ABS-CBN’s Christmas Station ID “Ikaw ang Liwanag at Ligaya” is still the talk of the town as it continues to touch the hearts of the Filipino people.
The network hasn’t failed to deliver a hit CSID. With each passing year, they create more and more meaningful CSIDs.
But this 2020, the song has been taken to a whole new level.
A prayer
The CSID of the Kapamilya network is very special as it is not just a song but a prayer. The lyrics indicate that this is a prayer as a part of the song goes like this:
“Ngayong pasko, magdiriwang ang mundo
Sa pag-ibig mo’y may himala, may panibagong simula
Ngayong pasko, babalik ang saya
Dahil ikaw ang liwanag at ligaya”
The song prays to the Creator to give them hope. It can be recalled that ABS-CBN recently lost its franchise, retrenched employees to keep afloat, and lost most of its talents as they shifted to other networks. The line “Liwanag at ligaya, nagmumula sa ‘Yo, ikakalat sa mundo” is actually a call for everyone to be a vessel—of light and joy.
The song also prays for a miracle. It is a popular belief that Christmas is the season of miracles. With the pandemic and natural disasters which recently ravaged the Philippines leaving thousands without homes, the network is praying for a miracle that everything goes back to normal.
20 languages in one song
Not only is it a prayer, it is also the first-ever Christmas Station ID which featured 20 languages as part of the song. Aside from Tagalog and English, the song translated “light and joy” into Chavacano, Hiligaynon, Waray, Tausug, Bisaya, Ilocano, Pangasinese, Maguidanaoan, and Bicolano
Not just the local tongues, but 8 countries were also included as Japanese, Italian, Chinese, French, Korean, Arabic, Hebrew, and Spanish were incorporated in it in order to give a much deeper meaning with the phrase “light and joy”.
The reason that these dialects and languages were included in the song is that it reflects how Filipinos and everyone around the globe share and face the same challenge this 2020 has given—battling COVID-19.
According to Love Rose De Leon, one of the songwriters who wrote “Ikaw ang Liwanag at Ligaya”, she included China, Italy, and Spain because that is where COVID-19 cases rose to great numbers.
It was Robert Labayen’s, one of the songwriters of ABS-CBN’s Creative Communications Management (CCM) team, idea to add translations to the lyrics.
For him, it is their part to show their commitment to creating and addressing the sentiments of Filipinos in far-flung areas of the Philippines.
“Halos lahat ng nakaraang [station ID] natin, lagi kami nagpapakita ng Filipino in Canada, Middle East, US, kasi gusto ko talagang ma-feel natin, ng ating mga Filipino, at lahat tayong taga-ABS-CBN, na isang family tayo sa buong mundo,” he said.
Labayen also instructed de Leon and the CCM team to make sure that the 3 main regions of the Philippines will each be represented by the dialects chosen. For the international languages, he wants to make sure that the languages spoken must be from areas that have the largest number of Filipinos.
The CCM team which previously made the past CSIDs of ABS-CBN was down to 28 from 170 people due to the recent shutdown of the network. The loss of its franchise and its ability to broadcast forced the Kapamilya network to retrench most of its employees. But despite the adversiites, they were able to create the most beautiful music video of 2020—with just 28 employees.
This is Team CCM, the makers of the station IDs. Before franchise refusal 170. Now only 28. PERO TULOY ANG SERBISYO. ❤️💚💙 This is going to be EPIC. PANGAKO YAN. pic.twitter.com/SE8wrRsQ0l
— Kathrina Sanchez (@kathrinavs) November 29, 2020
Combination of directors
The music video was just as touching as its song. The reason is that the directors behind the MV is not just one but 18 directors. The combination of these awesome directors has resulted in the most heart-warming, hear-wrenching, most emotional video this 2020.
In order for them to give the song the video that it deserves, different directors were assigned to shoot the different casts of the programs that are currently being aired by ABS-CBN.
Headed by director Paolo Ramos for the overall direction, he was supported by Directors FM Reyes and Avel Sunpongco for the frames of Ang Sa Iyo Ay Akin cast, Director Neil Arce for the frames of Angel Locsin for Iba ‘Yan, Directors Rodel Nacianceno, Malu Sevilla, Albert Langitan, and Jeff Sonora for the frames of FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano cast, Director Jon Moll for the frames of I Can See Your Voice hosts, Directors Jem De Quiros, Winnie Cristobal, and Katrina Bitara for the frames of It’s Showtime hosts, Director Arnel Natividad for the frames of Magandang Buhay hosts, Director Obet Valiente for the frames of ASAP artists, Director Raymund Ocampo for the frames of Init Sa Magdamag cast, Director Darnel Villaflor for the frames of Walang Hanggang Paalam cast, and Directors Jerry Lopez Sineneng and Jojo Saguin for the frames of La Vida Lena cast.
Star-studded singers
Twenty Kapamilya singers collaborated to perform the Christmas ID 2020 song namely Regine Velasquez-Alcasid, Ogie Alcasid, Morissette Amon, Bamboo, Janine Berdin, Darren Espanto, Vice Ganda, Sarah Geronimo, Toni Gonzaga, Jona, Moira, Martin Nievera, Elha Nympha, Zsa Zsa Padilla, Inigo Pascual, Angeline Quinto, Lea Salonga, Erik Santos, KZ Tandingan and Gary Valenciano.
They gave emotion to the song as these singers sung with all their hearts. Not just that, their unbelievable talent truly gives inspiration to anyone who hears the song. The message that they were trying to convey is clear—the light and joy will come back.
The resident family of ABS-CBN’s CSID
ABS-CBN has always included people from different walks of life into their Christmas station IDs but one particular family has been present since 2018—the Noblezada family.
From ‘Family is Love’ to ‘Ikaw ang Liwanag at Ligaya’, the Noblezadas who were dubbed as ‘Keribels’ family have an inspiring story to tell. They were called as such since the family’s matriarch, Lorilie’s motto is “keribels” which helped her sustain the family she loves.
The Noblezadas opened their doors for the Filipino viewers to see how hard work, added with positivity helped them in raising their 8 children.
As a result of Lorilie’s love for her family, who shifted from job after job in order to support her 8 children, the Kapamilya network was touched that they decided to invite the Noblezadas as part of the 2018 CSID “Family is Love”. The 2018 Christmas Station ID featured inspiring stories from Filipino families across the country. After “Family is Love”, they returned in the 2019 CSID “Family is Forever” as part of the other several Filipino stories that gave such heartfelt inspiration.
This time, they visited ABS-CBN’s headquarters where they had an emotional meeting with the stars of “FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano,” led by Coco Martin.
As of this moment, the music video and the lyric video of “Ikaw ang Liwanag at Ligaya” have garnered a total of 7.9 million views on YouTube. The song will be a continuation of the unending inspiration and the meaning of Christmas for us Filipinos.
