Mitoy is The Voice winner

MANILA, Philippines - Veteran band vocalist Mitoy Yonting of Team Lea was hailed as the first-ever winner of ABS-CBN’s The Voice of the Philippines after garnering the highest percentage of public votes in the singing-reality show’s final showdown at Resorts World Manila’s Newport Performing Arts Theater Sunday night, Sept. 29.

“I feel very happy. I’m so blessed today. I thank God and those who voted for me,” said Mitoy in an interview with the media minutes after his victory.

Mitoy received 57.65 percent of the combined text and online votes to beat second placer, Team Sarah’s Klarisse de Guzman (42.35 percent) in their ultimate face-off. Their scores were reset back to zero before the poll for them opened.

His coach Lea Salonga, meanwhile, said, “Whenever I won something, my mom would also feel like she won it because she contributed to it. Now I feel as if I had a son who won and did something right. That’s how it feels.”

In Sunday’s finale, Mitoy crooned the Beatles hit Help and performed with his coach Lea and comedian Vice Ganda in a comic take of Total Eclipse of the Heart. In Saturday’s (Sept. 28) Live Show, Mitoy sang Freddie Aguilar’s Anak and his original song Bulag.

The 43-year-old winner also beat other final four artists, Team Apl’s Janice Javier and Team Bamboo’s Myk Perez, who got 13.56 percent and 12.81 percent of the votes, respectively, from the initial poll.

As the winner of The Voice of the Philippines, Mitoy won P2M, a home entertainment package, a new car, an Asian tour package for two and a four-year recording contract with MCA Universal.

Mitoy had been an early favorite since the show’s Blind Auditions where he delivered a spectacular performance of Bakit Ako Mahihiya, which had Lea and Bamboo fighting for him to be on their respective teams.

Since then, Mitoy had consistently delivered superb performances that impressed the coaches and viewers through the Battle Rounds and Live Shows.

Most Filipinos watched the Sunday finale of The Voice of the Philippines as it recorded a national TV rating of 30.3 percent, based on data from Kantar Media.

The finale opened with an energetic performance from the Top 24 artists of The Voice of the Philippines, Journey frontman Arnel Pineda and Jed Madela.

Earlier in the show, the other final contenders also performed with their coaches and surprise guests. Klarisse took on Your Song with coach Sarah and Robert Seña, while Myk and Bamboo, who danced the waltz with Linn Oeymo, performed Morning Rose.

Janice, meanwhile, sang Himig ng Pag-ibig with Asin’s Lolita Carbon before joining coach Apl in an electrifying performance of The Time (Dirty Bit) that earned cheers from the audience.

The four coaches also shared the stage to give an inspirational performance of Man in the Mirror, while Mitoy, Klarisse, Janice and Myk later joined Shane Filan of Westlife in Fool Again and Uptown Girl.