MANILA — Rabiya Mateo is drumming up excitement for the Miss Universe pageant, with the release of a pictorial where she shows her curves in a bikini.

Mateo, 24, shared the snaps on her social media channels on Thursday, just over a month before the competition where she is representing the Philippines.

“This is just the start,” she captioned the photo set which sees her sporting a red swimsuit, designed by Mikee Andrei, at the beach.

Mateo was photographed by TJ Medrana, with hair and makeup by Nayr Shufa Sines and Gio Montomo, respectively.

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A post shared by Rabiya Mateo (@rabiyamateo)

The 69th Miss Universe pageant will be held the city of Hollywood in Florida, USA on May 16 (May 17 morning in Manila).

While it will be held this year, the competition is technically crowning its 2020 winner. The pageant, as well as its country counterparts, had been delayed numerous times due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Mateo is the first Miss Universe Philippines titlist to be fielded by the new namesake organization, which had acquired the national license of the pageant, formerly held by Binibining Pilipinas Charities, Inc. for half a century.

The Philippines has so far produced four Miss Universe winners: Gloria Diaz in 1969, Margie Moran in 1973, Pia Wurtzbach in 2015, and Catriona Gray in 2018.

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