Former pageant president explains side

Former CNMI Beauty Pageant Organization president and treasurer Noby Crisostomo said he wasn’t able to pay the $1,000 scholarship money owed to 2003 Miss Teen CNMI Remylyn Julene Guerrero because it was used to finance the beauty queen’s participation in the 2003 Miss Antilles International Beauty Pageant in Caracas, Venezuela.

“What Janet does not understand is the circumstances behind [the] money allocation during pageant years 2003 and 2004,” Crisostomo said in a letter sent to the Saipan Tribune Saturday.

During Guerrero’s 2003 reign, Crisostomo said, he offered her the opportunity of a lifetime to represent the CNMI in the beauty tilt in Venezuela, which she and her mother accepted.

“I did inform them about the cost that we would undertake to pursue this opportunity, which was raising and allocating funds to pay for travel, lodging expenses, franchise fees, wardrobe for the pageant, etc.” he said.

Crisostomo said the cost of participating in the competition in Latin American wound up a whopping $12,000. He said they never had enough funds collected due to poor responses from companies the organizers sent solicitation letters for assistance to.

He said in order for him to make Guerrero’s dream happen he had to “scrape” every single dollar the organization had at that time. He said his situation had become so desperate that he even sought his parents’ help to shoulder some of the pageant’s expenses.

Janet Guerrero, however, dismissed Crisostomo’s explanation and said that the majority of the money to finance the trip to Venezuela came from donations, especially from the Legislature. She also said that Rep. Rey Tebuteb donated the $1,000 scholarship money and it should not have been spent to finance the Venezuela trip.

Former Miss Teen CNMI Beauty Pageant Organization national director Crispin Guerrero confirmed that the scholarship money indeed was from the congressman. He also said that the money was supposed to be used for scholarship purposes alone.

Janet Guerrero said the office of Rep. Tebuteb called her last Friday and asked her about the status of the scholarship money. The secretary told her that she [Guerrero] forgot to emphasize to the media that the scholarship money was donated personally by the congressman and should have been used for that purpose.

She said as for as the trip to Venezuela goes, the local government assisted her daughter’s expenses with the help of Special Assistant for administration Tom Tebuteb. She said Crisostomo’s group hosted several fundraising activities but all flopped due to lack of efficient organization.

Crisostomo said the 2004 pageant was the most difficult year to raise funds to pay for local pageants and the winners’ participation in international ones. He said he had to work day and night just to raise the money.

“I just wish they can understand the burden placed upon me and my parents to let the dreams of their daughter come true,” Crisostomo said. He said he and his parents had personally spent close to $15,000 for all the three years he had been in the office as president and treasurer of the beauty pageant organization.

Guerrero said it was Crisostomo who approached her and her daughter to join the international pageant. Crisostomo was also just 16 years old when he organized the local pageant in 2003.