1st Philippine Popular Music Festival

It was the birthday of the Philippines' Top CEO, Manny V. Pangilinan (MVP) last July 14th. And one of the celebrations for his birthday (which was initiated by Maynilad and Smart, together with other MVP Group companies) was the Finals Night of the 1st Philippine Popular Music Festival (Philpop), which is a song writing competition of both amateur and professional Filipino songwriters. This competition aims to revive the Philippine music industry and be a channel for Filipino songwriters to create new OPM songs that would capture the Filipino listeners.

This project started around March and the search happened from April to June. From over 3000 song entries, Top 14 songs were chosen. These were promoted to the public who were encouraged to vote for their favorite entries. Here are the Top14 songs:

Here are some photos during the event:

 nice stage set-up

 Ogie Alcasid's opening number

 Ogie and the Ryan Cayabyab Singers (RCS)

 Hosts: Nikki Gil and Ogie Alcasid

 "Negastar"

 "Dulo ng Dila" performed by JayR and DJ Poblete

 "Slow dancing" performed by Nyoy Volante --> one of my faves!

 "Minsa'y Isang Bansa" composed and performed by Gary Granada

 Too bad Ebe was sick that night so he wasn't able to do it perfectly

 Another favorite! Very chill music! Plus I love Marie, really nice person:)

 "Himig ng Panahon" performed by Luke Mejares, Duncan Ramos, and 2 more --> I like!

They also paid tribute to the King of Comedy, Dolphy...

 Jose and Wally

 "Kontrabida" performed by Sam Concepcion --> my fave!:)

 "Bawat Hakbang" composed by Mark Villaluz of The Akafellas...

 ...also performed by the group with Mark Bautista! --> nice song!;)

 "Kesa"

And another song entitled, "Takuza' performed by Rocksteddy, which I wasn't able to take a photo of because it was a quick song haha!

As an intermission, the best singers of the country performed the different songs composed by the country's best composers. 

 Christian Bautista, Regine Velasquez, Basil Valdez, Sharon Cuneta, Erik Santos

 "Big Time" performed by Baihana (the one wearing pink is my friend Anna)

 "Brown" performed by Brownman revival and the composer

 "Piso" performed by Joey Ayala

While the judges were tallying their votes, more singers performed a number featuring the songs from Metropop festival in the past years. Truly OPM!

 Hadji Alejandro, Rachel Alejandro, Gian Magdangal, Bituin Escalante,

Barbie Almalbis, Kitchie Nadal, Cris Villonco, etc.

And there came the awarding...

 Smart People's Choice: "Brown"

 2nd Runner-Up: "Kontrabida"

1st Runner: "Tayo-Tayo Lang"

 Grand Winner: "Bawat Hakbang" --> 1 Million Pesos!

 The Akafellas perfomed their winning piece for the finale

The program was aired on a delayed telecast via TV5. Anyway, after the program, there were light meals and drinks served at the 2nd floor of the PICC.

 Ely Buendia didn't smile so I looked like a fan girl LOL!

 w/ my BFF Dianne and Ana from DDB Philippines

 We sang the "Happy Birthday" song to the birthday boy, MVP

 a photo w/ the grand winner

and lastly, a photo with the birthday boss!:)

It was a great night of music! Grab a copy of the Philpop compilation album at any record bar for only Php 300. Let's support our own music!

Just like what they say, "Thank you MVP, OPM is alive!" :)

FASTBREAK Charity Game

This is probably the funniest basketball game I've ever seen! And the best part...it's for a good cause!:)

It's more than just a basketball. It's entertainment! This charity basketball game is a bright idea of Kiefer Ravena, the Ateneo cager, MVP of UUAP, and son of former basketball player and currently Talk N' Text Coach Bong Ravena. Kiefer, together with his friends in basketball (some are celebrities), and Ignite Media worked on this project with less than a month of preparation. With the common goal of helping the victims of Typhoon Sendong in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City, this team cause-oriented people were able to put a great show.

There are also a lot of company sponsors who contributed to this cause. The voluntary presence of different male celebrities are also of great help to the team. And when it comes to ticket sales, well a lot of girls were actually there so I believe the game has raised enough for Sendong victims. haha! The San Juan Arena seemed to be a bit packed.:)

So there were two teams: Meralco Red and Smart White. To name a few players of Smart White were Kiefer Ravena, Chris Tiu, Jhong Hilario, Rico Blanco, Luis Alandi, Marco Alcaraz, Champ of Hale, and Jose Manalo. For the Meralco Red were John Hall, Nico Salva, Thirdy Ravena, Jai Reyes, Young JV, Gab Valenciano, Tado, and Gerald Anderson. Yeah, it's indeed a starstudded line-up! However, I was expecting Xian Lim to be there as he was originally a part of the line-up. Also, I just need to mention that Vice Ganda came to the event.

the teams

 glad that my girls came :)

Gerald took a photo w/ the sick child in front of us

For the halftime, Maynilad sponsored the 3-point Shootout wherein the winner receives Php 5,000.00 cash to be donated to the Sendong victims as well. Those who took part in the 3-point shootout were Chris Ellis of NLEX Road Warriors, Mark Zambrano, James Yap, and Allan Caidic. The winner was Allan Caidic! And I was the one who awarded him haha! Also a "Teach Me How to Dougie" dance contest was conducted wherein participants came from the audience. Some of the players also showed a "sample" of this dance craze. Another halftime game was conducted and I don't know what it's called. They come in pairs and must be able to shoot the most with their partners at a given time. One pair had Chris Tiu and another pair had Bong Ravena. That was probably the longest halftime break ever!

