Streets will not be closed and the poor will not hidden from foreign beauties and visitors during the 2017 Miss Universe pageant from January 13 to 30. .

Tourism Undersecretary Katherine Chloe de Castro said Friday the preliminaries will be held at the Mall of Asia so traffic will not be affected. No streets will be closed during the event.

"When we presented it (plan to host Miss Universe pageant) to President (Rodrigo) Duterte that’s the first thing he said. No streets will be closed. No people would be hidden. Let's show the beauty of the Philippines that despite of poverty, there is beauty in this country," she said in a briefing in Malacanang..

Duterte, during his presidential campaign, criticized the way traffic was handled during the arrival of the Pope and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders summit.

De Castro said when they were considering Davao City as one of the venues for the Miss Universe beauty pageantr, he immediately told them swimsuits are banned in Davao.

"Then at first, we're planning to have it (swimsuit competition) in Samal, in Pearl Farm, but then eventually we decided that there could be a problem, until it was finally decided to have the swimsuit competition in Cebu," de Castro explained.

The tourism department has organized a kick-off party on Saturday to be attended by some 10 Miss Universe candidates from Japan, the United States, China, New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Mayanmar and Vietnam.

De Castro said Miss Universe candidates from 97 countries will visit Baguio City, Cebu, Palawan and Davao.

Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Emily Padilla said that at least two meetings by the police and other organizers for the Miss Universe have taken place.

Asked of the possible threats on the Miss Universe event, she said, "we have none so far."

In the same press briefing in Malacanang, two candidates who will participate on Saturday's kick-off were present. They were Miss USA Deshauna Barber and Miss New Zealand Tania Pauline Dawson, whose mother is a Filipina. Celerina Monte/ DMS