I Was So Moved With Her Testimony That It Made Me Write This Song

July, 1997, I was there when Hong Kong was handovered to China. It was my second visit there. In the church where I sang, I heard this lady tell her story of how God changed her life. She was crying but I know she was happy inside and she was not embarrassed in admitting her past life; a woman for hire, a drug addict, an occultist and have tried other beliefs and practices. Hers was a hopeless and a wasted life. Until a friend came to her and told her about God’s love and how God would accept her no matter what her past was. And just when she was about to give up, she prayed to God and God changed her life.
I captured her story and emotions that day and put it in a song. When I finished the song, it doesn’t really sound so outstanding to me. I would say it was just an ordinary simple song and I didn’t know if it would get recorded. Coming back to Manila, I learned that Papuri! 16 Festival was ongoing so I decided to submit the song and it was chosen as one of the ten songs. It was sang/recorded by Eunice Saldaña, who really gave life into the song with her powerful interpretation. It became one of the favorite cuts in the album and there were many who said that they were so blessed with the message of the song.
Nearly a year after, I was surprised to know that it was one of the nominated songs in the 1998 Awit Awards (they say the equivalent of Grammy Awards in the Philippines) for Best Religious/Inspirational Recording category. It won, so it gave me an Awit Awards trophy as the songwriter ; a trophy for Eunice as the singer, and another for Jungee Marcelo as the producer. I didn’t write this song hoping for an award. I just want to capture the story of that Filipina lady in HK. Now, it has become anybody’s story and song. God’s blessings really come in surprising packages.
Here’s that song which I produced in a video karaoke version which features another Papuri! Singer in the video – Charity Manalo "AKO'Y BINAGO N'YA"