Protégé aspirants storm Iloilo and Batangas

MANILA, Philippines - Aspirants from all over Panay and Negros Islands trooped to the Events Center of SM City Iloilo last Friday to take their chance in the second leg of auditions of GMA Network’s grandest singing superstar search, Protégé: The Battle for the Big Break.

Prospective contenders from Aklan, Antique, Bacolod, Capiz, Guimaras and Iloilo lined up for hours aiming to be the first on queue to showcase their talents. Without the age restrictions, the auditions drew a new crop of hopefuls from five to 50 years old.

Protégé mentor Janno Gibbs joined audition masters — GMA Artist Center head for Talent Management Arsi Baltazar and distinguished starmaker Jojie Dingcong to decide who among the hundreds of aspirants will make the cut and become his three potential protégés in the region.

There were some who brought their musical instruments and sang their own compositions. One aspirant auditioned with her mother while the other hopeful tagged along his sister. Despite her disability, a blind girl wowed the audition masters with her powerful voice.

Baltazar and Dingcong found some promising talents in Iloilo including Vince Pulido, 12, who got the crowd cheering when he belted Frank Sinatra’s I Who Have Nothing and Ricky Deloviar, 21, who impressed everyone with his rendition of Bryan Adams’ Everything I Do. The two ended up getting the nod of the audition masters enough to qualify for the callback the following day.

Protégé’s Journey host Ogie Alcasid made a special appearance which surprised the Ilonggos at the venue. He even obliged the audience with a song at the request of his fans. One aspirant became very emotional when Ogie joined her onstage as she performed in front of the audition masters.

Six more distinguished mentors will hunt for their prospective protégés as the nationwide auditions continue on the following dates and venues: NE Pacific Mall Cabanatuan (today) with Jay-R; SM Pampanga (July 31) with Rey Valera; SM Davao (Aug. 5) with Jaya; CSI Mall Dagupan (Aug. 7) with Joey Generoso; SM Cagayan de Oro (Aug. 10) with Aiza Seguerra; and SM Mall of Asia Hall (Aug. 13) with Gloc9. Auditions will be from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.