“Hinungdan” by Michael Caterina is one of the PhilPop Songwriting Festival 2020 finalists from Visayas. The announcement was made through an online media presentation on August 24, 2020.

Caterina started writing songs in 2017. He has joined a few songwriting competitions and so far qualifying for PhilPop is his biggest songwriting event.

For Caterina, he is still an amateur as he has not fully produced any of his songs yet and has only begun to develop himself as a songwriter. Including his song “Hinungdan,” there are six PhilPop Songwriting Festival 2020 finalists from the Visayas-Mindanao cluster.

Visayas

• “Ayaw Na Lang” by Jerika Teodorico of Cebu City, Cebu
• “Hinungdan” by Michael Catarina of Cebu City, Cebu
• “Suyo” by Noah Alejandre and Reanne Borela of Ormoc City, Leyte

Mindanao

• “Akong Bililhon” by John Cadeliña of Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur
• “Kasadya” by Christian Chiu of Corandal City, South Cotabato
• “Pahuway” by Sherwin Fugoso of Jabonga, Agusan del Norte

PhilPop is currently wrapping up its adjudication process for the remaining clusters namely, North Luzon, South Luzon and Metro Manila. The finalists representing the remaining regions will be announced in September 2020.

PhilPop Songwriting Festival chair Ryan Cayabyab heads the selection committee. The committee included PhilPop executive director Dinah A. Remolacio, PhilPop Musicfest Foundation president Victorico P. Vargas, board member Noel Cabangon and lead adjudicators Jungee Marcelo and Trina Belamide, Warner Music Philippines managing director Ian Monsod, MinPop Musicfest director Jeremy Sarmiento and Kadasig founder Jude Gitamondoc.

“I think the songs chosen to represent the Visayas are a great representation of the region,” Gitamondoc said. “We have an electronic-infused track, another one that’s soulful and another that’s folksy. That pretty much shows how varied the musicality is in the Visayas.”

“We are at the center of the country,” the Kadasig founder continued. “We are a melting pot of cultures, influences and ideas.”

According to PhilPop executive director Remolacio, the entries underwent multiple rounds of selection process until top three per clusters were handpicked. She said, “We wanted our process to be inclusive so the decision making involved local and international representatives from Warner Music, representatives from our regional partner for each cluster and representatives from PhilPop.”