 3 point shootout winner Allan Caidic and other contestants: Chris Ellis, James Yap, Mark Zambrano

Then the craziness went on in the 3rd Quarter. Jose Manalo finally arrived. Just when I though that the craziest part of the game was finding Jhong Hilario tumbling first before shooting the ball, I was so wrong! Because when Jose Manalo came, we enevr stopped laughing! He took the microphone and acted like "Budoy", the role of Gerald Anderson in his primetime teleserye. Then Gerald faced him and they both acted like Budoy! Super funny!!! LOL!:)) And it didn't stop there. Towards the end of the 3rd quarter, Jose grabbed the whistle of one of the referees and he acted as if he's one. So there, it started the SO NOT SERIOUS game! Shot clocks were stopped, and the referees just let Jose do the calls. Since Smart White was way behind the score of Meralco Red when Jose arrived, Jose decided to manipulate the game to make his team win. He made really funny calls! Like when Chris Tiu made a 3-point shot, Jose signaled that it's 4, and so the barker reannounced it saying "Chris Tiu FOUR!!!" Jose also gave a lot of free throws to his teammates. Another part of the funny game was when Kiefer passed the ball to the opponent intentionally and took the ball into the basket. That was a cool game! How I wish PBA could be that cool too haha!

FAKE Budoy VS REAL Budoy

 he's really a referee! LOL!

 Kiefer thanking everyone who became a part of the event

two crazies!:)))

Anyway, Smart White won. But the best part of the event was having a lot of people enjoying the game, and having fun together, while at the same time, helping the victims of Typhoon Sendong. I'm so proud that I've been a part of such a good and inspiring enadeavor. Kudos to Kiefer and the whole team who worked on this!:)

Updates on the Sports I Love Watching: Football, Volleyball, Basketball

FOOTBALL

Last August 16, I was tasked to bring bottled water and to set up banners in the football field of University of Makati. I didn't know what's gonna happen there until I saw the football players of Smart San Beda came out of the dugout...most especially the Younghusband brothers: Phil and James. They're up for a game against Smart Bro Stallions from Iloilo. I left the game at halftime with the score of 2-0 for Smart San Beda, and I believe they won that game. The crowd was just so awesome so I really had fun!:)

This was followed by another game the next day but that I wasn't able to watch anymore. The Smart Club Championships will happen next Saturday (Aug27) in Rizal Stadium.

VOLLEYBALL

This V-league Season, I support the Maynilad Water Dragons. I've seen them win once against Perpetual Help. I missed their last two games - Aug. 16 (vs. Navy) and 18 (vs. Air Force); but I watched their 2 games prior to that (vs. San Sebastian and Army), wherein our team lost. The Maynilad players did well but probably not enough.

 Maynilad lost against San Sebastian

 Maynilad lost against Army

 watching from the ringside w/ my friend Pat

playin' hard

And to find out who's gonna take the last slot in the quarterfinals, Maynilad shall face Perpetual Help later this afternoon at The Arena. I hope Maynilad wins!

BASKETBALL

It's 3-3 now in the PBA Finals. Petron won over Talk 'N Text last Aug. 17 (Game 5) with a score of 93-80 led by their import Grundy. It was 3-2 by then and everybody thought TNT's bid for grandslam was in major jeopardy. However, with the comeback of Moe Baker (as replacement to Scottie Reynolds) and the injured Jayson Castro, the team's energy leveled up and kept the grandslam dream alive! TNT won with a final score of 104-78 which kept the balloons from falling down that night. All the TNT fans were jumping for joy! Unfortunately, I wasn't there live. I chose to stay home 'coz I was reviewing for my exams and my face looked kinda tortured 'coz of the facial session I had the previous night. LOL

 I stayed only during the 1st quarter of Game 5

in my heart, they're #1!!!:)

Game 7 is coming up later tonight. I'm soooo nervous! A simple mistake could drive away the grandslam. TNT really has to keep the energy they had in Game 6 and continue to focus and work hard. They played a good offense the previous game but they really have to sustain that tonight and improve on their defense. They gotta do something to stop Arwind, Denok, Danny I and Grundy. Lord, we offer this game to you. Your will be done. Our team's victory shall always be Yours!:)