Ma. Ruth Erika Quin of Nueva Ecija bagged the “Best in National Costume” in the annual Bibinibing Pilipinas pageant held at the Araneta Coliseum last July 11.

Quin finished her degree in Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at Central Luzon State University and passed the licensure examination last August 2018. She was first named among the top ten finalists who earned the highest votes for the national costume during the National Costume Fashion Show on June 27. Thirty-four candidates paraded their locally designed outfits in the said event.

The outfit was inspired by “the rich and vast rice fields found in Nueva Ecija.” On her Facebook page, she said that her costume “is also a tribute to the one of the noblest professions in the world: the people of the farming industry. Their life’s craft is what brings food in our tables, makes up the backbone of the economy, and teaches us that the value of the job is not on how clean or dirty it gets but on how relevant it is to the society.”