Khiani Garcia earned the 2025 Miss Kauai Filipina crown on Saturday before a screaming and shrieking audience that topped the 400-person mark at the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall.
Ciaralan Tolentino of Kapaa was announced the First Runner Up, and Shaylen Leah Guerrero of the Westside was crowned the Second Runner Up.
First Runner-Up is a very important position since they assume the title if the reigning queen cannot finish her term of office. The example became real when the 2024 Miss Kauai Filipina, Jaslen Valdez, was selected as Miss Hawaii Filipina in Kona. The vacant Miss Kauai Filipina was filled by the 2024 Runner Up Aleah Yano who finished the term on Saturday by crowning Garcia.
Presented by the Kauai Filipino Community Council, the pageant serves as a major source of fundraising for scholarship. According to the KFCC Scholarship Chair Jenny Villanueva, KFCC presented six scholars, two from each of the public high schools, with $1,000 scholarships each during the Saturday pageantry.
Jaevyn Navarro and JBmhar Garcia Trinidad were the two scholarship recipients from Kauai High School. Kaye Marie Fernandez-Alvarez and Fredy Padamada were the two scholarship recipients from Waimea High School. Sofia Smith, a biology major in college, and Matthew Melchor Asuncion were the recipients from Kapaa High School.
New for this year, KFCC added an all-day craft fair in the lobby of the convention hall where, in addition to shopping for a wide range of products, patrons had the opportunity to cast votes for the People’s Choice judging.
Tolentino was named winner of the People’s Choice voting with the other two candidates receiving prizes based on the number of votes they received. Tolentino was also named the Most Congenial after being selected by her contest peers. She also earned the Talent phase judging with her signing presentation.
Guerrero, en route to her eventual Second Runner Up position, earned the Social Media Award with more than 40,000 likes on Instagram. She also was awarded the Spirit award for the most tickets to the pageant being sold. Guerrero also earned the on-stage questioning award.
Garcia, en route to her crown, earned six special awards, including Photogenic, the Spirit Award for most advertisements collected, and the Most Beautiful Terno as voted by special judges Norma Doctor Sparks and Vicky Masuoka of Vicky’s Fabrics.
Garcia also pocketed awards for the Best in Terno Speech phase, the Judges interview, and Best Swimsuit.
With the crown, Garcia will represent Kauai at the Miss Hawaii Filipina pageant that is scheduled to take place on Aug. 9 during the statewide convention of community councils.
•••
Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
Source: The Garden Island