The Filipino Channel does it again

Thousands of Filipinos from all over Southern California trooped to the Ontario Convention Center last Sunday and spent the last day of summer with some of the biggest stars of ABS-CBN as TFC staged its One Kapamilya Go extravaganza.

Martin Nievera led the charge of performers along with Sheryn Regis and US-based singer Carol Banawa, who has retained her famously angelic voice.

Edu Manzano brought his No. 1 hit game show Pilipinas, Game Ka Na Ba? with loyal TFC subscribers as contestants who gamely vied for cash prizes.

Gates opened at 9 a.m. with some camping in the grounds as early as 6. Although TFC had the entire convention center to itself, the place was still not enough to accommodate the throng of people who came. The center needed to call in several fire marshals to bring order to the overzealous crowd and it was unfortunate that several people had to be turned away for safety reasons.

“We didn’t expect that the crowd could be this big,” Mickey Muñoz of ABS-CBN told this writer.

The event was a fiesta-style celebration with a stage mounted in the middle of the main pavilion where the afternoon concert and game show were to be held. The organizers had to open up another pavilion to accommodate the crowd who couldn’t get in to the main pavilion. The show started later than the announced time to allow the crew to set up the extra stage. The crowd, not knowing fully well the reason behind the unexpected delay, started getting unruly and started making unnecessary catcalls.

American Idol Season 7 finalist David Hernandez opened the afternoon concert and it was enough to silence the crowd, some of whom went totally gaga when the sexy singer took of his shirt and revealed his man-chops.

“It was incredible. They are one of the most welcoming crowds I’ve ever performed for,” David said during a short chat. The upcoming singer drove all the way from Phoenix, Arizona with his manager just for the weekend show. He sang two songs and later walked the fan line to sign autographs and pose for pictures.

David, who said he would love to perform in the Philippines, also shared what he likes most in Filipino girls. “Their lips,” he says. “It’s so full!”

When show time came, Martin, Sheryn and Carol opened the show singing the TFC theme. The crowd, finally letting go of their impatience, started filling the hall with deafening screams of “I-love-yous” to their respective favorites.

It was no longer a surprise when Martin sang Be My Lady and You Are My Song before the crowd who didn’t seem to mind. But Martin’s rendition of the theme from the hit ABS-CBN teleserye Lobo was well-applauded.

Carol, who emigrated to the US in 2003, sang a medley of Star Cinema movie theme songs and not a few couldn’t help but marvel at how she has maintained her melodious voice that even great singers like Zsa Zsa Padilla couldn’t hide their admiration of.

The Arizona-based singer revealed that she always gets excited every time she gets the invitation to perform before Filipinos with her Kapamilya friends. “I grew up with ABS-CBN so I really feel at home when I am with them,” she says. Carol’s medley was capped with her emotional performance of the timeless classic Tanging Yaman. To Carol, Bravo!

Sheryn performed a medley of ABS-CBN teleserye theme songs and she expectedly wowed the crowd. The diminutive diva is always a joy to watch. “I really prepare for these things. I believe that every time I perform, I should always consider it like it was my last performance.”

The Cebuana singer just recently performed in Scandinavia for another TFC event where the weather proved extremely cold to her that she had bouts of nose bleeds.

But she is not complaining, though. “Being a kapamilya is so good,” Sheryn says. “I’ve been with them for nearly six years and I’ve never missed any kapamilya event. I really love The Filipino Channel, they always believed in my talent that’s why I always give it my best.”

And then Charice came and the already boisterous crowd roared like it was awakened by a sudden shaking of the earth. It was quite remarkable, Charice, who was a virtual unknown less than a year ago, almost stole the show.

The 16-year-old singer, who was still ecstatic from her historic duet with Celine Dion at the Madison Square Garden just a week before, performed a powerful suite of songs that highlighted her prodigious vocal prowess. She sang My Heart Will Go On and the crowd was again reminded how this young singer really deserves all the attention she is getting from big-time Hollywood personalities.

Even the New York Times, in an otherwise negative review of Celine Dion’s concert, wasn’t spared by her charm. Charice’s performance was called “one of the most interesting turns of the night.” Said review further added that Charice was “the night’s brightest moment.”

Talks of Oprah Winfrey managing her US career has made every Filipino excited about the prospect of seeing one of their own finally breaking the Hollywood barrier that so many singers have tried before. Charice and her management team have understandably kept mum about this.

After the afternoon concert was over, Edu Manzano finally took center stage and got everyone in the crowd excited again with the much-awaited staging of the hit noontime game show Pilipinas, Game Ka Na Ba?. John Lloyd Cruz and Bea Alonzo joined Edu and it turned the crowd further into a maddening frenzy.

John Lloyd, Bea, Carol and Sheryn gamely danced the Papaya Dance along with Edu. It was a great sight when the crowd started dancing along, too.

Everyone surely had a great time. And when the day was over, all went home with wide smiles and happy faces.