as a candidate… but I know that I did everything and anything that I could during that night and ibinigay ko talaga."
She also addressed the accusations about her question and answer portion.
“And yung mga nagsasabi na the question was given to me that’s why I answered that way, it wasn’t given po sa akin.
"I did everything that I could because I want to make Iloilo City proud,” she stated.
She added that though the accusations were painful, she chose to take the higher road and be understanding.
“Of course it was painful because there are things na you can settle by talking with each other. At the end of the day, this is a competition and being the bigger person in the picture, I need to understand where they are coming from,” she stated.
READ: Iloilo’s Rabiya Mateo crowned Miss Universe Philippines 2020
Rabiya is the representative of Iloilo City. She graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Therapy from Iloilo Doctor's College.