Geneva narrowly beat out Delara frontwoman and TV personality Lougee Basabas for the title. Other popular contenders included actors Yasmien Kurdi, Chin-Chin Gutierrez, and Raymond Bagatsing, actress Alicia Mayer, and international stars Natalie Portman, Hayden Panettiere, Russell Brand, and Leona Lewis.

Geneva has appeared on the covers of several magazines, including FHM, Uno, and Maxim. Her fame grew after the album that she released with pop group Smokey Mountain went double-platinum. Not long after that, her first solo album, I Like You, went platinum. She recently performed at a sold-out show on Valentine’s Day.

Geneva has been vegetarian since she was 15 and made the decision to switch to a compassionate diet after she interacted with animals in their natural environment while filming a shampoo commercial. “[We] were in this location in Palawan where all the animals were just roaming free! Free! All I had to do was feed one of them and say ‘Natural!’ We kept doing that, take after take. … I couldn’t take it anymore. Not after that.” Now a staunch vegan, Geneva says, “For me, being vegan is not about the diet. It’s really about my love for all creatures.”

“There’s no easier way to put passion in your life than to put compassion in your diet,” says PETA Asia Vice-President of International Operations Jason Baker. “Geneva knows that going vegetarian is the best thing that you can do for animals, the Earth, and your health. Plus, she’s living proof that being vegan keeps you slim and sexy.”

The complete list of vegetarian celebrities who were in the running in this year’s poll is available at PETAAsiaPacific.com.

Geneva Cruz Named the Philippines’ Sexiest Vegetarian originally appeared on Starmometer on June 23, 2011.

Singer Geneva Cruz stripped down for an alluring new ad for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Asia. The ad shows Cruz, a longtime vegan, posing in her birthday suit in a vegetable garden while clutching an armful of tomatoes, and the caption reads, “Go Natural. Go Vegan.” The ad is being launched just after the star’s April 2 birthday.

Cruz was just 15 years old when she decided to stop eating animals. Now a staunch vegan, she says, “For me, being vegan is not about the diet. It’s really about my love for all creatures.”

Animals who are raised and killed for food endure immeasurable cruelty and are denied everything that is natural and important to them. On factory farms, cows, pigs, and chickens are kept in crowded, filthy enclosures, which are often so small that the animals are unable to lie down comfortably. Many animals are forced to stand amid their own urine and feces.

Cows are routinely branded, dehorned, and castrated without being given any painkillers. Pigs are castrated, and their tails and teeth are cut or broken off—also without any pain relief. Chickens are drugged and bred to grow so rapidly that they become crippled from supporting the weight of their own massive upper bodies. Birds’ throats are cut while they are still conscious, and many birds are scalded to death in defeathering tanks.

In addition to being cruelty-free, a diet that excludes meat, eggs, and dairy products can lower the risk of heart disease, cancer, strokes, diabetes, obesity, and acne in adults as well as allergies, ear infections, and juvenile-onset diabetes in children. Ninety percent of Filipinos are lactose-intolerant, and avoiding dairy products can help people’s bodies work more efficiently. A healthy vegan diet can also help anyone stay slim.

Cruz says, “In addition to saving countless animals every year, the health benefits of a vegan diet are countless, whereas the consumption of animal-derived foods has been linked to not only heart disease and cancer but also multiple sclerosis and osteoporosis.”

Meat and dairy production also contaminates water and soil with animal waste. Worldwide, farmed animals produce 13 billion metric tons of excrement a year—that’s 48 times as much as the world’s human population produces. Each day, animal agriculture consumes 2.5 trillion liters of water—enough for every person in the world to take eight showers.

Animal grazing has been responsible for loss of topsoil and eventual desertification in many parts of the world. The animals destroy the land’s protective vegetation. Then wind removes the soil and converts formerly productive rangeland into desert. Forest lands in China and South America are being destroyed to clear space for grazing or to grow food for farmed animals.

A recent United Nations report concluded that a global shift toward a vegan diet is necessary to combat the worst effects of climate change.

“Geneva Cruz knows that going vegan is the best and simplest thing that people can do for animals, the environment, and their own health,” says PETA Asia Director Jason Baker.

“Animals are beaten, kicked, and stomped on at factory farms and slaughterhouses”, says Cruz. “Each one of us can fight these abuses by refusing to consume the products of the meat, egg, and dairy industries.”

Cruz joins a host of international stars—including Pamela Anderson, Natalie Portman, Sir Paul McCartney, Maggie Q, and Barbie Hsu—who have kicked the meat habit.

Photographer Niccolo Cosme shot Cruz’s PETA ad, and Bernabe Pacson designed the set. Cruz’s makeup and hair were done by Nina’s Touch.

For more information, please visit PETAAsiaPacific.com.

(Cross-published in Pinoy Power)

Sultry Geneva Cruz Celebrates Her Birthday by Baring All in New PETA Ad originally appeared on Starmometer on April 5, 2011.

PETA or the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals conducted a month-long online poll for the sexiest vegetarian celebrity across the globe.

Crowned as the Sexiest Vegatarian Woman for 2009 in Asia is Meteor Garden star Barbie Hsu from Taiwan. She received the most number of votes in the region.

Hsu is best known for her roles in Taiwanese dramas and numerous films. She got her first big break with the hit TV show Meteor Garden and also appeared on the TV series Mars alongside Vic Zhou. Her most recent film is Connected, which earned her a Best Actress nomination at the Hong Kong Film Awards

In the male category, Bollywood superstar Shahid Kapoor was voted as Asia’s Sexiest Vegetarian Man.

28-year-old Kapoor is also a trained dancer and a model. He appeared in numerous films in India including the box-office hit “Vivah” in 2006.

In the Philippines, Geneva Cruz, who’s been a vegetarian since she was 15 years old, received the most number of votes besting other local Vegan celebrities like Lougee Basabas, Chin-Chin Gutierrez, Cory Quirino and Raymond Bagatsing.

Last May, Geneva posed naked in the music and environment issue of Maxim Philippines. She also graced FHM magazine a couple of years ago.

Geneva’s break-through to showbiz was in the 90′s when her group Smokey Mountain became a multi-platinum artist. She also appeared in a number of movies and tv shows at that time.

Geneva Cruz is PETA’s Sexiest Vegetarian Celeb in RP originally appeared on Starmometer on June 8, 2009.

Geneva Cruz is the featured covergirl in Maxim Philippines’ extremely hot music issue. It can also be dubbed as the environmental issue since Geneva is an advocate of PETA. It’s kinda like a statement to go “naked than wear fur.”

Also featured in this issue are the 25 Hottest Women in Music, interviews with iconic composer Ryan Cayabyab, rock bands Chicosci, Hilera and Duster, a look at the Cebu music scene, and a fashion pictorial starring Ely Buendia and the boys of Pupil.

Maxim Philippines “musical and ecological” issue is now available nationwide wherever magazines are sold.

Geneva Cruz – Maxim Philippines May 2009 originally appeared on Starmometer on April 28, 2009.