How Catherine bagged the WCOPA gold

HOLLYWOOD, California — The morning after she bagged the “gold” Friday night, July 25, in the Junior Category (Vocal) of the 12th Annual World Championships Olympics of Performing Arts (WCOPA) held here, Catherine Loria, 13, still couldn’t believe that it was for real, even if she was wearing the medal and holding the two trophies while waiting for the formal awarding of trophies later that Saturday afternoon.

“Mahuhusay kasi ang kalaban ko,” said Catherine, the second Filipino to win in a row after Aria Clemente who clinched the same honor last year and the only gold-winner in this year’s batch of 15 Filipino contestants in the Junior/Senior Vocal category. “When my name was called, para akong natulala. I kept asking myself, ‘Totoo ba ito?’” 

Because in 2005, another Filipino, Jed Madela, won the grand prize in the same Olympics, Senior Category (Vocal), contestants from the more than 50 countries that send delegates every year have made it some kind of a “challenge” to beat the Filipinos.

Joked Carlo Orosa, Philippine national director of WCOPA whose job is to recruit and train talents, “Kaya tuloy, the WCOPA is starting to be known as the World Championships of Filipino Talents.”

One thing should be made clear: Jed, Aria and Catherine are so far the only three Filipinos who have won the championship gold, no matter if some artists in past years would come home claiming in press conferences that they, too, were “gold” winners. Well, it’s true in a sense.

There are six categories in both Junior (aged 5 to 15) and Senior (16 and above) divisions: Dance, Vocal, Modeling, Acting, Instrumentalists and Variety Arts. Hundreds of contestants from more than 50 countries first compete in the first elimination round and the best three get medals: A gold (first), a silver medal (second) and a bronze (third). The Vocal portion consists of 14 genres: Gospel, Country, Pop, Rock, Contemporary, R&B/Jazz, Opera, Variety, Broadway/Musical, Original, Rap, Latin, World Music and Open.

As in the Sports Olympics, winners in the first round are pitted against one another in the second round, and the Top 3 each gets a small glass trophy and then they compete for the championship, winner of which gets a huge glass trophy.

“Catherine’s win has firmed up the reputation of Filipinos as ‘winnable’,” said Jed who was a judge in this year’s competition and, together with Aria (whom two Hollywood agents are “interested” in managing), was a special guest at the event (specially mentioned in the souvenir program). “Kapag sinabing ‘team Philippines,’ kinatatakutan na ng ibang contestants,” in the same way that candidates from Venezuela are similarly regarded in the Miss Universe pageant. “Sobrang impressed pati ang audience. Before, the Philippines was known as an archipelago of 7,107 islands,” echoing Carlo’s comment. “Now, they call the Philippines ‘The Land of Talents.’ Ang nakakatuwa, contestants from other countries have been asking, ‘What do you eat in the Philippines? How come you have so many talents?’ And they mention the likes of Lea Salonga, Arnel Pineda (now with Journey) and Charice (whose recent feather-on-the-cap was a duet with Andrea Bocelli no less at a concert in Italy, ‘scooped’ by Funfare a few issues ago).”

Catherine sang five songs during the elimination rounds: Reflection (Broadway), If I’m a Sparrow (Gospel), When You Believe (Pop), Jesus, Take the Wheel (Country) and I Believe I Can Fly  (the same one she sang during the grand finals).

“The WCOPA was my first time to compete in an international contest, that’s why I was really nervous,” admitted Catherine.

Her uncle, Martin Ilagan (brother of Catherine’s mom) who took a leave from his job in Singapore to chaperone Catherine, said that Catherine started singing at age two and has competed in several local contests, including Bulilit Popstar, Popstar Kid, Batang Star, Bantay OCW and Kids for Christ National Singing Competition (in Pampanga) where she emerged the champion.

She’s the older of two children of a couple from Tiaong, Quezon, who are both ardent joiners in singing contests. She’s a sophomore at the Lusacan National High School in Tiaong.

“During the finals,” recalled Jed, “Catherine was so good that even those in the audience from other countries cheered for her.”

A world of opportunities is opening up for Catherine. All sorts of agents and talent scouts watch the WCOPA closely and, with Dame Luck on her side, Catherine just might follow in the footsteps of the world-class Filipino talents mentioned earlier.

“But first,” said Catherine, “gusto ko rin makilala sa atin.”
Catherine is coming home today triumphant.

We should give her a standing ovation, shouldn’t we?

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