OPM icons Roselle Nava, Raymond Lauchengco, Ito Rapadas, Wency Cornejo and Jim Paredes and Boboy Garrovillo of the APO Hiking Society are pulling out all the stops to bring the most romantic Valentine's Day concert dubbed "All Heart" at the PICC Plenary Hall on Feb. 14 at 8:30 p.m.
The Filipino hitmakers are set to perform their greatest love songs such as APO's "Panalangin," and "Ewan," Wency's "Hanggang," Neocolours "Hold On," Roselle's "Bakit Nga Ba Mahal Kita?" and Raymond's "I Need You Back," among others.
Aside from the love songs, interviews with couples will be presented, together with new audio spiels of radio DJ Joe D'Mango of the "Love Notes" fame. Elmer Blancaflor is the music director.
During the mediacon held at Limbaga 77 Cafe Restaurant in Quezon City recently, the OPM icons, except for Jim and Boboy who were not in attendance, shared their greatest lessons in love.
"You know when you're young, you think it's a crush, you think it's a feeling. I remember yung mga nililigawan ko noon, kapag hindi ako pinapansin, it breaks my heart. And I always thought it was the end of the world. And I always thought more than anything else, love is a fantastic, heavenly feeling that you get and it's always going to be there. Kapag sinagot ako ng babaeng ito who I love so much, I always want to be happy," said Raymond.
"Now, I realized that is the last thing love is. Perhaps, it begins with a feeling but it definitely grows into more than anything else, I think, a commitment. It's a rollercoaster ride. You're not gonna be happy for the rest of your life. You're gonna have problems. You're gonna have disagreements.
"You're not gonna want to talk to each other every so often, but you know what, your love is going to transcend that. You're gonna have problems, you're gonna figure that out together. You're gonna have rough patches, you're gonna go through that together. That commitment you want to go through the difficulties together, that for me is love," Raymond also said.
For Roselle, love means prioritizing your family and your loved ones. "Love is about compromises. It's not important you get what you want. Sometimes when you love someone, you want to make yourself last na. Parang the others become your priorities like my family, my husband, my kids. I always find myself putting last. Laging kung ano ba ang gusto nila or makakabuti sa kanila. Being there for the person without expecting anything in return and happiness nila, yun ang love sa akin."
"Love is acceptance and understanding ng lahat ng weaknesses. And I've been married for many years and birthday ng wife ko kaya I'm blessed with that relationship. So pasasalamat na lang palagi," said Ito.
Wency said: "Ang paniniwala ko is love can be found in so many things not just yung romantic notions. In can be found in a bottle of water na binigay ng waiter dahil may concern siya na nauuhaw ako. That can be a form of love. So for me love can take many, many forms. And it probably takes a while to learn that the romantic kind of love is not the only kind of love we need as people."
Wency and Roselle are thankful that their songs are still very much alive these days.
"I feel so lucky and blessed na kahit hindi na ako ganun ka active, my songs continue to live on. Natutuwa nga ako kasi one time I was with a co-parent, her son is eight years old. Then sabi niya 'you know my son alam niya yunhg kanta mo.' So nakakatuwa and they recognize my song 'Bakit Nga Ba Mahal Kita?' and I'm really na may mga songs na nagre-revive ng songs namin," said Roselle.
But Wency said that it's the other way around for him.
"Sa'yo anak, sa akin mga lola at nanay. Age-related talaga yung mga comments. But it's true they will tell me, uy paborito ng nanay ko 'yung 'Hanggang' or 'uy, paborito ng lola ko yung 'Habang May Buhay.' Yan ang mga comments na nakukuha ko. But acceptance is the key. Nasa stage na matanda na talaga tayo," the son of Kapuso broadcaster Mel Tiangco said.
Roselle said she was surprised she was the only "rose" among the "thorns."
"I thought magkakaroon pa ako ng kasamang female singer sa group. Pero wala naman akong problem sa kanila. Mga gentleman naman lahat sila eh. Pero si Kuya Wency kasi, we've performed before, makulit siya. But I'm looking forward kung ano ang magiging adventures namin backstage. I'm sure marami rin akong matututunan sa kanila," she added.
Tickets to "All Heart" are available via Ticketworld. For updates, like and follow "All Heart" on Facebook.