Queen Virginia II - Manila Carnival, The Philippines. Held from 1908-1939, the Manila Carnival was a two-week fair, organized as a goodwill event to celebrate harmonious U.S.-Philippine relations and to showcase commercial, industrial and agricultural progress. Spectacular parades, lavish shows, firework displays and the crowning of the Manila Carnival Queen highlighted the "greatest annual event in the Orient". IN 1922, Virginia Vidal Llamas (from Pagsanjan, Laguna), a student from the progressive Philippine Women's College, beat candidates from exclusive schools for the crown. She was the eldest daughter of Laguna?s former governor, Vicente Llamas.