BY JOVE!

MAUREEN "MAU" MARCELO: THE 1st PHILIPPINE IDOL

THIS IS THE MOMENT….

(of course, you know why shaky ang ibang pictures? Hehehe)

My Personal Reaction Over Mau’s Victory:

An hour before I went to the Araneta Coliseum, I was in SM Centerpoint, lined up in a counter to pay for stuff I got in the toiletries section. I was waiting for my turn when I looked to my left and saw these bright colored huge hankies hanging from this display section. Then the idea hit me: buy those bright yellow hankies and wave them later inside the Araneta as a form of support for Maureen “Mau” Marcelo. They day before, I felt bad that we didn’t do much to contribute to the color-cheer battle inside the Big Dome. A lot of times during Saturday’s final competition, parang nakukulangan kami sa cheers for Mau. Today, Sunday, we vowed to be noisy, demonstrative and supportive of the person whom we think deserves the title of the first ever Philippine Idol: Mau!

Before the show: we did just that. We were seated in the press area of the patron seats, and we proudly waved those bright yellow hankies like there’s no tomorrow.

During the show: we continued to do so, until I feared that I won’t be able to do voice over reports tomorrow dahil baka mapatid ang litid namin. Fellow blogger Noemi was seated with her hubby, two rows in front of us, I’m sure they heard our cheers, loud and clear, hehehe.

During Mau’s numbers: sige ang wagayway ng mga telang hawak namin. One time, natawa pa si Mau when she saw us, waving them vigorously. We hope we lifted her spirits during that moment na alam naming nakaka nerbyos na dahil malapit na ang announcement of winners.

Before the actual announcement: We saw the head writer approach Mel Villena. He whispered something to him. Mel then relayed the message to his great band. We saw a collective smile from the bunch. May nag thumbs up among themselves. May nag high five pa. Hindi namin alam, but our group took that as a sign that Mau’s the victor. We couldn’t contain ourselves, kilig na kilig na kami nung time na iyun even if hindi pa nadedeclare ang winner.

During the actual announcement: I let out this shout that I derived from sheer joy! I jumped repeatedly as I made noise. While my left hand kept waving the hanky and my other hand holding my camera. Yes, I did them all ng sabay sabay, don’t ask me how. At one point, I had to stop because it felt like I’m having a heart attack. No joke! Hehehe. I’m laughing now, but I was teary eyed during those precious seconds. And yeah, I am proud to admit that!

+++

On stage, after the show, the ABC news teams interviewed Mau.

I stood there, staring at the winner, feeling so happy for her.

I remembered this conversation I had with Bombet, Saturday night over dinner at Café Adriatico (Gateway) about the colors that the supporters will wear for the show that was about to start that time.

I remember telling him that yellow is the color of my network.

He asked me kung sign ba iyun?

I told him sana nga.

(before may mag jump sa opportunity at sabihing luto, sinadya o pre determined ang lahat, ang color scheme ay pinag desisyunan po ng mga contestants mismo)

In one of her numbers during the finale show, Mau stood on stage basking on the yellow lights that illuminated the floor of the humongous stage. One thing came inside my mind when I saw that in the monitor: A coronation.

After the show, we saw Mr C, being interviewed by print reporters. We heard him say things about destiny. That it’s Mau’s destiny to be the first ever Philippine Idol.

All the signs (colors, gowns, etc) only made Mau’s appointment with her PI destiny sweet and satisfying.

Now about the (pure) coincidence of yellow…

I don’t think anyone from the network would mind sharing the same color with Mau. Why should we mind? She may as well represent our network because she epitomizes the interesting journey that ABC 5 embarks on… on a daily basis… as a player in the industry.

Like Mau, they say that ABC 5’s “always bottom”. That our capability is always questioned like Mau. That just like Mau when her appearance was being nitpicked upon by many critics, critics also nitpicked about our signal, our audio, our presentations. We are not always perfect, but just like Mau, we do our best, everytime.

Like Mau, we hope to finally get the approval, feel appreciated and eventually crowned among the best.

Mau got all those tonight, she now serves as our beacon of hope.

She really represents the hopes and wishes of the people in ABC 5, she represents the hopes and dreams of many Filipinos who believes in her and voted for her.

Mau, Iba Tayo!!!