songs with great commercial appeal wins at the first TOFARM songwriting competition...

A perfect presentation, vivid in colors, dances, and of course SONGS. So well-polished, greatly directed and conceived. Almost like Hollywood.

And there were tears, too. Tears that somehow were wiped-out as the FARMERS stood-up. Looked-upon upper up by the people in the lower rows, awed deep within by younger people in the audience...

As you waited, you heard various songs. Old Kundiman songs of classical tunes and eternal melodies- like Ang Pipit, Sa Bukirin, Ati Ku Pung Singsing, and others more.

You imagined, you were in a farm, full of rice stalks in dried-up lands, while the birds flew and the skies bloomed.

But you opened-up your eyes again, and you saw the modern world about to present awards to a song competition, and as you listened to the songs that competed upon- interpreted by great performing artists- NEW and OLD alike- contesting for the most-sought prize of 300,000 php- you said to yourself: "WOW".

Yes, it was the event you could not forget.

Alongside the great food that lined-up at VIKINGS restaurant, beside the Samsung Hall of SM Aura...,
Wherein you ate-all-u-can in various dishes of Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean and American. Pastries, sweets and delicacies of ethereal tastes, and drinks of unique choices like Cucumber juice and Ice Mint tea.

Like the circles that you find, in the "windmills of your mind".

It was, yes it WAS.

The First TOFARM Songwriting Competition Awards Night. Date: April 9, 2017. Place: Samsung Hall of SM Aura.

The performers/interpreters were all too perfect, and they all did their very best to make the songs they were interpreting being felt, so dignifying..., upon. Indeed. It was so tight. All the songs were good and challenging. And the messages were in unison: the love for FARMING.

But there will only be winners and losers in a game like this. It was Gino Torres' Binhi Ng Pagbabago which got the GRAND AWARD. It won the 300,000k prize, and it also got the Special Award from Landbank with a prize of 50,000 Php.

Edwin Marollano's Magtatanim Ako, a song with so much positivity and lightness, got the Second Prize and the 200,000k cash prize. Meanwhile, LJ Manzano's Magtanim Ng Bago, a song about change in farming attitude, got the third prize and the 100,000k cash price.

"We were very happy with the turnout of the first TOFARM Songwriting Competition", says TOFARM Chief Advocate, Dr. Milagros O. How. "All the songwriters did a commendable job connecting the concept of farming with music using different genres."

Among the celebrities seen at the night of the awards night were Bituin Escalante (also one of the judges), veteran film make Maryo J. delos Reyes (also the film festival director of TOFARM), singer Grace Nono (who interpreted one of the songs), scriptwriter Jake Tordesillas, and many more.

Gino Torres stared for so long at his interpreter- singer Ralph Salazar, as the latter sang the song that won. Both of them were teary-eyed.  And the composer was highly grateful for the singer because he interpreted the song so well- and made him WIN.

On the final analysis, the songs that won all have great commercial appeal.


(words by robert manuguid silverio)

THE WINNING SONG, THE WINNING COMPOSER.