Gemma Cruz-Araneta

Gemma Teresa Guerrero Cruz-Araneta (born September 30, 1943) is a Filipina writer, heritage conservationist, museologist, public servant, and beauty queen who won Miss International 1964 becoming the first Filipina and Asian to win the title. Araneta received an "Outstanding Manileña" and a "Golden Heart" Presidential decoration from President Diosdado Macapagal. Araneta's paternal great-grandmother was Doña Maria Mercado, the sister of the Philippine's national hero, José Rizal. Her mother is writer and journalist Carmen Guerrero Nakpil, and her maternal uncle is writer and diplomat León María Guerrero III. She earned the right to represent the country by winning the Miss Philippines pageant, sponsored by the City of Manila 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. This led the Congress to pass a resolution to exempt her from paying taxes. Araneta first entered public service in 1968 when then-President Ferdinand Marcos 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 by President Joseph Estrada, 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. 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 for "Crossroads") on DZRJ 810 and a weekly television show, "Only Gemma!" on Rajah Broadcasting Network.